Day Trips from Vienna
 

hi all-
I'm taking the family on a quick jaunt to vienna in early November to take advantage of some very cheap airfares. We'll be arriving on a Saturday around noon, and then departing on the following Tuesday morning. My original plan was to spend the first and last nights in Vienna, and then hop to Budapest for a night in between, since I've always wanted to visit. I'm getting lots of pushback from wife and one of the kids, however-- they're both still tired from our last vacation, and want to stick to one hotel for the duration of the trip. So assuming I give in and decide to defer Budapest for a future trip, I'm wondering if there are nice day trips outside of Vienna that would be fun for my kids (ages 11 and 14) as a little break from the city. I did some research,but many of the suggested places (Kreuzenstein castle, Wachau boat trip) seem to be closed or very limited in November. Any thoughts on places/activities that might be of interest?

You could go to Bratislava for a day, totally worth it.

Yes to Bratislava. ÖBB sells a Wien-Bratislava ticket (which I think costs 16 Euros now) and is good for a RT ticket on the regional train between the two cities. It's about a 50 minute journey. And IIRC, it also is valid on a few of the main bus lines from the train stations in Bratislava. You can also use FlixBus or RegioJet bus service to make the trip. They both have frequent service (usually hourly) and can be less than 10 Euros RT depending on when you book. Personally, I prefer RegioJet because they depart from the Hauptbahnof, and which is a lot nicer area to wait at, than from the OmniBus station at Erdberg (which is a dump).

i actually wouldnt recommend bratislava. just not that interesting. no offense to residents.

november is not too cold to have a hike around the vienna woods (wienerwald). there are some play places there, as well as animal pens. there are also jungle-gym style places, but not sure if they operate in that late season.
https://www.naturparke.at/startseite/

renaissance faires only run in summer, but there are still plenty of castles to visit -- particularly ruined ones (bergruine), in different levels of preservation. the park of Laxenburg is large, with lots of features and nice castle. Liechtenstein castle is another nice one.

on the czech side there is nice castle of Lednice, near the ruined austrian castle of Falkenstein. next to bratislava is Devin castle. just no need for bratislava itself

I agree. There is enough 'city' in Vienna not to need to schlep the family to Bratislava, however beautiful it is. There is so much to see around Vienna itself that any number of day trips into the countryside would be worth it.

You can go to the Roman ruins at Carnuntum, which is on the way from Vienna to Bratislava.

Agree that Bratislava is well worth a trip. It's an hour bus or train ride from Vienna. A beautiful city on the Danube. You can also do Prague in a day as I did; although it's a four hour bus ride and you will only have a few hours to spend there, but it's a fairly compact city and you can take the metro into the center of town and explore the old parts of the city which are definitely worth seeing.

I did this last year. Not really worth it: more expensive than the bus or train and for 95% of it you just see trees and an occasional house on both shores of the river. :(

What about the Melk Abbey? Welcome to Melk

Hmm, some people find it more convenient to take the boat DOWN the Danube from Vienna. :D

We've been going to both Vienna and Bratislava for decades.

With only a few days, I'd stay in Vienna - there's so much to see and do you can easily fill the two days you'll have there.

Walk in the Vienna woods - https://www.wien.gv.at/english/leisu...ing/paths.html I love Stadtwanderweg1.
Go to https://www.schoenbrunn.at/en/ the Palace and/or zoo
Check out the Technical museum (so cool!) - https://www.technischesmuseum.at/language/en-us/home
Seen "the Third Man"? - great museum here: THIRD MAN MUSEUM :: OPENING TIMES (Open Saturday afternoons).
Walk around the Ringstrasse.
Hofburg palace, Graben/Kartnerstrasse, St. Stephansdom. (Google them).
And do not miss Trzniewski - great little sandwiches - our favorite spot for a quick bite.https://www.trzesniewski.at/filialen/dorotheergasse

Bratislava isn't worth the trip for a two day visit, IMO. Some nice places to visit but with just two days in Vienna your days will be very full and fun.

Edited to add: don't do the boat trip. I spent what seemed like 1000 years of my life going up and down the Danube one afternoon. :)

Thanks everyone for all of the suggestions. I'm going to start my research, but the Vienna Woods with Liechtenstein castle sounds like it could be good choice, as my kids love to visit castles and it would be nice to get out of the city for a bit. I'm glad to hear the feedback on the boat to Bratislava as well; I had seen that online and was thinking it might be fun (but apparently not). I"m also tempted by bergruine, though I'll have to figure out how much time is involved in getting there.
I also appreciate the suggestions in the city itself- I've definitely been planning to visit both palaces. I'd love any additional suggestions for favorite restaurants to visit while we're there.

OK, I thought the OP was staying 9 nights in Vienna, not 2. If that's the case, then I would not make any day trips from Vienna as it would eat up too much time. I would recommend going up to Kahlenberg for the views of the city, if it is a clear day or no low-level clouds. I always take people up there who are visiting Vienna for the first time. You can catch the 38A bus directly from the Heiligenstatdt subway station (U4 line). And the whole trip can be done in less than two hours.

Food is an important part of the visit to Vienna, fulgmuller for schnitzel, it hangs over the plate, and a stop at demel or cafe landman for a chocolate or dessert treat is a good way to take a break. There is also good public transportation. There are many Hofburg musuems, people tend to go to the big one, which has longer lines, but there are also smaller ones that are pretty unusual and beautiful, the state library is amazing, and the globe museum and the esperanto museum. There are also short music concerts at night. They are touristy and a bit expensive, but they are nice music and costume, and sometimes dance as well in nice settings.