Day trips from Vienna: train, boat or tour, what each costs and how long it takes

💡 The Short Version: Bratislava is the easy trip: the REX 8 takes 56 minutes, every hour, and RegioJet’s bus is €4.90 or €5.90. Salzburg is 2 hours 25 minutes by railjet and Budapest 2 hours 24 minutes by RegioJet; both are long days. The Wachau is a train to Melk and a Danube boat to Krems, when the boats run. Hallstatt is the trip a tour improves: a 13-hour coach tour from €65 against about 3 hours 30 minutes each way by train, with a change and a ferry. Mauthausen is a memorial with free entry. Austria has border controls on its Slovak and Hungarian borders until 15 March 2027: carry a passport or national ID card. Train times are valid until 12 December 2026. Or book a tour: Hallstattad from €65, the Wachau with Melk Abbey and a boatad from €119 and a small-group Salzburg tourad from €143. The Hallstatt tour replaces a change, a ferry and about 8 hours of trains (GetYourGuide).

The day trips compared

Train fares are ÖBB’s standard second-class fares for a journey bought online on the day, and RegioJet’s own. Advance fares on ÖBB (Sparschiene) and Westbahn (Superpreis) can be much cheaper when booked early; they are tied to one train and sell out. Tour prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices for one adult.

When a tour is worth it

A coach tour earns its price where the train is slow or the day has several stops.

• Hallstatt. The train is about 8 hours there and back, with a change and a ferry, and costs €130.20 at the standard fare. The Hallstatt day trip with Skywalk optionad (from €65, 13 hours, 7,077 reviews) costs half that. The Hallstatt guide compares the tours.
• Hallstatt with Salzburg. The Hallstatt and Salzburg tourad (from €100, 14 hours) fits both lakeside places into one coach day, for less than the Salzburg train fare alone at the standard price.
• The Wachau. On your own it is a train, a boat and a train home, and the day follows the boat timetable. The Wachau Valley, Melk Abbey tour with Danube boat tripad (from €119, 8½ hours) puts the bus, the boat and the timetable in one booking.
• Budapest. Go by train for a night or two. A one-day tour is 12 to 13 hours on a coach.

Not worth a tour: Bratislava, where the train takes 56 minutes and the bus is under €6.

The trips

Salzburg

ÖBB railjet 2 hours 25 minutes · €67.70 each way on the day · tour from €125

Mozart’s birthplace and a fortress above the old town. ÖBB railjet express trains leave Wien Hauptbahnhof hourly at :28 from 05:28 to 22:28, and Westbahn trains leave Wien Westbahnhof, a different station, in 2 hours 30 minutes. An ÖBB ticket is not valid on the Westbahn. The Salzburg guide has the trains, the fortress and Mozart’s Birthplace, and the Sound of Music tours.

Salzburg’s old town and Hohensalzburg Fortress above the Salzach. Photo: Dronepicr, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0.

Hallstatt

Coach tour 12 to 13 hours, from €65 · train 3 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours 50 minutes each way · salt mine with funicular €49

A lakeside village in the Salzkammergut with a salt mine above it. Coaches must book an entry slot to the village, and cars cannot reserve parking. The Salzwelten salt mine, its funicular and the Skywalk reopened on 29 August 2026. The Hallstatt guide compares four tours and the train.

Hallstatt from the lake. Photo: Kevin Poh, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

The Wachau

Train to Melk 53 minutes to 1 hour 8 minutes · Wachau-Ticket from €77 · Melk Abbey €16

A stretch of the Danube valley with Melk Abbey at one end and Krems at the other. The ÖBB Wachau-Ticket covers the train from Vienna and back, a DDSG cruise between Melk and Krems, and entry to the abbey, from €77 (ddsg-blue-danube.at). Boats sail only as far as the water level allows. The Wachau guide has the boats, the abbey and Dürnstein.

Dürnstein across the Danube, with the abbey’s blue tower. Photo: C.Stadler/Bwag, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Bratislava

REX 8 56 minutes, hourly · RegioJet bus €4.90 or €5.90 · Twin City Liner boat €34 to €39 plus €3

Slovakia’s capital, 56 minutes down the line. The REX 8 leaves Wien Hauptbahnhof at :14 past each hour from 05:14 to 23:14 and returns from Bratislava at :50. The Twin City Liner boat runs only until 2 November 2026 on its summer timetable, then on Advent cruises. The Bratislava guide has the bus, the boat and the castle.

Bratislava Castle and St Martin’s Cathedral above the Danube. Photo: Uoaei1, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Budapest

RegioJet 2 hours 24 minutes to 2 hours 31 minutes · fares €9 to €39.90 each way

RegioJet trains leave Hauptbahnhof for Budapest-Kelenföld four times a day, and ÖBB railjets and EuroCity trains run roughly hourly to Budapest-Keleti in 2 hours 39 minutes to 2 hours 58 minutes. The Vienna to Budapest guide has the times and the tours, and Budapest’s own Vienna and Bratislava from Budapest covers the trip the other way.

Mauthausen

Entry free · train 1 hour 46 minutes to 2 hours 2 minutes, then 4 km · closed Mondays from 27 October 2026

The memorial at a former concentration camp, 4 km from the station. Entry is free and public tours in English run only in July and August. The Mauthausen Memorial guide has the hours, the tours and the way there.

Other trips

The Vienna Woods: Mayerling and Heiligenkreuz

Combined ticket €18.70 · bus 306 or 308 from Baden · tour from €110

Two religious houses 3 km apart in the woods south-west of Vienna. The Karmel Mayerling is a Carmelite convent on the site of the 1889 hunting lodge where Crown Prince Rudolf and Mary Vetsera died; it is open daily except Monday, 10:00 to 17:30, until 31 October 2026, and on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays only, 10:00 to 17:00, from 1 November. Entry is €8.20 (karmel-mayerling.org). Stift Heiligenkreuz, a Cistercian abbey founded in 1133, charges €12.90 for a visit with an audio guide of about 45 minutes; it is open Monday to Saturday 09:00 to 11:30 and 13:30 to 17:15, and Sundays 13:30 to 17:15 (stift-heiligenkreuz.org). The combined ticket for both is €18.70. Mayerling is served by the Postbus lines 306 and 308 from Baden, which the Badner Bahn from Vienna reaches. The Vienna Woods tour with the underground lake and a wine tastingad is 4 hours from €110.

Graz

ÖBB railjet 2 hours 26 minutes, hourly · €44.30 each way on the day

The railjet express leaves Hauptbahnhof at :53 each hour and returns from Graz at :41; the Westbahn runs five trains a day. The Schlossbergbahn funicular, open until midnight Sunday to Thursday and 02:00 on Friday and Saturday from 1 October to 31 March, costs €3.30 for a one-hour ticket (holding-graz.at). No group tour from Vienna has reviews.

Semmering

Direct train 1 hour 15 minutes · €22.90 each way on the day

The Semmering Railway, built over 41 km of high mountains between 1848 and 1854, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and still in use (whc.unesco.org). Trains run direct from Hauptbahnhof every two hours, and the Westbahn runs five a day.

Before you choose a day

Airport to the city and Vienna public transport cover the first and last day, and the Salzburg, Hallstatt and Wachau trains leave from different stations: Hauptbahnhof, Westbahnhof and Franz-Josefs-Bahnhof. What to book before you go to Vienna has the city tickets, 3 days in Vienna shows where a day trip fits between them, and where to stay in Vienna compares the areas, with hotels near St Stephen’s Cathedral for the centre. For the month, see the best time to visit Vienna.