Melk Abbey

Melk Abbey is absolutely stunning and well worth a visit. Perched above the Danube, it offers breathtaking views and an impressive example of Baroque architecture. The interiors are richly decorated, especially the abbey church and the famous library with its beautiful ceiling frescoes. The whole complex feels grand and full of history, yet still peaceful. It can get busy, but the experience is unforgettable and a true highlight of Austria.

Lovely historical abbey, filled with gorgeous sites, the gardens are probably impressive but went in the Christmas Season. The site is beautifully maintained and great shopping Pictures are not allowed inside, only outside, however great little shop has tons of post cards depicting the inside. Nice sweets and chocolate as well.

Astonishing architecture and art inside of the monastery (keep in mind - you’re not allowed to take pictures or videos inside). Very well maintained, a huge territory to walk around and enjoy this wonderful place of such a rich history.

Veru nice place. Use parking on top, it’s payed, but close to entrance (4€ for 2,5 hours). Church is really nice and good looking. Nice views spot. Best for me was garden. Not that huge but so many places to see, perfect experience. Enjoy your time here.

We never to a chance to visit the Abbey from the inside, however just stopping by and looking at it from the outside is amazing. The size of the Abbey will really surprise you. You can get a good view from the outside with space to quickly park and take some few pics. Definitely worth looking.

I visited it as part of a large excursion. I only had 20 minutes, which is far too little time to admire the building and the interior of the church. Photography is not allowed—it is a place of worship and deserves respect. I would recommend staying longer if you can.

If you’re stopping in Melk you have to stop at the Abbey. The guided tour was fantastic and the guide was so knowledgeable and fun. The views are also amazing !

Absolutely stunning and unique Abbey dominating the landscape on the hill overlooking the tiny town. Definitely worth the walk up to the top, if only just for the views! The Abbey itself is beautiful and filled with so much detail and significance, but the historic library is even more impressive and has a fascinating history too. There are large gardens too with 3 walks of varying lengths included in the entrance ticket but it was mid-summer and way too hot to explore so we gave this a miss. Looked interesting though!

Melk Abbey is a stunningly beautiful complex itself and is home to one of the most beautiful churches in the world. But getting there is a bit of a pain unless you have a rental car or are on a bus tour. This monastery was originally a castle and was converted in the 12th century. The current Baroque design is from the 1700s and includes an integrated abbey church that is surrounded by the monastic complex. Inside the church, this is one of the most opulent, over-the-top Baroque interiors I've ever seen. Everything is pink marble and gold with overwhelmingly ornate decor and expansive ceiling frescos. It's quite a sight to behold. Most of the rest of the complex is off-limits to visitors as it is still in active use. If you have the extra time, I highly recommend visiting.

Gayle and I had a free day in Austria. My first choice was a short trip to Slovakia, and honestly just to check a geographic box. Gayle suggested a boat ride on the Danube, including a visit to the Melk Abbey. She chose well. Melk Abbey was originally a palace, and in it's multi-faceted grandeur, it shows. With its towers and golden hue, you can't miss it, or fail to be fascinated. It was built in the early 18th Century, and features stunning frescoes, a wondrous cathedral, and a library containing scores of medieval manuscripts. My only disappointment was not being able to see the impossible: the part of the collection only trusted and trained librarians could access. This religious complex not only hosts scores of tourists, but is also a prestigious coed monastery school with more than 700 students, and with an active Benedictine monk pretense. The surrounding town site is also very pretty.

Melk Abbey was built between 1702 and 1736 by Jakob Prandtauer, and is possibly the most famous Abbey in Austria. It was originally a royal palace, and in the 11th century, Leopold II presented the palace to the Benedictine monks. This monastery is more than 900 years old, and is also still run as a monastery school with over 700 students. We arrived in the afternoon at 2:50, and took a short ride to the Abbey. We took the Viking River Cruise, and the ride from the port to the Abbey was a short 5 minute drive, but the view of the city was breathtaking. Our group congregated in the courtyard before heading inside. Our guide said his name was Phillip, but if we didn't like him, his name is Thomas. Phillip moved quickly from room to room, and One room we went in had a scaled model of the Abbey, and then we went outside to connect to the library, but we were forbidden to take photos in there. From the library, we went down a spiral case and connected into the church. Like most European churches, this church was impressive with dark wood and lots of gold, and fresco ceilings. We didn't have much time after the tour, as the ship had to push off to Vienna. The town of Melk is small, but I'd recommend a day visit to the Abbey.

Melk Abbey was founded in 1089 when Leopold II gave one of his castle/palaces to the Benedictine monks. The abbey sits majestically on a hill overlooking the Danube. The position of the palace lends itself to great photo opportunities of the Danube, the Wachau valley and the town of Melk. The tomb of St. Coleman of Stockerau, as well as, the remains of several members of the House of Babenburg (first ruling dynasty of Austria) reside here. Today's Baroque Abbey was built between 1702-36 and was designed by Jakob Piandlauer. Black robed monks can be seen walking the grounds as well as students who attend the coed school at Melk Abbey. Friedrich Halm, a 19th century Austrian dramatist was an alumni. There is a huge parking lot next to the Abbey which is free. A self-guided tour for Adults is 19 Euros and with a guide an additional 12 Euros. The Emperor's Gallery stretches 650 feet and is decorated with portraits of Austrian royalty. The Marble Hall with pilasters of red marble has an allegorical painted by Paul Troger. The Library which has two floors also has a ceiling fresco by Troger and 80,000 volumes of priceless Medieval manuscripts. The library is the only place where no photos are permitted. The library looks like it came straight out of Harry Potter. The Abbey Church is enriched with marble, a fresco by J.M. Rottmayr and Paul Troger. There are gardens which were designed in the Baroque style in 1750 but later redesigned in 1822 as English country gardens. It's 4 Euros to see only the gardens but it is free when you purchase a Melk Abbey tour. There is a restaurant on the property which serves hot meals and wine. During Napoleon's Austrian campaigns, he used Melk Abbey as his headquarters.

In the village of Spitz, lies the incredible Benedictine Abbey; this 18th century marvel that the Danube embraces. The massive size of this Abbey really needs a full day to explore every nook and cranny. Today I took a guided tour that generously explained the history of the Abbey. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside the church. But take my word this tour is well worth it. You start by climbing this beautiful staircase that leads you into several rooms. Each room has its own splendor that have magnificent hand painted frescoes that are not as huge as the Sistine Chapel but equally stunning. There are relics such as a box thousands of years old that is carved in ivory. The carvings are of the life of Jesus. There are archived manuscripts from the 16th century. A library that houses 20,000 books. One of the highlights before entering the magnificent church was going outside and taking photos of the Church with the Danube river flowing along side it. The Cathedral was massive, with a multitude of ornate statues and altars.Each pew's side was made of hand carved wood. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and polite. He also conducted the tour in 4 languages: English, Austrian, French and Spanish. The tour usually has a boat ride along the Danube and runs through end of October. Thus, we didn't have the boat ride, the replacement was lunch at a local restaurant. The tour operator was Vienna Sightseeing Tours. They do pick ups from most hotels and drop you off at the end at Opera House in Ringstrasse. This tour is pretty much an all day tour( it is part of the Wachau Valley Tour)

Another stop on our Danube River cruise. So stift translates as abbey, and this is one cool Benadictine Abbey. There are about 12 rooms to visit, as well as the terrace, library (approximately 100,000 volumes in total), church and courtyards. The lighting in the rooms, and the way the rooms are laid out, create a very emotional experience in this museum. I kept trying to imagine what it must have been like to visit the abbey when the museum area was actually the guest rooms. The Abbey's website has a very concise overview of the museum (http://www.stiftmelk.at/englisch/index.html). The page is in English and has many of the same pictures I took, except their photographer was allowed to use a flash and tripod, so the pictures are great. In fact I took several of the same pictures, but the website's are obviously much better. Two of the more unique items were the "reusable coffin" (room 7) and the "lock box" (room 10, part 2). Though not described on the website, the coffin had a bottom that could be released from above. So once the body and coffin were lowered ceremoniously, a rope could be pulled allowing the body to fall and thus the coffin could be reused... Very frugal. The lock box really needs to be seen in action. Requiring several keys, the intricacy of the locking mechanism was amazing. The church, in all its baroque glory is mind boggling. I'm always amazed at this level of opulence, especially when the leitmotif "ABSIT GLORIARI NISI INCRUCE" (Glory is found only in the cross) is found in the inscription over the Benedict Hall. I guess it's how you interpret the word "cross", as this is one beautiful church. The splendor the glory of the cross is quite clear. While I could see how large crowd could damper this experience, I would still recommend visiting the abbey, hopefully at a time when a riverboat full of tourists is not also there. One thing I did not see mentioned on the website is apricots. We were told that the abbey has apricot orchards, and this is evidenced by the number of apricot products for sale in the gift shop: Apricot jam, apricot nectar, and my favorite, apricot brandy. But the gift shop has much more than apricot products. It also had a very good selections of postcards, pictures and books, as well as the other trinkets a tourist expects (bottle openers, fridge magnets, etc.). Our only regret, and not a fault of the Abbey, is that we did not have more time to explore and enjoy Melk. It looked great from the Abbey's terrace overlook. So if you are heading this way, leave some extra time in your schedule. PS. Hours vary by season. The hours listed above (9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.) are for May to September with the last admission at 5:00 p.m. April and October the hours are: 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. (last admission at 4:00 p.m.) November to March visits are possible only with a guided tour (See website for details). If you are interested in a guided tour during regular hours (from April to October), daily guided tours in English are at 10:55 a.m. and 2:55 p.m. Tours are also available in German (I guess that's kinda obvious).

What a great day visiting Stift Melk a/k/a Melk Abbey. We arrived by bus and boat via our tour. The Abbey is beautiful. We did the tour of the Abbey in English arranged through our tour which was about an hour and would strongly recommend doing the tour. After the tour we walked down a spiral staircase to the Church. The church was the most beautiful Church I've ever seen in Europe and is a must see! We then walked the grounds of the Abbey which was beautiful too. There is a restaurant at the Abbey that has indoor and outdoor seating. There is a gift shop too.

It is the main attraction in town and attracts tons of locals and tourists alike. It towers over the town and visible from quite the distance. The abbey was founded in 1089 when Leopold II, Margrave of Austria gave one of his castles to Benedictine monks from Lambach Abbey. A monastic school, the Stiftsgymnasium Melk, was founded in the 12th century, and the monastic library soon became renowned for its extensive manuscript collection. Today's Baroque abbey was built between 1702 and 1736 to designs by Jakob Prandtauer. Particularly noteworthy are the abbey church with frescos and the library with countless medieval manuscripts, including a famed collection of musical manuscripts and frescoes. The school was returned to the abbey after the Second World War and now caters for nearly 900 pupils of both sexes. You will see tons of school students when you visit here. You can buy a ticket and go through all the main bits of this abbey and that could take hours or you can walk around the grounds like I did and spend a great deal of time marveling the amazing architecture and various sections of this ginormous place. Well worth a visit when you are in the area. The town of Melk is also quite pretty.

For my 600th review I wanted to write about something epic and Melk Abbey immediately came to mind. This is still a functioning abbey that also welcomes tourists to visit it. It was one of the shore excursions available on our Danube river cruise. I wasn't prepared for how awe-inspiring this would be. When you first approach the abbey there's an ultra-modern restroom facilities and a small cafe before you enter the outside courtyard. First there's a museum of religious artifacts that also looks modern and relatively new. There are multiple rooms of some beautiful pieces. There's a marble hall with an intricately painted ceiling. You also have the opportunity to go outside on a terrace that provides some great views of the town near the abbey. After that is a an intricately decorated library. The library is attached to a spiral staircase that goes to the abbey church. This is the part that took my breath away. A few days earlier I had been in St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest and I thought that was huge. The abbey church made it look small. It's hard to emphasize how huge and beautiful this church is. Pictures really don't do it justice. If you have the chance it's something you have to put on your bucket list. I don't have many photos of our visit because they're really strict about photography. I'm so glad that we went on this excursion!

Dating back over a thousand years, but mostly from the C18th, Melk Abbey (Stift Melk) is an expansive, breath-takingly beautiful Benendictine Abbey at the top end of the Wachau Valley - the most scenic part of the Danube running from Melk to Krems. Like many historic buildings in Austria, much can be seen without paying an entrance fee (including the church and the gardens), but certain parts are for paying guests only.

Melk was a stop along the Danube River which I was cruising on with AMA Waterways- a tour of the abbey was one of the included options and I am so thrilled I went. This place is stunningly beautiful. Baroque in style and such interesting history. If you happen to have an opportunity to go to Melk, please do so and do your self a favor; tour the abbey,!totally worth it!

I ventured outside of Vienna to the town of Melk. There are quite a few tours that come out here but since it was later November, we could only take the train. I say this was completely worth the trip. Location: It located at the top of the town; you can see it almost at any point. It is a little bit of a trek but definitely not too bad. There are plenty of signs along the way to help as well. Venue: Loved it. Check the tour times and make sure to book ahead. It is definitely worth it to go for the guided tour for a couple of euros. The guide was very well informed and kept me interested. I also appreciated the opportunity to take pictures; many of the Vienna ones don't allow it. The architecture is simply amazing. And when you get to the church, the grandeur simply takes your breath away. Luckily enough, there were international choirs performing Christmas songs/carols. Loved every minute of it! Definitely worth a trip out to see. I'd even go again!

I have visited a large number of religious houses and abbeys all over the world. So far, this is the most impressive. Worth a day trip from Vienna. Wow. Wow. Wow.

Absolutely beautiful abbey both inside and outside. We did a one day Danube boat tour from Melk to Krems and this was included and I'm so glad it was. If just visiting, admission is €10 without an audio guide plus and extra €4 for the gardens which are equally beautiful. Just note, in the library, no photography is allowed and the lady who worked there was up our a--es about it because I had my camera out and was trying to sneak a couple shots with my iPhone .

Since there is a 5 star and a 3 star review already, let me add a 4 star in english. Woopee. No seriously, I'm a 'yay' about Melk too, of course. Unesco World Heritage site, no joke. Beautiful beautiful building, nice grounds also. Fantastic library, and of course a beautiful church inside the abbey itself. A nice day trip from Vienna. I didn't know about the wine or the apricots which the other reviewers mentioned, maybe there'll be a next time....

This is a nice day trip from Vienna and if you have even a remote interest in late baroque and rococo architecture it is a must, as it is so commonly included in books on art and architecture. The tour (given in various languages) not only includes the magnificent library and dining hall but also a museum of ecclesiastical objects which are spectacular in and of themselves. You are then free to wander around the splendid chapel on your own, along with the garden area. This is one of the most important sites in architectural history so please consider it seriously if you are at all in the area. The splendor of the site also will make it appealing to children as well.

Cool place to visit. I did a day trip out from Vienna. I started in Melk, checked out this gorgeous abbey, then rented a bike and biked 35 km to Krems. Melk was a great starting point. Cute town and when you get there early you don't have to deal with quite so many off-the-boat tourists. I decided to skip the guided tour. Instead I paid 9 euros to walk around and check out the areas open for viewing. There were a ton of guide groups in front of me and people who gave me eat shit looks when I was shooting. Oh well. The price seemed a bit steep for a self guided tour, especially when there weren't many english translated signs, but I'm in a country that doesn't speak English as a first language so I guess I should have expected that. Honestly the thing that pushed up to 4 stars was the views from the balcony. Such wonderful views of the Austrian countryside. From what you get to see of the inside it's cool, but only the library and church really "did it" for me.