Austria · Vienna, Danube & Burgenland · Travel guide
What three or four days on the steppe lake really cost, why the cycle path round the lake beats any beach and how to see the storks in Rust before the coaches arrive.
Photo: Marta Branco / Pexels
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Estimates for orientation, not booking prices. Getting there means train or car from Switzerland, return, per person. Hotels vary strongly by season: current prices are behind the links below.
Money & payment: You pay in euros (EUR). Cards work almost everywhere; mountain huts and sausage stands often want cash. Tipping is expected: 5 to 10 percent, by naming the rounded total when you pay. In ski resorts a visitor tax of EUR 2 to 4 per night is added to the hotel price. Getting there: By train (ÖBB Railjet), car or a flight to Vienna, 2 to 8 hours.
Nine options in three price ranges, each among the best-rated on Booking.com.
Budget
Three-star guesthouse right on the lakeshore of Podersdorf with a garden and sun terrace, breakfast included, a bike shelter and hosts who know the wind. For surfers, cyclists and families who spend the day on the water and only need a clean bed at night.
Three-star guesthouse in Rust with rooms with private bathroom and parquet floors, breakfast included, a few minutes on foot to the old town with its stork nests. For anyone who wants to stay in Rust without paying hotel prices.
Family and group hotel of the Austrian JUFA chain on the edge of Neusiedl, with multi-bed rooms, a playground, half board and bike hire, close to the station. Sober, but for families with children and a small budget hard to beat.
Mid-range
Family-run hotel on the edge of Rust on the way to the lido, with a large garden, pool, sauna and very good breakfast. Quiet, friendly, with its own wine. For couples and families who use Rust as a base for the whole lake.
Large traditional hotel in Neusiedl with an indoor pool, sauna, restaurant and bike hire, ten minutes on foot from the station. Not on the water, but practical as a base if you arrive by train and for bike tours to both shores. For anyone who wants comfort without frills.
Four-star house on the Seekanal by the Rust lido, with spa, indoor pool, indoor tennis court and a view of the reeds and the sailing harbour. Rooms with balconies, a restaurant with pikeperch and Rust wines. For anyone who wants to be in the lake before breakfast; the centre is 20 minutes on foot.
Luxury
Thermal spa with hotel on the edge of the national park, with its own bathing lake, a sauna village, ranger tours into the Seewinkel and a view of the puszta. For families and anyone who wants to combine the lake with wellness; spa admission is included for hotel guests.
Since 2022 the design hotel of the Esterházy foundation next to the palace in Eisenstadt, with a roof terrace, pool and a restaurant under a well-known chef. Not on the lake, but 15 minutes from it and the most modern house in the region. For culture and design travellers.
The Mooslechner family's baroque burgher's house on Hauptstrasse in the old town of Rust with a handful of individually furnished suites and one of the best restaurants on the lake. Inner courtyard, storks on the roof, a wine cellar with Ruster Ausbruch. For couples who come for the food and the quiet.
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Baroque burghers' houses, stork nests on the chimneys from the end of March to August, the Fischerkirche from the 12th century (CHF 3, about EUR 3) and the two-kilometre path through the reeds to the lido. Town tours from CHF 8 per person, 90 minutes. Before 10 am the lanes are empty; then the coaches from Vienna arrive.
Around 125 flat kilometres on the B10 cycle path through Austria and Hungary, shortened to 50 to 60 kilometres with the ferry (CHF 8 to 12 with a bike). Bike from CHF 15, e-bike from CHF 35 a day in Rust, Neusiedl, Podersdorf and Illmitz. Ride clockwise, take your passport, a full day.
Operetta on the lake stage in the reeds, mid-July to the end of August, tickets CHF 35 to 150, with fireworks for the finale. Take binoculars and mosquito repellent; shuttle buses from Eisenstadt and Rust. The performance lasts around three hours from 8.30 pm, stopped in thunderstorms in exchange for a voucher.
Salt lakes, grey cattle, white donkeys and more than 350 bird species east of the lake. The loop round the Lange Lacke near Apetlon is free, ranger excursions from the Illmitz information centre cost from CHF 10 and are free with the Neusiedler See Card, binoculars available to borrow. Half a day, best early in the morning or at sunset.
The only place directly on the water without reeds, with a sandy beach, lighthouse, promenade and surf and kite schools (taster course from CHF 80, equipment hire from CHF 40). Beach admission CHF 5 to 7, free with the Neusiedler See Card. Loud and full in July and August, perfect in June and September.
Blaufränkisch, Zweigelt and the noble sweet Ruster Ausbruch at winegrowers such as Feiler-Artinger in Rust or Kracher in Illmitz, tasting CHF 8 to 15, often free if you buy, guided wine tours with several estates CHF 70 to 120 per person. Two to three hours, book ahead.
The baroque palace of the Princes Esterházy with the Haydnsaal, where Haydn conducted for 30 years, admission around CHF 14, guided tour CHF 18, concerts from CHF 30. Plus the Bergkirche with Haydn's tomb and the Haydn House. Half a day, by train from Neusiedl or bus from Rust, free with the Neusiedler See Card.
Opera festival in the quarry from which St Stephen's Cathedral was built, July and August, tickets CHF 50 to 150, with the rock as a backdrop more impressive than Mörbisch. During the day the site with its sculpture park can be visited for a few francs. 15 minutes from Rust.
Hungary's most beautiful baroque town 20 kilometres beyond Mörbisch, with the Fire Tower (CHF 5), an old town, cheap restaurants and the memorial site of the Pan-European Picnic of 1989. By train from Eisenstadt or Neusiedl in 30 to 45 minutes, guided tours from CHF 40. Forints or card; euros are often accepted.
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Around the lake the cooking is Pannonian, with paprika, pikeperch, goose and Mangalitza, and with everything there is wine from growers who live ten minutes away. The food is heartier and cheaper than in Vienna, the Heurigen are called Buschenschank and open week by week, and in autumn everything revolves around the goose. Once you have tried pumpkin seed oil on pikeperch and an Ausbruch with dessert, you understand Burgenland.
Pikeperch, the fish of the lake, fried or in a pumpkin seed oil crust with potato salad, CHF 18 to 26 (about EUR 19 to 28). Fogosch is the same thing in Hungarian, and pikeperch fillet with pumpkin seed oil is the dish every inn on the lake has on the menu.
Tip:Ask whether the pikeperch comes from the lake or from a farm; in summer there is a closed season, and then it is imported.
Noble sweet wine from botrytised grapes, a Rust privilege since 1681, with notes of honey and apricot, CHF 25 to 50 a half bottle at the estate, a glass in a restaurant CHF 6 to 9. With blue cheese, goose liver or simply as dessert.
Tip:A small glass is enough; the wine often has 12 per cent alcohol and 150 grams of residual sugar. Well chilled, not ice cold.
The red wines of the region: Blaufränkisch from the Leithaberg spicy and cool, Zweigelt from the Seewinkel fruity and soft. A quarter litre at the Buschenschank CHF 3.50 to 5, a bottle at the estate CHF 8 to 14, single-vineyard wines CHF 20 to 40.
Tip:Buying at the estate and having it posted home often costs less than the mark-up in Swiss shops.
Roast goose with red cabbage, potato or bread dumplings and chestnuts, from Martinmas on 11 November to the end of November in every inn, CHF 25 to 32 a portion. Burgenland is the goose country of Austria, and the birds graze in the Seewinkel.
Tip:Half a goose is meant for two people, even if the menu does not say so.
Chicken in paprika cream sauce with butter dumplings, a Hungarian legacy and an everyday Burgenland dish, CHF 15 to 18. Mild, not hot; the paprika is the sweet kind.
Tip:At lunchtime as a set menu with soup for CHF 12 to 14, which is the best price of the day.
The bacon from the woolly pig that grazes in the Seewinkel is white, soft and melts on the tongue, on a board with bread CHF 9 to 13; Pogatscherl are small crackling pastries to go with wine, CHF 1 to 2 each.
Tip:Grammelpogatscherl are fresh on Friday and Saturday, from the tin during the week; just ask.
The Seewinkel is fruit and vegetable country: apricot dumplings in July (CHF 9 to 11), cream of pumpkin soup with pumpkin seed oil in autumn (CHF 6 to 8), plus pumpkin seed oil, paprika powder and jams in the farm shops from CHF 5.
Tip:Pumpkin seed oil comes from Styria, not from the lake, though the farm shops stock it anyway; the Burgenland original is the paprika from the Seewinkel.
Through markets and eateries with a guide, tastings included.
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Lake Neusiedl is the westernmost steppe lake in Europe, 36 kilometres long, on average only 1.2 metres deep, surrounded by the second-largest continuous reed belt on the continent. It has no significant inflow and no natural outflow, only rain and evaporation, which is why it dried out completely once before, between 1865 and 1871; in 2022 and 2023 too the level fell so low that sailing harbours lay dry. The land around it belonged to Hungary for centuries; Rust was a royal free town from 1681 with the privilege of supplying wine to Vienna, and the winegrowers paid for the charter with 60,000 guilders and 500 buckets of Ausbruch. The Esterházy family ruled from Eisenstadt, where Joseph Haydn was Kapellmeister for 30 years and composed a large part of his work at the palace. In 1921, after the collapse of the monarchy and a referendum in Ödenburg, which stayed with Hungary as Sopron, Burgenland came to Austria, the lake was divided, and the southern shore lies on the Hungarian side to this day. From 1948 the Iron Curtain ran right through the reed belt; on 19 August 1989 Hungary and Austria opened a gate in the fence for three hours at the Pan-European Picnic near Sopron, 600 East German citizens walked through, and three months later the Wall fell. In 1993 the cross-border Neusiedler See-Seewinkel National Park was founded, and in 2001 the region was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list as a cultural landscape. Today northern Burgenland lives on wine, storks, birds, surfers and the Seefestspiele Mörbisch, which has been staging operettas on a stage in the water since 1957.
From Switzerland the route runs via Vienna: Railjet or Nightjet from Zurich to Wien Hauptbahnhof (8 hours, Sparschiene from CHF 30 to 40, about EUR 32 to 43, one way, Nightjet couchette from CHF 60 to 80), then on by S-Bahn or regional express to Neusiedl am See in 45 minutes or to Eisenstadt in 70 minutes, around CHF 10 to 13 within the regional fare network. Buses run to Rust and Mörbisch from Eisenstadt, and to Podersdorf and Illmitz from Neusiedl, though not often; the timetable decides your day. The alternative is the flight to Vienna with Swiss or Austrian (1 hour 20 minutes, CHF 150 to 300 return) and the S-Bahn direct from the airport to Neusiedl in 40 minutes, which is the fastest connection of all. By car it is 790 kilometres from Zurich and 8 to 9 hours, vignette CHF 11 for 10 days. Once there the bike is the best means of transport: the B10 cycle path runs flat round the lake, hire shops in Neusiedl, Rust, Podersdorf and Illmitz rent bikes from CHF 15 a day and e-bikes from CHF 35, and the ferries between Mörbisch, Illmitz, Rust and Podersdorf (CHF 8 to 12 with a bike, April to October) shorten the circuit. A car is only worth it for the salt lakes and wine estates in the Seewinkel, hire cars from Vienna from CHF 50 a day.
At Lake Neusiedl you stay in guesthouses, winegrowers' farms and a few lakeside hotels, and the prices are fair: a double room at a winegrower's with breakfast CHF 70 to 110 (about EUR 75 to 118), a mid-range hotel CHF 110 to 160, a lakeside hotel or wine estate with spa CHF 180 to 300. The basic decision is west shore or east shore. Rust is the most beautiful town, with baroque burghers' houses, storks, Heurigen and a lido at the end of a long reed channel, 20 minutes on foot from the centre; Mörbisch just to the south has the lake stage and Hungarian-style courtyard lanes with corn cobs hanging on the walls. Podersdorf on the east shore is the only place directly on the water without reeds, with a beach, a lighthouse, surf schools and a campsite, loud and summery, the beach resort of Viennese families. Illmitz lies in the Seewinkel among the salt lakes, quiet, with birdwatchers and winegrowers, and the lake is three kilometres away. Neusiedl am See has the station and is practical, but not a place to linger; Eisenstadt is the capital with Esterházy Palace, 15 kilometres from the lake. Booking: for July and August with the festival and for the school holiday weeks three months ahead, in May, June and September two to three weeks, in the low season at short notice. From November to March much is closed; Rust and Eisenstadt work in winter too.
The Neusiedler See Card is the biggest saving in the region, and you get it free: every host in the region hands it out when you stay overnight, and it includes admission to all the lidos (otherwise CHF 5 to 7, about EUR 5 to 7, a day), the ferries across the lake, the regional buses, Esterházy Palace, the Haydn House, guided tours in the national park and discounts at bike hire shops. Ask for it at check-in; not every guesthouse puts it out unprompted. The Seefestspiele Mörbisch cost CHF 35 to 150 depending on the seat; the cheap seats at the edge have a good view, but the stage is 60 metres away, so bring binoculars; performances are cancelled in thunderstorms, and then you get vouchers, not money. Wine tastings at the winegrowers cost CHF 8 to 15 or are free if you buy, a bottle of Zweigelt or Blaufränkisch at the estate CHF 8 to 14, a Ruster Ausbruch, the noble sweet wine, CHF 25 to 50 a half bottle. The stork villages of Rust and Oggau cost nothing, nor does the view from the observation towers in the national park. It only gets expensive with surfing and kiting (course from CHF 80 a day, equipment from CHF 40) and in high summer on the beach at Podersdorf, where deckchairs and food are at lido prices. Parking in the village centres costs CHF 1 to 2 an hour, at the Rust lido CHF 5 a day, with a bike free.
Lake Neusiedl has a short high season and long quiet months. At the end of March the storks return to Rust and stay until the end of August; from May they feed their young on the chimneys, which is the best time for Rust. April and May are bird migration in the Seewinkel, with thousands of geese, herons and avocets on the salt lakes, and the cycling season begins with empty paths. The bathing season runs from June to early September; in July the lake is 25 degrees, but murky and shallow, after 100 metres it still only reaches your hips, and when the wind turns the water migrates to the other shore. The Seefestspiele Mörbisch plays from mid-July to the end of August, July and August are full of Viennese families and prices are 30 per cent higher. September is the best time of all: warm, empty, harvest, Sturm at the Heuriger, geese in the sky; in October the geese return to the Seewinkel in their tens of thousands and the water is too cold for swimming but not for bikes and wine. From November to March the lake is still; in a cold winter it freezes over and becomes the largest ice surface in Austria, with skating and ice sailing. The wind blows almost always from the north-west, so ride round the lake clockwise with a tailwind on the east shore.
Most visitors stay in Rust and Podersdorf. The Seewinkel east of the lake is national park, puszta and the best of the region: around 40 salt lakes, shallow ponds that dry out in summer and shimmer white, grey cattle, Mangalitza pigs, white donkeys and more than 350 bird species. The Lange Lacke near Apetlon can be circled by bike on an 8-kilometre loop with observation towers, free; the national park information centre in Illmitz lends binoculars and offers ranger excursions from CHF 10 (about EUR 11), free with the Neusiedler See Card. The Sandeck tower south of Illmitz is the best spot for sunset over the lake. Eisenstadt has Esterházy Palace with the Haydnsaal, one of the most beautiful concert halls in the world (admission around CHF 14), the Bergkirche with Haydn's tomb and a small old town; in September the Herbstgold festival runs there. Sopron in Hungary is 20 kilometres from Mörbisch and one of the country's most beautiful baroque towns, with the Fire Tower, cheap food and the memorial site of the Pan-European Picnic, by bus or train from Eisenstadt and Neusiedl. St. Margarethen has the Roman quarry, where operas are staged in the open air in summer (CHF 50 to 150) and from whose limestone St Stephen's Cathedral was built; you can visit the site during the day. And Purbach and Breitenbrunn on the north-west shore are wine villages with cellar lanes where hardly any tourists stand.
Northern Burgenland is Pannonian, which means half Hungarian: paprika, goulash, Mangalitza woolly pig, goose in autumn, pikeperch from the lake and wine, a great deal of wine. Around the lake 6,000 hectares grow mainly red wines: Blaufränkisch from the Leithaberg and from Rust, Zweigelt from the Seewinkel, plus white wines and the noble sweet Ausbruch and Beerenauslese wines for which Rust and Illmitz are famous and which the mist from the lake makes possible. A quarter litre at the Heuriger costs CHF 3.50 to 5 (about EUR 4 to 5), a bottle at the estate CHF 8 to 14, top wines from estates such as Feiler-Artinger in Rust, Kracher in Illmitz or Umathum in Frauenkirchen CHF 20 to 60. The Heurigen here are often called Buschenschank and open only in certain weeks, recognisable by the bunch of branches over the door. You eat pikeperch in a pumpkin seed crust or fried (CHF 18 to 26), Fogosch is the same thing in Hungarian, Paprikahendl with Nockerln (CHF 15 to 18), Grammelpogatscherl with your wine, and from Martinmas on 11 November Gansl, roast goose with red cabbage and dumplings (CHF 25 to 32), for which the whole of Burgenland declares goose weeks. The inns in Rust, Mörbisch, Illmitz and Podersdorf are solid and cheap, and reserving at weekends is a must in Rust. And the Uhudler, a wine from old American direct-producer vines that tastes of strawberries, comes from southern Burgenland, not from the lake, whatever anyone tells you.
Via Vienna: Railjet or Nightjet from Zurich to Wien Hauptbahnhof (8 hours, Sparschiene from CHF 30 to 40, about EUR 32 to 43, couchette from CHF 60 to 80), then S-Bahn or regional express to Neusiedl am See in 45 minutes or Eisenstadt in 70 minutes for CHF 10 to 13. Fastest is the flight to Vienna (1 hour 20 minutes, CHF 150 to 300 return) with the S-Bahn direct from the airport to Neusiedl in 40 minutes. By car 790 kilometres, 8 to 9 hours. Once there a bike is enough; buses are infrequent.
Three nights is right: one day for Rust, Mörbisch and a Heuriger, one day for the bike circuit round the lake or half of it with the ferry, one day for the Seewinkel with the Lange Lacke and Illmitz. With four to five days you get to Eisenstadt, Sopron and the beach at Podersdorf. As a day trip from Vienna Rust or Podersdorf works, but the lake is worth an overnight stay, if only for the Neusiedler See Card and the evenings at the winegrower's.
Yes, from June to September, in lidos at the end of reed channels (Rust, Mörbisch, Illmitz, Breitenbrunn) or directly on the beach in Podersdorf. In summer the water is 23 to 26 degrees, but murky, slightly salty and very shallow: after 100 metres it reaches your hips. In a strong wind the water can be pushed to the other shore, and then the jetty sits in mud. Ideal for children and non-swimmers, nothing for serious swimmers. The lidos cost CHF 5 to 7 (about EUR 5 to 7), free with the Neusiedler See Card.
The full circuit on the B10 cycle path measures around 125 kilometres, passes through Hungary and is flat; trained riders manage it in one long day, with an e-bike so do ordinary mortals, and for families two days is right. The ferries Mörbisch to Illmitz and Rust to Podersdorf (CHF 8 to 12, about EUR 9 to 13, with a bike, April to October) halve the circuit to 50 to 60 kilometres, which is the best day tour. Ride clockwise, then you usually have a tailwind on the east shore. Take your passport or ID card for the Hungarian section.
Little, compared with Swiss lakes. A double room at a winegrower's CHF 70 to 110 (about EUR 75 to 118), mid-range CHF 110 to 160, lunch CHF 14 to 20, dinner with wine CHF 30 to 40 per person, bike CHF 15 a day, lidos and ferries free with the Neusiedler See Card, wine tasting CHF 8 to 15. Expect CHF 90 to 120 per person per day excluding travel, 30 per cent more during the festival season in July and August. The Seefestspiele themselves cost CHF 35 to 150 a seat.
If you like operetta or a summer evening on a grandstand by the water with a stage in the lake: yes. The productions are lavish, with fireworks and a light show, the sound is amplified, the mood more folk festival than opera house; the best seats cost CHF 100 to 150 (about EUR 107 to 161), the rear ones CHF 35 to 60 and need binoculars. Mosquito repellent is no joke; by the reeds the mosquitoes bite from 8 pm. In a thunderstorm the performance is stopped and you get vouchers. A more demanding alternative is the opera in the Roman quarry at St. Margarethen.
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