Visiting Melk Abbey: Hours, Prices and the English Tour Times

You buy your ticket at the gate, in the first courtyard, and you need no reservation. Weighing up a Melk Abbey tour from Vienna? Check first whether your fare already covers that ticket, because most do not.

A working monastery you can walk through

Stift Melk, Melk Abbey in English, is a Benedictine monastery on a granite rock above the Danube, roughly halfway between Vienna and Linz. Monks have lived here without a break since 1089. The Baroque buildings you walk through were rebuilt after 1701, to plans by Jakob Prandtauer. The abbey has 1,365 windows and 497 rooms. It sits at the western end of the Wachau Cultural Landscape, a World Heritage Site since 2000.

Opening hours for 2026 and 2027

The long summer hours run from 1 April to 31 October. In winter the abbey opens later and closes earlier, and from 7 January to 19 March you can only go in on a guided tour. The same pattern returns from 20 March 2027.

The abbey park keeps its own season. From 1 April to 24 October it opens 9:00 to 18:00, and at either end of the season it closes at 17:00. It stays shut from November to March.

What a ticket costs in 2026

Prices below hold from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2027. You pay at the ticket office in the first courtyard, and only groups of 20 or more must book ahead.

Combination tickets pair the abbey with a second house nearby. Melk with Göttweig costs €27, with Schallaburg €28.50, and with Schloss Artstetten €29.60.

What your ticket covers

• The Imperial Staircase and Corridor. The corridor runs 196 metres, hung with portraits of the rulers.
• The museum. Its rooms, in the former imperial apartments, tell the abbey's story and hold the Melk altar of 1502.
• The Marble Hall and the balcony. Paul Troger painted the hall's ceiling in 1731. The balcony looks west over the town and the river.
• The library and the church. About 16,000 books are on view in the library's two historical rooms.
• The Northern Bastion. You get a panoramic terrace and the Wachau Lab, an exhibition made by the abbey school's students.
• The park and the garden pavilion, from April to October.

You can preview the rock, the church towers and the library in the Melk Abbey gallery, and read how travellers found the time inside in traveller reviews.

English guided tours for individual visitors

The guided tour takes about 50 minutes and costs €4 on top of admission. You join at the ticket office on the day; there is nothing to reserve. Plan at least 2.5 hours for the whole visit, with the church, the bastion and the park after the tour.

Which tours put the abbey in your fare

This is the line to read before you compare prices. The Danube Valley private tour includes a private tour of the abbey. The Vienna Sightseeing Wachau coach days include entry on a booking option. On most other tours you pay at the gate yourself, and the Hallstatt coach stops outside for photos only. Private days are compared on Melk Abbey private tours, and shared seats from the State Opera on Melk Abbey group tours.

House rules worth knowing

• No photos inside. You cannot take photos or video in the interior rooms. Outdoors, on the balcony, in the courtyards and the park, and on the bastion, private photos are fine.
• Dogs stay in the courtyards, on a leash. Service and guide dogs may go everywhere.
• No costumes. Fancy dress is not allowed anywhere in the abbey.
• Noon prayer is open to you. It is held at 12:00 daily in the abbey church, with no reservation.

Getting there, parking and access

From Melk railway station you walk to the abbey in 10 to 15 minutes through the town. From the river pier it is about 30 minutes. If you drive, follow the STIFT MELK signs to the car park on Stiftsstraße, which is free with a validated admission ticket. The Danube Cycle Path runs past the town, and there is bike parking at the abbey. Every route, and every tour's meeting point in Vienna, is on how to get to Melk Abbey.

A lift runs from the car park to the entrance level, and most of the visit is step-free with staff help. The details, including the two loan wheelchairs, are on Melk Abbey accessibility. How the seasons change a visit is on Melk Abbey weather.

Frequently asked before you go