A few days in Vienna - Wachau?

We will be going to Krakow and Vienna in early July and while in Vienna, I would love to spend a day in the Wachau doing some wine tasting/touring. We will not have a car on this trip so I will probably end up doing an organized tour of some sort. I was wondering if anyone had any tours to recommend. Would certainly be interested in any restaurant recommendations in either Krakow or Vienna for that matter as well.

The WB community has never steered me wrong thus far for travel and dining recommendations so we were doing a little research on trip advisor yesterday for wine tours and my wife said, “you should ask the wine beserkers people. They always seem to have good recommendations.” [welldone.gif]

Thanks in advance!

Restaurants in Vienna

Steireck
Opus
Mraz

Hi Rich
No experience myself, but I know David Crossley over here speaks very highly of the region.

Here’s a blog from a cycling (and wine/food) holiday he had there:

He’ll also have plenty of tasting notes on Austrian wines on his site, though he very much has a leaning towards natural wines these days, so bear that in mind.

Regards
Ian

Here’s a search from the travel forum, tons of information.

https://www.wineberserkers.com/forum/search.php?keywords=Wachau&terms=all&author=&fid[]=9&sc=1&sf=all&sr=posts&sk=t&sd=d&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

If you only have one day in wachau then I’d do, in order, Durstein, Melk, or Spitz.

Domaine Wachau is next to Durstein and there are many small producers in the hills behind Spitz.

We spent a few days in Wachau a few years ago. You don’t need a car, take a train from Vienna to Krems, it takes a little more than an hour. From Krems you can explore both Wachau and Kremstal.
I found Domäne Wachau somewhat impersonal.

My wife and I were in Vienna last summer and did a tour of the Wachau Valley through Vienna Explorer (viennaexplorer.com). Their office was an easy walk from our hotel in the city center and the tour departed from there as well. We did an all day tour - got to explore Melk Abbey, eat lunch at a gorgeous outdoor restaurant in a small village and visited a couple wineries. I would highly recommend - though it is more of a tour for exploring the area overall and not specifically wine focused (they do have other more specific wine tours). While we didn’t do it in Vienna, in other European cities we’ve often hired a private driver for the day, per the recommendation of our hotel. We’ve found that the prices are often more reasonable than you would expect, and you can dictate your own tour/take their recommendations as well. Ask your hotel if they have a preferred company they work with and what the price is. When we were in Innsbruck I think our driver for the entire day was about EUR 250 (for 8 hours and over 150 km of total driving).

As for Vienna, we had a nice experience at the Meinl am Graben restaurant in the Julius Meinl store (pricey though). We also found a great hole in the wall Hungarian restaurant also off of the Graben - Ilona Stuberl - the food was delicious, staff friendly, and prices very reasonable. Cafe Central was nice too (though very touristy).

Good to know that Meinl am Graben is still good. We plan to go back to Vienna this Sept after a few years hiatus. Our other favorite Vienna restaurants have been Steirereck and Sohyi Kim’s restaurants in their various locations and iterations. She is a delight.

We took the train (~1hour I believe) from Vienna to Krems in 2012 and explored the region using the bus, taxi and our feet. We only visited Domäne Wachau then but I’ve heard that Nikolaihof is something to consider when in the region. Of the Vienna restaurants we enjoyed Steirereck and Palmenhaus.

Has anybody stayed at the Hotel Imperial in Vienna?

We’re considering it for our September visit. Location is excellent. Beautiful, but so too is the Sacher, where we’ve stayed in the past.

Thanks all. I will check out all of the recommendations. Looking forward to the trip!!

My family thinks that the Ritz Carlton in Vienna has the best hotel breakfast anywhere on earth… and, I agree.

So the trip is coming together nicely but my last decision is this. I plan on spending a day in the Wachau doing some wine tasting and I essentially have 2 options.

I can rent a car for the day which would cost be about $200 USD for an automatic (I don’t drive stick unfortunately) and the car rental place is only about a 15 minute walk from our hotel so that’s not too bad. We would then have the hotel help make a few reservations and set our schedule and then be on our own (which is how we have typically always traveled through wine country) with the ability to stop where and when we want for pictures or lunch, etc.

Alternatively, our hotel could arrange a private driver for the day (8-9 hours) to whisk us around the Wachau for the day and take us to the different appointments and to Durnstein and then back to the hotel with our wine for 450 euro.

Thoughts? The money is obviously different but not the main factor in the decision for me. We tend to like being on our own pace and schedule and obviously being in the car with a stranger all day is a bit different than just the two of us but at the same time it would be nice not to have to worry about driving especially considering drinking will be involved.

Just take a train to Krems and then bus or taxi.

Konstantin Filippou & O boufés in Vienna, Austria Michelin 1*, really enjoyed it.
I got this tip from a fellow wine berserker. I emailed the Austrian Wine Bureau and they set up appointments for me with each winery I wanted to go to. I used wine creds as an intro and they responded. Might be worth a try. http://www.austrianwine.com
We went to Heidler, Nigl, Schloss Gobelsburg and Brundylmayer. Also had dinner at Nikolaihof.

More here Austria Tips? - Travel, Wine Tourism, and Restaurants Forum - WineBerserkers

Don’t know if you’ve finalized this yet but I’m glad we had a car when I was there a few years back. As you said, it gives a lot of flexibility and lets you decide when and where you want to go. The roads were easy. Just watch your consumption and you’ll be fine.

(Also, learn how to drive a stick. There are a lot of places in Europe that don’t even offer an automatic option, plus a stick is more fun to drive.)

I actually opted for the rental car route. Found an automatic through Hertz for about €100 for the day so that works for me. I agree that having a car for the day on our own terms gives us some more flexibility so I’m happy with the result. Now I just need to book some winery appointments!

Try to set up a visit with F.X. Pichler if you can. Beautiful building, even if it’s not what you’d expect in the area, and great wines.

We were in Vienna last September in addition to the restaurants mentioned above I would add Amador. World class and on a par with Steireck

Take the short train to Bratislava and go to their “wine museum” in the old town. 80+ bottles of Slovakian wine available, pay by the hourfor all you can taste. Amazing experience.

Also a great wine bar around the corner called Grand Cru run by a guy named Martin who is absolutely wonderful.