Cycling the Danube – Passau, Germany to Vienna, Austria

 

I got hooked on the idea of bikepacking after listening to a podcast about a guy circling the globe on two wheels and having done a modest bike trip across Florida, I was ready for my own adventure.  I’m not quite that ambitious and still wanted a family to come home to, so I set my eyes on something a bit more manageable and luxurious (I preferred a bed after riding 50 miles to a tent).  The route from Passau to Vienna along the Danube River seemed to check every box for me.  I could start off in Munich (big plus) and end in Vienna which I had never visited before.  It’s a well traveled path and I’m comfortable speaking a little German and eating a lot of German food.   And the beer, too.  Yeah.  The beer.  Somehow (the beer) I talked three other friends into joining me and we had ourselves a trip.

After blasting through the beer halls and beer gardens in Munich for two nights, we took a 2 hour train to Passau and rented bikes from the Fahrrad-Klinik.  The bikes came with panniers and the company sets it up so that you can drop the bikes off in Vienna and you don’t have to trek them back.   We crammed everything into the panniers and set off east on our adventure.

Passau, Germany to Aschach, Austria  – 42 miles

Because we had a train ride in the morning, I had originally planned to keep the first ride on the shorter side of things, but google fucked me just a bit.  They didn’t keep me on the full trail and my estimate was about 8 miles off.  Whoops.  Luckily it stayed light until 9pm and we were still fresh and full of adrenaline.  The ride is fairly flat and you are along a river bike path the entire way outside of small 3 mile route that you ride the shoulder of a highway.

Food options were surprisingly sparse along the way, but 12 miles in, we stopped for our first hard earned beer and to get our bearings.  We wanted to soak in the awesomeness of this trip both literally and figuratively.

Perhaps we shouldn’t have had the second beer (something I never admit out loud) because we rushed the last part of the ride.  When we got to the Schlogener Blick, we couldn’t find the pathway up to the observation deck for what is the quintessential view of the Danube.  After 10 minutes of scrambling, we gave up and had to keep going.

We ended up staying at the Faustschlossl Hotel which is a fine place.  But the restaurant was closed for dinner because it was the off-season, and we were on the wrong side of the river from just about everything else.  And there was Steckerlfisch restaurant where we could grab a beer and some fish on a stick.  Solid first day.

Aschach to Wallsee – 56 miles

Day started off great with perfect weather and a perfect plan.  But plans are meant to go to shit.  I had heard a lot about the bike ferries that take you across the Danube for a buck or two and when we came across one we assumed we should jump on it.

No issues there.  Until we realized the path on this side was quite a bit hillier than the other side.  And we dealt with riding on some roads under construction.  And along we could see people flying on the beautiful, flat paths on the other side of the river.   I’m still not convinced we ever needed to cross that ferry as there were bridges further along.

We then decided to bike up to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp Memorial.  I knew it was a bit out of the way (extra miles) and I had read that it was uphill (extra hills).  Bu I knew others had done it, so I figured we could, too.  We couldn’t.  We had to walk our bikes up that mountain.  It was worth it to see the memorial which I don’t take pictures of for obvious reasons.

Coming down was a bit easier and we made our way quickly back along the river and it wasn’t too long before we got to Wallsee.

I booked the Gasthof Hehenberger in Wallsee based on its amazing reviews and the fact it was just a little off the river.  I forgot to check the elevation because a little off the river was straight up another fucking hill with fucking switchbacks.  You don’t want to end a day of unexpected hills with more unexpected hills.  But the Gasthof Hehenberger lived up to its reviews and was my favorite experience of the trip.  It’s a family run place and we met the whole family by the time we heard last call.  When the four of us showed up sweaty and beaten, the owner simply said, “check in later.  First bier.”  We sat outside on top of the hill overlooking Wallsee.  We had a four course dinner that was up there with our best meals and had a local church choir practicing in the church next door.

44 miles turned into 56 miles with a lot of unexpected climbing.  But that meal, at that place was worth all of it.

Wallsee to Krems – 62 miles

Starting the day’s ride at the top of a hill made for an easy exit out of Wallsee and we rode mostly through farms for several miles until we rejoined the river and made our way.  This was always going to be our longest ride by plan and fortunately, we didn’t hit any unexpected hills.  It was long but easy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were a few stops along the way for ice cream, bratwurst stands, and even a beer.  But it was pretty straightforward.  The river and castles we were used to.  When we got to Durnstein, things changed a bit.  We started hitting little tourist towns we had to ride through and a few vineyards.

It was a nice change of scenery and a nice intro into Krems.  The only issue with Krems is that it’s significantly larger than the other towns we had stayed in and we did miss that small town vibe as we rode through to find our apartment.  I booked it through booking.com and while cheap and fine, I wouldn’t recommend and won’t post the name.  We did get to crush some fantastic Italian food which was a needed break from schnitzel and brats.

Krems to Vienna – 41 miles

We ended up turning in our bikes about 5 miles at a hotel just outside of Vienna so we missed that great finish line photo of entering in the city.  That was probably the only downside of the whole trip, and in the end saved us having to weave through traffic.  Not to mention, we pretty much felt like ass and were ready to give off the bike 5 miles sooner.

But, we did make it.  And we had 2 nights to bounce around Vienna before flying back home.  Definitely worth a visit, but probably more suited for romantic getaways or hen parties.

All in all, I couldn’t recommend the trip any more.  I might have added in one more day so that we could have slowed the riding down a bit and had more time along the trail and at each destination.  Any questions on the what we did specifically or in general, feel free to reach out.  Planning something like this takes a bit of research and I’m happy to help if I can.