Melk Abbey

Melk Abbey tickets: which one to buy

Melk Abbey stands on a rocky outcrop above the Danube and the town of Melk, at the western entrance to the Wachau valley in Lower Austria, about an hour by train from Vienna, and a ticket is required, covering the museum, the Marble Hall, the library, the church and the gardens; guided tours are included or available at set times in English. It is one of the most magnificent baroque monasteries in Europe.

Day trips from Vienna combine Melk with a boat trip along the Wachau valley to Krems or Dürnstein, with vineyards, castles and apricot orchards, and the Wachau is a UNESCO World Heritage landscape. The train from Vienna and a boat back makes a classic day. The abbey is a working Benedictine monastery and school, and parts of it are closed to visitors. The abbey's restaurant and gardens are pleasant places to rest. Combined tickets for the train from Vienna, the abbey and the boat along the Wachau are sold at Vienna's stations.

Visiting Melk Abbey: what to see

The site was a fortress of the Babenberg rulers, who gave it to Benedictine monks in 1089, and the monastery has been inhabited continuously ever since. The present abbey was rebuilt between 1702 and 1736 by the architect Jakob Prandtauer in a grand baroque style, and its yellow and white facade stretches for more than three hundred metres above the river. The visit includes the Imperial Rooms, now a museum about the abbey's history; the Marble Hall, with a ceiling painting by Paul Troger; a balcony terrace with views over the Danube; and the library, with about a hundred thousand books and a painted ceiling, which inspired the library in Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose.

The abbey church is a dazzling baroque interior of gold, marble and frescoes by Johann Michael Rottmayr, with a high altar and a dome. The Melk Cross, a medieval reliquary, is displayed in the museum. The garden pavilion, in the abbey park, is decorated with exotic frescoes of distant lands. The treasury displays chalices, monstrances and reliquaries. The terrace between the Marble Hall and the library looks down on the town and the river. The abbey school, one of the oldest in Austria, still educates children. The church's organ is used for concerts in summer. The exhibition in the imperial rooms uses modern design to tell the abbey's history.

Melk Abbey opening hours and the best time to go

The abbey is open daily from April to October, and in winter it is open only for guided tours. Summer is the busiest season, especially when river cruises arrive in the middle of the day, and early morning or late afternoon visits are quieter. Spring brings apricot blossom to the Wachau, and autumn is the wine harvest season. Concerts are held in the abbey in summer, including the International Baroque Days at Pentecost. Allow about two hours for the abbey and gardens, and take a boat along the Wachau valley afterwards. Dürnstein, where Richard the Lionheart was held captive, is about forty minutes by boat or car down the Wachau valley.