Austria
Wachau Valley
Wachau Valley: Terraced Vineyards, Apricot Orchards and Castle Ruins on the Danube
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Sailing the Wachau
The Wachau is the Danube valley between Melk and Krems in Lower Austria, more than 30 km of river with vineyards, villages and castle ruins along its banks. On a river cruise itinerary, Wachau Valley usually marks the day your ship sails this stretch, often alongside a call at Melk, Dürnstein or Krems, and your cruise line will tell you whether and where you go ashore.
- Towns along the valley include Melk, Emmersdorf, Spitz, Weißenkirchen, Dürnstein and Krems.
- Melk Abbey's Baroque buildings stand on a rock above the river at the valley's western end.
- Three medieval castle ruins look down on the river: Dürnstein, Hinterhaus on a ridge of the Jauerling, the highest mountain in the Wachau, and Aggstein, about 300 m above the south bank.
- The vines grow on steep terraces of thin, stony soil above the water.
Getting Around the Valley
If your ship stops in the Wachau, you can explore the valley along the river: cycle paths follow both banks, regional buses run the length of the valley, and excursion boats ply between Melk and Krems in summer. A 34 km stretch of railway between Krems and Emmersdorf is kept for tourist and heritage trains, which stop for the winter.
- The cycle path on the north bank is paved all the way and passes through the villages; on the south bank it shares the road for long stretches.
- Bus WL1 runs along the north bank and the less frequent WL2 along the south bank.
- Boats take about half as long going downstream from Melk to Krems as they do going upstream.
Food and Wine
The Wachau is white-wine country, known for dry Riesling and Grüner Veltliner grown on terraces above the river, and for apricots, which are sold under their own protected name. Winemakers serve their own wine with cold food at a Heuriger, a wine tavern open for part of the year.
- Wachauer Marille is a protected designation of origin for apricots grown in the Wachau and neighboring municipalities, among them Spitz, Dürnstein, Weißenkirchen and Krems.
- Apricot growing for market began on a large scale here in 1890.
- A winemaker shows that the Heuriger is open by hanging a sign over the door: a bunch of twigs, or in the Wachau a small straw wreath.
- A decree of Emperor Joseph II on August 17, 1784, let anyone sell wine and food they had produced themselves, the root of the Heuriger tradition.
Tipping in Austria
Tipping is customary in Austria, and although the law does not require it, many people see it as expected. In restaurants 5 to 10 percent of the bill is common, and the currency is the euro.
- Taxi drivers are usually tipped too, often by rounding the fare up to the next euro.
- Do not offer a tip to a government employee, since it may be taken as a bribe.
History
People have lived in the Wachau since the Old Stone Age, and its monasteries, castles and vineyard terraces were shaped over more than a thousand years of church and noble rule. UNESCO listed the valley as a cultural landscape in December 2000.
- Stone Age figures: The Venus of Willendorf, a limestone figurine about 11 cm tall made around 30,000 years ago, was found near Willendorf on August 7, 1908, at a Paleolithic site.
- The Roman frontier: The Danube marked the edge of the Roman Empire, and remains of small Roman watchtower forts survive on the south bank, most visibly at Bacharnsdorf. Roman rule ended when Odoacer ordered the Latin-speaking population out in 488.
- A name on record: The valley's name appears as locus Wahowa in 853.
- Melk Abbey: Margrave Leopold II gave one of his castles to Benedictine monks in 1089, and the abbey's Baroque buildings went up between 1702 and 1736.
- A captive king: Richard the Lionheart, seized by Duke Leopold V on his way home from the Third Crusade, was held at Dürnstein castle from December 1192 to March 1193.
- The railway: The line along the Danube opened in 1909; the section between Emmersdorf and Krems was protected as a monument in 1998, and regular passenger service ended in 2010.
- To learn more ashore: Melk Abbey, above the town of Melk at the western end of the valley, is open to visitors and has been home to Benedictine monks since 1089.
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