7 Days: Vienna and All 5 Austria Trips

Seven days is the longest version of this plan and the only one that reaches Hallstatt, genuinely far at 3.5-4 hours each way. It builds directly on the 6-day plan : the same Bratislava, Wachau, Graz and Salzburg-overnight days, with day 7 added for Hallstatt instead of a second Vienna day. Read the honest verdict below before committing day 7 to it; the shorter 6-day plan without Hallstatt is the better choice for some travelers.

Book these before you go

Day Focus Distance / Train Time from Vienna
1 Vienna, your home base Home base
2 Bratislava, Slovakia 56 min to 1h by train
3 Wachau Valley + Melk Abbey about 1h to Melk
4 Semmering Railway + Graz (full day) about 1h15 to Semmering, 2h40 total to Graz
5-6 Salzburg (overnight) 2h15-2h32 by railjet
7 Hallstatt 3.5-4h each way plus a lake ferry

Day 1: Vienna, Your Home Base

Morning

Check into a Vienna hotel near Wien Hauptbahnhof for five of your seven nights (Salzburg takes days 5-6). A 7-day Wiener Linien pass covers the U-Bahn for the week; standalone 48h/72h tickets no longer exist as of Jan 1, 2026.

Afternoon

Orient around Stephansplatz and the Graben with a coffeehouse stop. Full Vienna sightseeing lives in our Vienna guide ; this week is built around leaving the city, not staying in it.

Evening

Early dinner, early night. Six straight travel days start tomorrow.

Day 2: Bratislava, Slovakia

Morning

REX to Bratislava Hlavna Stanica, as little as 56 minutes since 2025 electrification, no reservation needed. Old Town first: Main Square, St. Martin’s Cathedral.

Afternoon

Bratislava Castle for the Danube view, then lunch, cheaper here than an equivalent Vienna meal.

Evening

REX back to Wien Hauptbahnhof.

Day 3: Wachau Valley and Melk Abbey

Morning

Direct train from Wien Westbahnhof to Melk, about an hour. Current hours for the 1089-founded monastery are on stiftmelk.at .

Afternoon

Krems-Melk boat leg if it’s running (check ddsg-blue-danube.at , spring and autumn 2026 have real gaps); otherwise a direct train from Krems.

Evening

Dinner back in Vienna.

Day 4: Semmering Railway and Graz

Morning

Railjet or IC/EC from Wien Hauptbahnhof toward Graz, about 2h40 total, the Semmering stretch (Gloggnitz-Mürzzuschlag, UNESCO-listed, opened 1854) hitting around 1h15 into the trip.

Afternoon

Graz’s old town and Schlossberg hill fill an afternoon; graztourismus.at has current hours.

Evening

Back toward Vienna on any of up to 30 daily departures.

Day 5: Salzburg, Arrival

Morning

Railjet from Wien Hauptbahnhof, 2h15-2h32, no changes (double-check you’re not on Westbahn’s Westbahnhof service by mistake). Check into a Salzburg hotel before sightseeing.

Afternoon

The fortress, the cathedral, and the Mozart sites at an unhurried pace. salzburg.info has current hours.

Evening

Dinner in the Altstadt.

Day 6: Salzburg, Morning, Then Onward

Morning

A second, calmer look at whatever day 5 missed, a museum, the Salzach riverbank, or the fortress funicular.

Afternoon

Railjet back to Wien Hauptbahnhof, 2h15-2h32.

Evening

Dinner in Vienna, and an early night ahead of the week’s longest travel day.

Day 7: Hallstatt

Morning

The one direct daily train (Westbahnhof 08:45 to Hallstatt 11:54) plus the short lake ferry from the station to the village is the only way to do this without changing trains multiple times. Sparschiene fares from around EUR19.90 make it cheap; walk-up fares run up to EUR59.60.

Afternoon

A few hours in the village, the lakefront, the salt-mine views above town, cover the essentials; hallstatt.net has current ferry times.

Evening

The return trip mirrors the morning: ferry, then train, arriving back in Vienna late.

Should You Actually Do Hallstatt as a Day Trip on Day 7?

Only if you’ve accepted the trade-off going in. A same-day round trip burns 7+ hours in transit for a few hours in the village, which is the exact scenario the dossier calls a poor decision. The more honest version of day 7 is an overnight in Hallstatt instead, even if that means arriving home a day later than this itinerary assumes; if that’s not possible, swap Hallstatt for a relaxed extra day back in Vienna and save it for a future trip.

Is a Week Enough to Cover All Five Austria Day Trips?

Barely, and only by compressing Hallstatt into a single long day that the dossier itself doesn’t fully recommend. Bratislava, the Wachau, Graz and a proper Salzburg overnight all fit comfortably in seven days; Hallstatt is the one trip here that really wants an eighth day, so treat day 7 as the realistic-but-rushed version, not the ideal one.

Book the direct Hallstatt train (Westbahnhof 08:45) as far ahead as Sparschiene fares allow. It’s the only same-day option that doesn’t add an extra connection, and cheap advance seats on it go first.