Day Trip from Vienna – Forchtenstein Castle

In the region of Burgenland, just 45 minutes from Vienna, a medieval castle in the Rosalia mountains overlooks Austria and Hungary. If you need to escape the city, a day trip to Forchtenstein Castle is the perfect combination of history, nature and scenic views.

Forchtenstein castle is one of the few fortresses in the region. Its exterior still relates to Medieval times and clearly has characteristics of a fortress. On the inside, however, it is decorated in Baroque style.

The castle belongs to the Esterházy family, who owns a lot of land in the region of Burgenland and Hungary as well as the famous Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt.

I highly recommend having breakfast or lunch at Restaurant Grenadier. On a sunny day, you can sit in the courtyard inside the castle.

The poppy seed cake and coffee are delicious.

They also have a platform from which you can enjoy the view to as far as Lake Neusiedl, Vienna and even Hungary.

If you want to get an even better view, move along the winding roads up to Rosalia mountain.

On the top of Rosalia, there is also a small chapel dedicated to the pest saints.

How to Get There

Even though there is public transport, I recommend taking the car to Forchtenstein. There are trains to Mattersburg and Wiener Neustadt but getting to the castle and especially to the Rosalia Chapel by public transport can take quite some time.

Forchtenstein Castle is open daily from 10 am to 6 pm from end of March until beginning of November. Regular tickets are EUR 11 (about USD 13), concessions are available. The Rosalia Chapel is open for visitors all year round.

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All information as of the date of publishing.