Forty kilometres of terraced vineyards between two abbeys, best seen from a boat or a bicycle rather than a coach.
The Wachau is the stretch of the Danube between Melk and Krems, about forty kilometres, cut between hills with vineyards terraced on dry stone walls above the water. It is a UNESCO World Heritage landscape and the most rewarding day out of Vienna.
Melk Abbey
A Benedictine monastery founded in 1089, rebuilt between 1702 and 1736 into one of the great Baroque buildings of Europe, standing on a rock over the town in ochre and white. Umberto Eco borrowed its name for the narrator of The Name of the Rose.
The visit takes in the imperial rooms, the marble hall, the library — 100,000 volumes and a ceiling by Paul Troger — and the church, which is as much gold as a room can hold. The terrace between library and church gives the view down the valley.
Allow two hours. Guided tours run in English; the audio guide is fine.
Dürnstein
Halfway down, a village of about 900 people under a ruined castle where Richard the Lionheart was held for ransom in 1192–93, captured on his way back from the Third Crusade by Duke Leopold V, whom he had insulted at Acre. The ransom nearly bankrupted England and paid for the walls of Vienna.
The castle is a forty-five-minute climb up a rocky path and the view is worth it. The blue-and-white tower of the Stift Dürnstein below is the picture of the valley that appears on everything.
The wine
Grüner Veltliner and Riesling, and the Wachau’s own classification: Steinfeder light, Federspiel medium, Smaragd the ripest and fullest. Growers to look for include Knoll, Prager, F. X. Pichler, Hirtzberger. Many have tasting rooms in Weissenkirchen and Joching.
Apricots — Marillen — are the other crop, and appear as jam, schnapps and dumplings everywhere between April and August.
Getting around
Boat: Brandner and DDSG run scheduled services between Melk and Krems from April to October, about ninety minutes downstream. This is the best way to see the terraces.
Bicycle: the Danube cycle path runs the whole valley on both banks, flat and paved. Bikes hire in Melk or Krems and can be returned at the other end.
Train: Vienna to Melk from Westbahnhof takes about an hour; Krems from Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof about an hour. A combined rail-and-boat ticket exists.
Out of season the boats stop and the valley is quiet and rather beautiful in a different way, but you will need the train and the local bus.
