Private Tour Concentration Camp Mauthausen, with Melk & Dürnstein

Arriving at Melk Abbey, our first stop, you can visit the abbey complex with free admission. If you are interested in a guided tour, this is optionally possible. guided tour per person. Today's baroque building was erected between 1702 and 1746 by Jakob Prandtauer. It is described as "the most iconic and dominant baroque building", one of the biggest in Europe. It also houses the Abbey high school Melk, the oldest existing school in Austria. Manuscripts in the Abbey Library of Melk indicate that a community of priests maintained a kind of collegiate monastery under the Babenberg Margrave Leopold I. between 976 and 994 AD. As a symbol of the Wachau, it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage.

Our 2nd stop is Mauthausen, where we visit the concentration camp and dive into the sad past of the Nazi regime. An Audio-guided tour in many different languages of the facility gives you an insight into the sad camp life of the prisoners. The Mauthausen concentration camp was the largest National Socialist concentration camp in Austria from August 8, 1938 until its dissolution, after the liberation of its inmates by US troops, on May 5, 1945. Around 200,000 people were imprisoned in Mauthausen and its satellite camps, of which more than 100,000 people lost their lives. Since 1947 there has been a memorial of the Republic of Austria on the site of the former concentration camp.

To banish the gloomy thoughts, we want to put some joy in your face with the last stop in the medieval town of Dürnstein, located in the most beautiful section of the Danube valley, the Wachau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and also Austria's most famous wine-growing region. We enter the village through the archway of the city walls and take time to see the old buildings and shops, take photos and taste local delicacies such as wines, liqueurs and sweets. Beautiful photo motifs are the old town hall, which is often booked for weddings from all over Austria, the Dürnstein Abbey, whose history begins with the consecration of Mary's chapel in 1372 and the view from the fortress to the city and the river Danube. We can also hike the Lionheart Trail to the fortress ruins and learn about the history of England's most famous King, Richard 1st, the Lionheart, who was held here as a prisoner on his way back from the Crusades. We then return along the Danube to Vienna, to your desired end point