The Thaya Valley national park is located in Lower Austria, northwest of Vienna. Right on the border of the Czech Republic. The Thaya Valley national park is Austrias smallest national park with a size of 1.360 hectares. Together with the part in Czech Podyjí National Park, it measures a size of roughly 7.700 hectares.
Traveling to the Thaya Valley national park via public transportation is easy from Vienna. However, there are some transportation options that you aren’t easy to find online. Therefore, I dedicated this blog post to public transportation in the Thaya Valley. You absolutely can travel without a car around the Thaya Valley national park.
The region is one of the few places that doesn’t suffer from crowds during the hot summer months. The perfect weekend gateway from Vienna, if you need to unwind and relax. The train connection to the Thaya Valley is fast. You can get on the train at Vienna main station or anywhere between there and Floridsdorf.
You can reach the edge of the Thaya Valley via train from Vienna in 1 hour and 22 minutes. That’s when you arrive at Retz or if you want to stay on the Czech side, it is 1 hour 46 minutes to Znojmo, the city across the border. From those cities, you have few options you get to the national park:
From Retz to the Thaya Valley
For a special train ride, you can take the Reblausbahn, which is a nostalgic train. This train runs from Retz to Drosendorf only during the extended summer month during the weekends, from May till October, Friday to Sunday.
Going with this train is pretty fun, because it’s something special that you don’t experience often. Especially if you love traveling by train, you shouldn’t miss out on this adventure. You pay for a ticket on the train, or you can buy it beforehand on their webpage. If you are taking your bicycle with you, you need a reservation for that, but it doesn’t cost you extra. They have a whole wagon for bicycles.
You can get off at Pleißing-Waschbach and from there you can take the bus or cycle towards the national park. You do not have many options where you can go – there are two towns, Merkersdorf and Hardegg. Between them, you can also find the national park center.
Of course, you can also just take the bus directly from Retz and head to Merkersdorf or Hardegg. That takes around 20-30 minutes. The bus doesn’t run that frequently during weekends, so make sure you check the time schedule beforehand.
From Znojmo to the Thaya Valley
When you are choosing to stay in the Czech Republic, you can take the train to Znojmo. This is like Retz, also a bigger town in the area. Where you find grocery stores and various shops. For your complete escape from the bustling city of Vienna into nature, you need to take the bus from Znojmo. You can look up the time schedule here. It is the bus number 816 or 817 with the direction of Vranov. You can get off at any town on the route. Bus number 817 makes more stops, so you can get to Čížov, that’s where the national park center is. There are also some remnants of the Iron Curtain era. The stop is called Horní Břečkov,Čížov. If you don’t want to stay too remote, you can check out the towns Horní Břečkov or Lukov that are before reaching Čížov and from there you can still enjoy the national park.
Bicycle buses in the Thaya Valley
Something that is not very well communicated online is that the national park has bicycle buses and I don’t mean that buses ride bicycles but where you can get on the bus with your bicycle. If you are coming from Vienna and you are into cycling, then this is definitely your gem. However, be aware that the area is pretty hilly. The river Thaya lies in a valley, thus the name. So you need to have a certain fitness and endurance level. But the good thing is that there are buses running along the cycling paths that can pick up tired cyclists.
When I visited the area, I took the Reblausbahn and got handed a paper with the information about the buses. Unfortunately, it isn’t easy to read. But you can read the names of the stops and search for connections online. The bus schedule is not very frequent, but there is a bus in the morning or around noon and in the afternoon/evening.
You can buy bus tickets directly on the bus (you can even pay with your creditcard). During the weekend there is a special offer, the day ticket “Podyjí”, for 5,20 Euro you can use it for 24 hours on Saturday and Sunday. It includes 2 adults and 3 children under the age of 15.
This day pass also includes the train ride from Znojmo to Retz.
Infrastructure in the national park
Although public transportation is very well developed. At least during the summer months, you can use a lot of different travel connections within the national park or nearby. However, the food infrastructure is rather poor. There are two restaurants in Hardegg, but only one was open during my stay. The situation in Čížov seems to be similar. It is a quiet, small town. Horní Břečkov has a small supermarket. There is a restaurant in the center of the National Park in Hardegg. In Felling there is a small self-service kiosk. If you are renting a self-catering apartment, you can buy your groceries in the larger towns of Retz, Znojmo or Vranov.
Best activities for this weekend getaway
The Thaya Valley offers many hiking and biking trails. The region is also rich in history. You can see this in the ruins of the castles, such as the castle in Hardegg or the impressive castle in Vranov. I highly recommend doing a tour at the Vranov castle. It is amazingly well preserved. If you are traveling with your bicycle, you can combine a visit to the castle with the Thaya Valley cycling path north variant. Additional sights that you should not miss is the town Hardegg, where you can do a self guided city tour. The nacre manufacturer in Felling. The ruins of Neuhäusl/Nový Hrádek u Lukova in Czechia are very beautiful. At the national park center Hardegg, you can do some guided ranger hike and watch a wildcat feeding.
Moreover, the towns Drosendorf, Retz and Znojmo are very historical. The latter two have a wine cellar network underneath the city that you can explore on a guided tour.
So you can enjoy an escape from the city of Vienna just by using public transportation. Enjoy outdoor activities, stroll through historic towns or discover ancient ruins. Be enchanted by the diversity, beauty, and history of the Thaya Valley.
The author of the blog
Lisi is an adventurous, mostly solo traveler from Austria. She likes to travel slowly, discover underrated countries/regions, and of course, learn about cultures. She has been traveling the world and creating travel content since 2016. With a degree in tourism management and a passion for travel and cultures, she wants to tell stories that inspire her readers and help them travel more consciously.
