Surrounding Vienna are many great day trips for you and your kids to enjoy the fresh air, sunshine, and maybe even a few furry friends along the way!
Sometimes it’s nice to escape the normalcy of life and take a drive, or train, and explore another part of this country that you haven’t yet explored. If you’re looking for a memorable family weekend or just a day trip with your kids or family friends, then check out our guide to the top 10 best day trips for the animal and nature enthusiast in your crew. Your kids will love it!
Tip: You can find even more tips for animal and plant-themed family day trips from Vienna with kids in our other articles, especially here: Top 10 Day Trips to Experience from Vienna with Kids and here: Top 10 Hiking Day Trips from Vienna with Kids
Top 10 Animal and Plant-Themed Day Trips from Vienna with Kids by KidsLoveVienna Community
Wildpark Ernstbrunn
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Wildpark Ernstbrunn is a wildlife park situated about 40 kilometers north of Vienna. Here you can observe wild animals in the middle of the forest and learn more about wolves. The large game park is home to many woodland creatures, such as alpine ibex, deer, chamois, and mouflon, as well as a wolf enclosure. Participate in a wolf talk and walk and learn about the wolf and how to help preserve its existence in the future.
Highlights for Families: Experiencing a wolf up close is quite a memorable experience. You can participate in any of the wildlife visitor programs to learn more about conservation, the animals, and the history of the area. Kids can also play on the large playground on the property complete with a fantastic treehouse, and pet and feed the local sheep, goats, and ponies on property at the petting zoo. Don’t forget to visit the Ernstbrunn Castle which towers high about the wildlife park and is a venue for events and concerts as well as a lovely place to walk around.
Kittenberger Discovery Gardens (Kittenberger Erlebnisgärten)
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This will give you garden envy. The Kittenberger Erlebnisgärten has over 40 exquisite gardens for you and your family to explore. This is one of Austria’s most beautiful garden attractions. There are a variety of gardens here to fit everyone’s palette. The older, more established formal gardens consist of separate, but equally beautiful styles of gardens such as the Asian garden, the cultivated wilderness garden, the health water garden, the wine garden and the oh so charming rose garden.
Highlights for Families: If your kids don’t fancy spending their entire day wandering through beautiful flower gardens, don’t worry, they’ll love the adventure and pleasure gardens. These fun gardens consist of things like an interactive gnome garden where you can take your hand at conquering a maze while the gnomes tell you a chilling story! Once you conquer the maze, you can wander over to the fitness garden to get out some of that excess energy. Or maybe you’ll want to head to the adventure garden where the whole family can unleash their inner child and paly on the adrenalin pumping XXL slide towers, try to master the obstacle course or play on the water rafts. If your kiddos are a bit younger then head to the pixy garden for tons of fun in their pint-size package! Finish up your day out in nature by visiting the animal garden where you can even pet and observe some furry friends such as Alpacas, Waldviertel kangaroos, ponies and pigmy goats.
Landgut Cobenzl Children´s Farm
Take a day trip to Vienna’s first city farm for a fun family outing. The Landgut Cobenzl lets you see firsthand all the workings of a farm and is home to all the furry farm animals you’ve come to love such as pigs, horses, goats, sheep, cows, rabbits, chickens, and ducks.
Highlights for Families: You’ll be able to take your kids pretty close to these beautiful animals and see them for themselves, or better yet take a tour and get a glimpse into the daily life of a farmer, how food is made, and how the animals are kept. Participate in one of their many workshops throughout the year such as pizza baking, bread baking, and Christmas cookie decorating. Not only is it a great day trip for you and your family, but it makes the perfect backdrop for a kid’s birthday party or an exciting getaway workshop for school groups and kid groups. During the summer they even host summer camps, so make sure to check out their website for more information regarding registration, your kids will have a blast! The fun doesn’t stop there; your family can stop at the Landgut Stüberl shop for a sweet treat, play farmers golf, and even get to ride a pony. Your kids will adore their adventure at Landgut Cobenzl!
Garten Tulln
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Take a trip to Europe’s first ecological garden shows and one of the top attractions in lower Austria and have a day of exploration at the Garten Tulln. You’ll be able to walk and admire over 65 gardens with beautifully kept foliage and flowers. Feel like you’re friends with the squirrels and birds by taking a walk through the 30-meter high treetop walkway and explore the largest adventure and nature playground in lower Austria on your day of fun in the sun here at the Garten Tulln.
Highlights for Families: With over 70 model gardens in a variety of themes, there will be plenty to see and explore. You and your family can take a free guided tour of the garden at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday and participate in the weekly children’s programs. School students from grades 1 to 9 can participate in the “Nature in Garden” environment education program for schools where they will learn about horticulture. Then the kids will want to jump, climb, and play on the giant adventure park and nature play area. On those warm summer days, the little ones will enjoy the water park, playing near the water lily pond, and boat rides through the floodplains for a refreshing change of pace.
Schloss Orth – Donau Auen
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The Schloss Orth Donau Auen is a visitor center at the Donau-Auen National Park in Orth on the Danube and is considered a “Gateway to the Wetlands”. This attraction is a great place to visit to learn about the history of the Danube wetlands, its history, its’ creatures, and spend some time outdoors.
Highlights for Families: The family can strap up their hiking boots and take a guided tour, led by one of the excellent National Park rangers, through the grounds of the Schlossinsel, or the “castle island” and experience some of Austria’s finest fauna and flora. Make sure to save time to visit Austria’s only underwater walk-in observatory, a truly unique experience.
Zoo Schmiding
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What started as Austria’s largest bird park in 1982 has now turned into a beautiful zoo with a plethora of exotic animals like giraffes, Siberian tigers, crocodiles, zebras, and lowland gorillas. Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., your family can easily spend an entire day exploring the many family-friendly features at the Zoo Schmiding, including three large adventure playgrounds.
Highlights for Families: The family can enjoy a day walking around exploring all the animals here at the zoo. It’s not every day you can see a gorilla, but here at Zoo Schmiding you can witness these gentle giants in a state-of-the-art complex. Kids can even get face-to-face with a giraffe on the specially designed 5-meter high viewing platform. There are also other complexes to explore on the property such as a biosystem habitat building for climate-controlled conditions for some exotic animals, or the rainforest house with lush fauna. Explore the aqua zoo and learn about the history of our amphibian and reptile creatures, and even immerse yourself ‘underwater’ in their 5D underwater simulator.
Museumsdorf Village
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Step back in time at Museumsdorf and visit the largest open air museum in lower Austria. This replica village is comprised of over 80 buildings and houses to reconstruct how life was like in the past in the Weinviertel area. Turned into a “living farm”, there are many domestic animals on property such as chickens, pigs, rabbits, goats, and ducks. With many programs, performances, and themed activities scheduled throughout the year, you will be able to have a unique experience during your visit back in time.
Highlights for Families: Let the kids get their hands on wildlife at the goat enclosure where they can pet and even feed little nuggets to the goat. The farm is full of animals including chickens and ducks, really giving the vibe of a real working farm. There are two large playgrounds at Museumsdorf as well as plenty of picnic areas to enjoy a packed lunch or snack. While you’re here you can also participate in clay workshops, family handcraft workshops, and even take the Betty Bernstein family tour with exciting puzzles surrounding the treasures of a Weinviertel Village.
Eis Greissler Farm
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Who doesn’t love ice cream?! Eis Greissler Farm is an ice cream manufacture and scoop shop that combines ice cream, adventure, and fun for the whole family.
Highlights for Families: The kids will love to tour the manufacturing facility and see how ice cream is made, but their favorite part (and maybe yours too) will be to have a tasting at the end of the tour! After the tour you can pop by the Culinary Stadl for a meal, visit the Coffeehouse for a cappuccino, and finish off with a stop to the Farm Shop for a scoop of your favorite. Afterward, the kids will love to run around and play on all the fun kid-friendly activities such as the adventure playground with the giant slides and a giant 5-meter swing! There’s also a water playground with a lily pond to explore, a bouncy castle, a mini petting zoo with goats, mini pigs, ponies, and rabbits, as well as go-karts.
Vienna Kids Farm
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The Vienna Kids Farm is an urban city farm that is situated near the Lobau Park in Vienna. The farm encompasses a large outdoor playground, a petting zoo, and multiple gardens that grow fruits, veggies, and herbs.
Highlights for Families: Throughout the year there are theme-led tours for the kids and school groups and you can host a birthday party here, or schedule pony rides for the little ones. The petting zoo has plenty of animals to pet and even allows you to buy a food pouch and hand feed them. A local tip is to combine visiting the Vienna Kids Farm with a visit to the Lobau National Park House which has a great adventure playground, hiking, cycling opportunities, and several bathing lakes, such as Panozzalacke and Dechantlacke.
Buchenberg Nature and Adventure Park
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Buchenberg Nature and Adventure Park is a beautiful nature park with many hiking trails for you and your family to explore as well as many wonderful attractions to keep everyone enthralled and engaged throughout the day.
Highlights for Families: A highlight of the Buchenberg Nature and Adventure Park is the Klettergarten, Austria’s largest outdoor climbing adventure park. There is also a Tierpark-Zoo and animal game reserve which has taken a new modern approach to a traditional zoo. They have tried to incorporate some adventure elements into the zoo, making it more of an exploration and adventure zoo with lots of beautiful nature trails.
Top 10 Animal and Plant-Themed Day Trips from Vienna with Kids: Conclusion
Isn’t it incredible how many beautiful animal and nature-loving activities there are to do within a short drive from Vienna? There are so many options from ice cream manufacturing facilities, to exotic zoos, and beautiful and pristine gardens. The beauty of being based in Vienna is you can easily access most of these locations either via a short car ride or public transportation that will bring you close to most of these attractions. We hope this has inspired you to plan a day trip to some of these beautiful places.
Be sure to check out our family directory for more day trip options. You can filter by preference/activity such as hiking, cycling, animals, cultural activities, outdoor adventure, fun & play and more. You can also search by age, weather conditions, and distance from your home to really hone in on where is the ideal destination for your day trip away.
