Baden bei Wien
- Vienna Woods (Wienerwald): Towns, Abbeys and Sights Beyond Vienna
The Vienna Woods begin at Vienna's western and southern edge and run out through Lower Austria past Baden, Mödling, Heiligenkreuz Abbey and Mayerling. Here is what each stop is, how the towns string together by train, bus or car, and which sights reward a detour.
- Baden bei Wien: A Spa Town Guide to the Old Center and Museums
Baden bei Wien works as a half-day base south of Vienna: a compact old center and the Kaiserhaus museum in town, with Liechtenstein Castle and the Seegrotte underground lake a short drive into the Vienna Woods.
- Heiligenkreuz Abbey: Visiting the Cistercian Monastery in the Vienna Woods
Heiligenkreuz Abbey is a living Cistercian monastery about 15 km west of Vienna, with a Romanesque nave, a 1295 Gothic hall choir and a cloister from the 1220s. This guide covers the buildings in order, the audio-guide hours, the monks' Latin chant and how to reach it by car or train.
- Laxenburg, Austria: Palace Park, Franzensburg Castle and Boats
Laxenburg is a small market town in Lower Austria whose imperial palace park, the largest landscape garden in Austria, spreads around an island castle, the Franzensburg. Here is how the park is laid out, when it opens, what the boat trip and tower tour add, and how to reach it by train from Vienna or Baden bei Wien.
- Mayerling: The Hunting Lodge Where Crown Prince Rudolf Died
Mayerling is a small former imperial hunting lodge in the Vienna Woods where Crown Prince Rudolf and Baroness Mary Vetsera were found dead in 1889. Today it is a working Carmelite convent and memorial site, best paired with Heiligenkreuz Abbey on a half-day outing from Baden bei Wien or Vienna.
- Mödling, Austria: Old Center, Castle Ruin and Vienna Woods
Mödling is a compact Lower Austrian town at the southern rim of the Vienna Woods, with a car-free historic center and a castle ruin on the ridge above it. Here is what to see, how the walk up works, and how the town slots into a rail route between Vienna and Baden.
- Seegrotte Hinterbrühl: Underground Lake in a Former Gypsum Mine
The Seegrotte Hinterbrühl is a show mine in a former gypsum mine near Vienna, where visitors walk through mine tunnels and take a boat trip on an underground lake the operator calls Europe's largest. Here is what the site is, how it fits a Lower Austria route through the Vienna Woods, and how to plan the stop.