+43 680 301 77 20
Where is the Danube Cycle Path?
Everyone's talking about it. 63.000 people cycle the Danube Cycle Path every year. It's a must-do, the Danube Cycle Path from Passau to Vienna. After all, the Danube Cycle Path was voted first place in the category "Most Popular River Cycle Tour" at the prestigious "Bike & Travel" awards.
The Danube, at 2.850 kilometers long, is the second longest river in Europe after the Volga. It rises in the Black Forest and flows into the Black Sea in the Romanian-Ukrainian border region. The classic Danube Cycle Path begins in Donaueschingen and, from Tuttlingen onwards, is also known as EuroVelo 6. EuroVelo 6 runs from Nantes on the Atlantic coast in France to Constanta on the Black Sea in Romania.
When we speak of the Danube Cycle Path, we often mean the busiest stretch of the Danube Cycle Path, namely the 317 km long stretch that runs from Passau in Germany to Vienna in Austria, taking the Danube from around 300 m above sea level in Passau to 158 m above sea level in Vienna, i.e. 142 meters down, flows.
The most beautiful section of the Danube Cycle Path between Passau and Vienna is in the Wachau region of Lower Austria. The valley floor from St. Michael via Wösendorf and Joching to Weissenkirchen in the Wachau was known as the Thal Wachau until 1850.
The 333 km from Passau to Vienna are often divided into 7 stages, with an average distance of 50 km per day.
- Passau - Schlögen 43 km
- Schlögen-Linz 57 km
- Linz-Grein 61 km
- Grein - Melk 51 km
- Melk-Krems 36 km
- Krems-Tulln 47 km
- Tulln-Vienna 38 km
The division of the Danube Cycle Path Passau Vienna into 7 daily stages has shifted to fewer but longer daily stages due to the increase in e-bikes.
Below are the places where you can stay overnight if you want to cycle from Passau to Vienna in 6 days.
- Passau - Schlögen 43 km
- Schlögen-Linz 57 km
- Linz-Grein 61 km
- Grein-Spitz on the Danube 65 km
- Spitz on the Danube – Tulln 61 km
- Tulln-Vienna 38 km
You can see from the list that if you cycle an average of 54 km a day on the Danube Cycle Path Passau Vienna, on the 4th day you will cycle from Grein to Spitz an der Donau in the Wachau instead of Grein to Melk. A place to stay in the Wachau is recommended because the section between Melk and Krems is the most beautiful of the entire Danube Cycle Path Passau Vienna.
You will find that most of the Danube Cycle Path tours offered from Passau to Vienna last 7 days. However, if you would like to be on the road for fewer days in order to cycle where the Danube Cycle Path is most beautiful, namely in the upper Danube valley at the Schlögener Schlinge and in the Wachau, then we recommend 2 days in the upper Danube valley between Passau and Aschach and then 2 to spend days in the Wachau.
Directions Danube Cycle Path Passau Vienna
Start at the Rathausplatz in Passau
From the town hall square at the corner of Fritz-Schäffer-Promenade in the old town of Passau, follow a sign that says “Donauroute” to Residenzplatz, which is bordered to the north by the chancel of St. Stephen's Cathedral.
On the Marienbrücke over the Inn
On the Marienbrücke it goes over the Inn into the Innstadt, where it goes between the railway tracks of the disused Innstadtbahn and the listed building parts of the former Innstadtbrauerei the Inn, and after its confluence with the Danube, along the Wiener Straße downstream in the direction of the Austrian border, where the Wiener Strasse on the Austrian side becomes the B130, the Nibelungen Bundesstrasse.
Krampelstein Castle
Further along we pass opposite Erlau on the German bank, where the Danube makes a double loop, at the foot of Krampelstein Castle, situated on a rocky outcrop at the place where a Roman sentry post used to be, high above the right bank of the Danube. The castle served as a toll station and later as a retirement home for the bishops of Passau.
Obernzell Castle
The landing stage for the Obernzell Danube ferry is in front of Kasten. We take the ferry to Obernzell to visit the Obernzell moated castle on the left side of the Danube.
Obernzell Castle is a moated castle on the left bank of the Danube that used to belong to the prince-bishop. Bishop Georg von Hohenlohe of Passau began building a Gothic moated castle, which was rebuilt by Prince Bishop Urban von Trennbach between 1581 and 1583 into a powerful, representative, four-storey Renaissance palace with a half-hipped roof. On the first floor of Obernzell Castle there is a late Gothic chapel and on the second floor there is the knight's hall with a coffered ceiling, which occupies the entire southern front of the second floor facing the Danube. After visiting Obernzell Castle, we take the ferry back to the right side and continue our journey to the Jochenstein power plant on the Danube.
Jochenstein power plant
The Jochenstein power plant is a run-of-river power plant on the Danube, which derives its name from the Jochenstein, a rocky island on which the border between the Prince-Bishopric of Passau and the Archduchy of Austria ran. The movable elements of the weir are located near the Austrian bank, the powerhouse with the turbines in the middle of the river, while the ship lock is on the Bavarian side. The monumental round arches of the Jochenstein power plant, completed in 1955, were the last major plan by the architect Roderich Fick, who impressed Adolf Hitler so much that the two head buildings of the Nibelungen Bridge were built according to his plans in Hitler's hometown of Linz.
Engelhartszell
From the Jochenstein power station we continue our journey along the Danube Cycle Path to Engelhartszell. The municipality of Engelhartszell is located at 302 m above sea level in the Upper Danube Valley. In Roman times Engelhartszell was called Stanacum. Engelhartszell is known for the Engelszell Trappist monastery with its rococo church.
Engelszell Collegiate Church
The Engelszell Collegiate Church was built between 1754 and 1764. Rococo is a style that originated in Paris in the early 18th century and was later adopted in other countries, most notably Germany and Austria. Rococo is characterized by lightness, elegance and an exuberant use of curved natural forms in ornamentation. From France, the Rococo style spread to the Catholic German-speaking countries, where it was adapted into a style of religious architecture.
Also in the area of the market town of Engelhartszell, a little downstream from Engelszell Abbey, in the district of Oberranna, remains of the Roman wall were discovered in 1840. Over time it turned out that it must have been a small fortress, a quadriburgus, a square military camp with 4 corner towers . From the towers one could monitor the river traffic of the Danube over a long distance and overlook the Rannatal, which flows in opposite.
The Quadriburgus Stanacum was part of the fortress chain of the Danube Limes in the province of Noricum, directly on the Limes Road. The Burgus in Oberranna has been part of the Danube Limes on the via iuxta Danuvium, the Roman military and trunk road along the southern bank of the Danube, which has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021. The Römerburgus Oberranna, the best-preserved Roman building in Upper Austria, can be visited daily from April to October in the protective hall building visible from afar in Oberranna directly on the Danube Cycle Path.
Schogener loop
Then we cross the Danube on the Niederranna bridge and drive on the left to Au, which is on the inside of the Schlögener Schlinge.
What is special about the Schögener loop?
What makes the Schlögen Bend so special is that it is a large, deeply incised meander with an almost symmetrical cross-section. Meanders are bends and loops in a river that develop due to geological conditions. In the Schlögen Bend, the Danube flowed northward to avoid harder rock formations of the Bohemian Massif, forcing resistant rock slabs to form loops. The "Grand Canyon" of Upper Austria can best be viewed from the so-called Schlögen Viewpoint. The Schlögen Viewpoint is a small viewing platform above the village of Schlögen.
We take the cross ferry to Schlögen and continue cycling through the upper Danube valley, where the Danube is dammed up by the Aschach power plant. The historic town of Obermühl went under as a result of the damming. At the eastern end of the town, on the banks of the Danube, there is a granary that originally had 4 floors, but now has 3 floors because the bottom floor was filled up during the damming.
Frey grain box
The granary has an unusual, 14-meter-high, hipped roof. The facade features painted and incised window openings as well as corner quoins in stucco plaster. Two chutes are located in the center. The granary, also known as the Freyer granary , was built in 1618 by Karl Jörger.
Karl Jörger, the builder of the granary
Baron Karl Jörger von Tollet was a nobleman of the Duchy of Upper Austria and a leading figure among the Estates. Karl Jörger was commander-in-chief of the Estates' troops from the Traun and Marchland regions during the uprising of the Upper Austrian Estates against the Catholic Emperor Ferdinand II. After being accused of high treason, Karl Jörger was imprisoned and tortured in the Oberhaus Fortress, which belonged to the Bishop of Passau.
lookout tower
The lurking tower above the left bank on a wooded granite rock sloping almost perpendicularly to the Danube at the foot of the Neuhauser Schloßberg is a medieval toll tower with a square floor plan. The lower 2 floors of the southern and western walls of the formerly multi-storey tower have been preserved with a medieval rectangular portal and 2 windows above it in the southern wall. The Lauerturm belonged to the Neuhaus castle of the Schaunbergers, who had the right to toll outside of Aschach. At that time, the ruler was Duke Albrecht IV of Austria. Alongside the Wallseers, the Schaunbergers were the most powerful and richest noble family in Upper Austria.
The Schaunbergers
The Schaunberg family originally came from Lower Bavaria and acquired the area around Aschach in the first half of the 12th century, taking their name from their new center of power, Schaunburg Castle. Schaunburg Castle, the largest castle complex in Upper Austria, was a hilltop castle located on the northwestern edge of the Eferding Basin. Due to the location of their holdings between the two power blocs of Austria and Bavaria, the Schaunbergs were able to play the Habsburgs and Wittelsbachs against each other in the 14th century, which culminated in the Schaunberg Feud, as a consequence of which the Schaunbergs were forced to submit to Habsburg overlordship.
Imperial Court
The Aschach-Kaiserau boat landing stage is located opposite the Lauerturm, from which the rebellious peasants blocked the Danube with chains in 1626 during the Upper Austrian Peasants' War. The trigger was the punitive action of the Bavarian governor Adam Graf von Herberstorff, who had a total of 17 men hanged in the course of the so-called Frankenburg dice game. Upper Austria was pledged by the Habsburgs to the Bavarian Duke Maximilian I in 1620. As a result, Maximilian had Catholic clergy sent to Upper Austria to enforce the Counter-Reformation. When a Catholic pastor was to be installed in the Protestant parish of Frankenburg, an uprising broke out.
Collegiate Church Wilhering
Before we take the ferry to Ottensheim, we make a detour to Wilhering Abbey with its rococo church.
Wilherin Abbey received donations from the Counts of Schaunberg, members of whose family are buried in two high Gothic graves to the left and right of the church entrance. The interior of the Wilhering Collegiate Church is the most outstanding ecclesiastical space of the Bavarian Rococo in Austria due to the harmony of the decoration and the well thought-out incidence of light. The ceiling painting by Bartolomeo Altomonte shows the glorification of the Mother of God, primarily through the depiction of her attributes in the invocations of the Litany of Loreto.
Danube ferry Ottemheim
In 1871, the abbot of Wilhering blessed the "flying bridge" in Ottensheim instead of the zill crossing. Until the Danube was regulated in the middle of the 19th century, there was a bottleneck in the Danube in Ottensheim. The "Schröckenstein" in Dürnberg, which protruded into the river bed, blocked the land route to Urfahr on the left bank, so that all goods from the Mühlviertel had to be brought from Ottensheim across the Danube in order to be transported further in the direction of Linz.
Kürnberg Forest
From Ottensheim, the Danube Cycle Path runs along the B 127, the Rohrbacher Straße, to Linz. Alternatively, it is possible to travel from Ottensheim to Linz by ferry, the so-called Danube Bus .
Wilhering Abbey acquired the Kürnbergerwald in the mid-18th century. The Kürnbergerwald with the 526 m high Kürnberg is a continuation of the Bohemian Massif south of the Danube. Due to the elevated position, people have settled there since the Neolithic Age. A double ring wall from the Bronze Age, a Roman watchtower, places of worship, a burial mound and settlements from a wide variety of cultural and historical epochs have been found on the Kürnberg. In modern times, the Habsburg Emperors of the Holy Roman Empire organized large hunts in the Kürnberg Forest.
The Domplatz in Linz east of the neo-Gothic Mariendom serves as a venue for classical concerts, various markets and Advent at the Dom all year round. The building of the Museum of Digital Art on the left bank of the Danube, visible from afar, the Ars Electronica Center, is a transparent light sculpture, a structure in which no outer edge runs parallel to the other, which takes on a different shape depending on the viewing angle. Opposite the Ars Electronica Center, on the right bank of the Danube, is the glass-encased, linearly structured, basalt-grey building of the Lentos, the museum for modern art in the city of Linz.
The building of the Francisco Carolinum in the inner city, a museum for photographic art, is a free-standing, 3-storey building with Neo-Renaissance facades and a 3-sided monumental sandstone frieze depicting the history of Upper Austria. The Open House of Culture in the center of Linz in the former Ursuline School is a house for contemporary art, an experimental art laboratory that accompanies the implementation of an artistic work from the idea to its exhibition.
The Rathausgasse in Linz runs from the town hall on the main square to the Pfarrplatz. What many Linzers are proud of is located at Rathausgasse 3 on the corner of the Kepler residential building. The Leberkas from Pepi, a traditional dish of Bavarian-Austrian cuisine, which is eaten between two halves of a bread roll as "Leberkässemmel".
Even Archduke Franz Karl Joseph of Austria brought a Linzer Torte back with him from Linz on his way to his summer retreat in Bad Ischl. A Linzer Torte is a shortcrust pastry made with a high proportion of nuts, flavored with cinnamon, and filled with redcurrant jam. It is topped with a piped, characteristic diamond-shaped lattice of pastry. The almond slivers on the lattice decoration of the Linzer Torte are likely a reminder of the earlier practice of making Linzer Torte with almonds. However, due to its high butter and almond content, the Linzer Torte was for a long time mostly reserved for the wealthy.
From Linz to Mauthausen
The Danube Cycle Path runs from the main square in Linz over the Nibelungen Bridge to Urfahr and on the other side follows the course of the promenade along the Danube.
Pleschinger Au
On the north-eastern outskirts of Linz, in the Linzer Feld, the Danube curves around Linz from south-west to south-east. On the north-eastern side of this arch, on the outskirts of Linz, there is a floodplain known as the Pleschinger Au.
The Danube Cycle Path runs at the foot of a dam on the edge of the Pleschinger Au along the Diesenleitenbach until the floodplain landscape consisting of agricultural meadows and sections of riparian forest rejuvenates and the Danube Cycle Path continues along the stepped path along the Danube. In this area you can now see the east of Linz, St. Peter in der Zitzlau, with the harbor and the smelter of voestalpine AG.
After Adolf Hitler had decided that a smelter should be built in Linz, the ground-breaking ceremony for the Reichswerke Aktiengesellschaft für Erzbergbau und Eisenhütten "Hermann Göring" in St. Peter-Zizlau took place just two months after the annexation of Austria to the German Reich in May 1938 . Around 4.500 residents of St. Peter-Zizlau will therefore be relocated to other districts of Linz. The construction of the Hermann Göring works in Linz and the production of armaments took place with around 20.000 forced laborers and more than 7.000 concentration camp prisoners from the Mauthausen concentration camp.
After the end of the war, US units took over the site of the Hermann Göring works and renamed it the United Austrian Iron and Steel Works (VÖEST). 1946 VÖEST handed over to the Republic of Austria. VÖEST was privatized in the 1990s. VOEST became voestalpine AG, which today is a global steel group with around 500 group companies and locations in more than 50 countries. In Linz, at the site of the former Hermann Göring works, voestalpine AG continues to operate a metallurgical plant that is visible from afar and shapes the cityscape.
From Linz to Mauthausen
Mauthausen is only 15 km east of Linz. At the end of the 10th century, a toll station was founded in Mauthausen by the Babenbergers. In 1505 a bridge was built over the Danube near Mauthausen. Mauthausen became known in the 19th century for the Mauthausen granite supplied by the Mauthausen stone industry to the major cities of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, which was used for paving stones and the construction of buildings and bridges.
The Nibelungen Bridge in Linz, which connects the Führer's hometown with Urfahr, was built between 1938 and 1940 with granite from Mauthausen. The prisoners of the Mauthausen concentration camp had to split the granite necessary for the construction of the Nibelungen Bridge in Linz by hand or by means of blasting from the rock.
The Machland
The Danube Cycle Path runs from Mauthausen through the Machland, which is known for its intensive cultivation of vegetables such as cucumbers, turnips, potatoes, white cabbage and red cabbage. The Machland is a flat basin landscape formed by deposits along the northern bank of the Danube, stretching from Mauthausen to the beginning of the Strudengau. The Machland is one of the oldest settlement areas in Austria. There is evidence of Neolithic human presence on hills north of Machland. Celts settled in the Danube region from about 800 BC. The Celtic village of Mitterkirchen arose around the excavation of the burial ground in Mitterkirchen.
The Celtic village of Mitterkirchen
Just south of the hamlet of Lehen in the municipality of Mitterkirchen im Machland in the former floodplain area of the Danube and Naarn, a large burial mound of the Hallstatt culture was found. The older Iron Age from 800 to 450 BC is called the Hallstatt period or Hallstatt culture. This designation comes from the finds from a burial ground from the older Iron Age in Hallstatt, which gave the place its name for this epoch.
In the vicinity of the excavation site, the prehistoric open-air museum in Mitterkirchen was built, which conveys a picture of life in a prehistoric village. Residential buildings, workshops and a burial mound were reconstructed. Around 900 vessels with valuable burial objects indicate the burial of high-ranking personalities.
Mitterkirchner float
One of the most important finds is the Mitterkirchner ceremonial chariot, which was found in 1984 during excavations in a chariot grave in which a high-ranking female person from the Hallstatt period had been buried with plenty of grave goods. A replica of the wagon can be viewed in the Celtic village of Mitterkirchen in the burial mound that has been faithfully reproduced and is accessible.
Mansion in Mitterkirchen
The manor house was the center of an Iron Age village. The walls of a mansion were built of wicker, mud and husks. By applying lime, the wall became white. In winter, window openings were covered with animal skins, which let a little light through. The ridge roof is supported by wooden posts set up inside the house.
Holler Au
The eastern end of the Machland merges into the Mitterhaufe and Hollerau. The Danube Cycle Path runs right through the Hollerau to the beginning of the Strudengau.
Holler, the black elder, occurs in the alluvial forest because it naturally occurs on fresh, nutrient-rich and deep soils, such as those found on alluvial sites. The black elder is a shrub up to 11 m tall with a crooked trunk and a dense crown. The ripe fruits of the elder are small black berries arranged in umbels. The tart and bitter-tasting berries of the black elder are processed into juice and compote, while the elder blossoms are processed into elderflower syrup.
strudengau
After cycling through the Hollerau, the Danube Cycle Path near the Grein Danube Bridge leads to the entrance of the Strudengau, a narrow gorge carved by the Danube through the Bohemian Massif. We round the corner and soon catch sight of Grein , the main town of the Strudengau and a historic center.
grint
Greinburg Castle towers over the Danube and the town of Grein on the Hohenstein hilltop. The construction of the Greinburg, one of the earliest castle-like late Gothic buildings with protruding polygonal towers, was completed in 1495 on a square four-storey floor plan with powerful hipped roofs.
Castle Greinburg
Greinburg Castle has a wide, rectangular arcaded courtyard with 3-storey arcades. The arcades of the Renaissance are designed as round arcades on slender Tuscan columns. The parapets contain painted false balustrades with rough rectangular fields as illusionary column bases. At ground level there is a wide arcade step, which corresponds to two upper-storey arcades.
Greinburg Castle is now owned by the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha's family and houses the Upper Austrian Maritime Museum. In the course of the Danube Festival, baroque opera performances take place every summer in the arcaded courtyard of Greinburg Castle.
From Grein through the Strudengau to Persenbeug
In Grein we cross the Danube and continue on the right bank in an easterly direction, past the Danube island of Wörth at the Hößgang, through the Strudengau. At the foot of the Hausleiten we see on the opposite side, at the confluence of the Dimbach and the Danube, the historic market town of St. Nikola an der Donau.
The journey through the Strudengau ends at the Persenbeug power plant. Due to the 460 m long dam wall of the power station, the Danube is dammed up to a height of 11 meters in the entire course of the Strudengau, so that the Danube now appears more like a lake in a narrow, wooded valley than a wild and romantic river with a high flow rate and dreaded whirlpools and swirl.
The Persenbeug power plant dates back to 1959 and was a pioneering reconstruction project in Austria after World War II. The Persenbeug power plant was the first hydroelectric power plant of the Austrian Danube power plants and today has 2 Kaplan turbines, which together are able to provide around 7 billion kilowatt hours of hydroelectric power annually.
persenflex
The Danube Cycle Path runs on the road bridge over the Persenbeug power station from Ybbs on the right bank to Persenbeug on the left, northern bank, where the two locks are located.
Persenbeug is a riverside settlement that is overlooked by Persenbeug Castle to the west. Persenbeug was a difficult place for navigation on the Danube. Persenbeug means "evil bend" and derives from the dangerous rocks and whirlpools of the Danube around the Gottsdorfer Scheibe.
Gottsdorf disc
The Gottsdorfer Scheibe, also known as the Ybbser Scheibe, is an alluvial plain on the northern bank of the Danube between Persenbeug and Gottsdorf, which stretches southwards and is surrounded by the Donauschlinge near Ybbs in a U-shape. The Danube Cycle Path runs in the area of the Gottsdorf disc at its edge around the disc.
Nibelungengau
From Gottsdorf, the Danube Cycle Path continues along the Danube, which flows from west to east at the foot of the granite and gneiss plateau of the Waldviertel, to Melk.
The area from Persenbeug to Melk plays an important role in the Nibelungenlied and is therefore called the Nibelungengau. The Nibelungenlied, a medieval heroic epic, was considered the national epic of the Germans in the 19th and 20th centuries. After a strong interest in a national Nibelung reception developed in Vienna, the idea of erecting a Nibelung monument in Pöchlarn on the Danube was initially propagated in 1901. In the anti-Semitic political landscape of Pöchlarn, the suggestion from Vienna fell on fertile ground and as early as 1913 the municipal council of Pöchlarn decided to name the section of the Danube between Grein and Melk the “Nibelungengau”.
Maria Tafel
The place of pilgrimage Maria Taferl in the Nibelungengau is visible from afar thanks to its parish church with two towers on the ridge above Marbach an der Donau. The pilgrimage church of the Sorrowful Mother of God is situated on a terrace above the Danube valley. The Maria Taferl pilgrimage church is a north-facing, early Baroque building with a cross-shaped floor plan and double-tower façade, which was completed by Jakob Prandtauer in 2.
Melk Abbey
The Danube is dammed again before Melk. There is a migration aid for the fish in the form of a bypass stream, which enables all Danube fish species to pass through the power plant. 40 species of fish, including rare species such as Zingel, Schrätzer, Schied, Frauennerfling, Whitefin Gudgeon and Koppe have been identified in this area.
The Danube Cycle Path runs from Marbach to the Melk power station on the staircase path. On the power station bridge, the Danube cycle path goes to the right bank.
The Danube Cycle Path runs below the Melk power station on the stairway to the floodplain landscape named after Saint Koloman Kolomaniau. From the Kolomaniau, the Danube Cycle Path runs along the ferry road to the Sankt Leopold Bridge over the Melk to the foot of Melk Abbey.
Melk Abbey
Saint Coloman is said to have been an Irish prince who, on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, was mistaken for a Bohemian spy in Stockerau, Lower Austria, because of his alien appearance. Koloman was arrested and hanged on an elder tree. After numerous miracles at his grave, the Babenberg Margrave Heinrich I had Koloman's body transferred to Melk, where he was buried a second time on October 13, 1014.
October 13th remains the feast day of St. Coloman, also known as Coloman's Day. The Coloman Fair has been held in Melk on this day since 1451. Coloman's remains are now located in the left front side altar of Melk Abbey Church. Coloman's lower jawbone was encased in the Coloman Monstrance , shaped like an elderberry bush, in 1752. This monstrance can be seen in the former imperial apartments, now the Abbey Museum, of Melk Abbey.
Wachau
From the Nibelungenlände at the foot of Melk Abbey, the Danube Cycle Path heads towards Schönbühel along Wachauer Straße. Schönbühel Castle, located on a rock above the Danube, marks the entrance to the Wachau Valley.
The Wachau is a breakthrough valley of the Danube through the Bohemian Massif. The northern bank is formed by the granite and gneiss plateau of the Waldviertel region, and the southern bank by the Dunkelsteiner Forest. As early as 43.500 years ago, the Wachau was settled by the first modern humans , as evidenced by stone tools found there. The Danube Cycle Path runs through the Wachau on both the southern and northern banks.
The Middle Ages in the Wachau
The Middle Ages have been immortalized in 3 castles in the Wachau. You can see the first of the 3 Kuenringer castles in the Wachau when you start on the right bank of the Danube Cycle Path through the Wachau.
On a rocky promontory rising 300 m high behind the alluvial terrace of Aggstein, with steep slopes on 3 sides, sits the Aggstein castle ruins , a long, narrow, east-west oriented twin castle symbiotically integrated into the terrain with a rocky outcrop integrated on each of its narrow sides.
After the ruins of Aggstein Castle, the Danube Cycle Path runs along the stepped path between the Danube and the wine and apricot (apricot) gardens. In addition to the wine, the Wachau is also known for its apricots, also known as apricots.
In addition to jam and schnapps, a popular product is apricot nectar, which is made from Wachau apricots. There is an opportunity to taste apricot nectar at the Donauplatz in Oberarnsdorf at the Radler-Rest.
Castle ruins rear building
From the cyclists' rest stop, there is a good view of the first castle of the Wachau region on the left. The Hinterhaus castle ruins are a hilltop castle, prominently situated high above the southwestern edge of the market town of Spitz on the Danube, on a rocky ridge that drops steeply to the Danube to the southeast and northwest, opposite the Tausendeimerberg (Thousand Bucket Mountain). The elongated Hinterhaus castle was the upper castle of the Lordship of Spitz, and, to distinguish it from the Lower Castle located within the town itself, was also called Oberhaus (Upper House) .
Roller ferry Spitz-Arnsdorf
From the cyclist rest stop in Oberarnsdorf it is not far to the roller ferry to Spitz an der Donau. The ferry runs all day on demand. The transfer takes between 5-7 minutes. The ticket is bought on the ferry, where there is a camera obscura by the Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson in the dark waiting room. The light that falls through a small opening into the darkened room creates a reversed and upside-down image of the Wachau.
Spitz on the Danube
From the Spitz Arnsdorf ferry, there is a beautiful view of the vineyard terraces on the eastern slope of the Burgberg hill, also known as the Tausendeimerberg (Thousand Bucket Hill). At the foot of the Tausendeimerberg, the tall, rectangular west tower with its steep hipped roof of the parish church of St. Mauritius is an impressive sight. From 1238 to 1803, the parish church of Spitz was incorporated into Niederaltaich Abbey. This explains why the parish church of Spitz is dedicated to St. Mauritius, as Niederaltaich Abbey is a Benedictine abbey of St. Mauritius.
St. Michael
The parish church of Spitz was a branch of St. Michael in der Wachau, where the Danube Cycle Path goes next. St. Michael, the mother church of the Wachau, is slightly elevated on a partially artificial terrace in the area donated to the Bishopric of Passau by Charlemagne after 800. Charlemagne, king of the Frankish Empire from 768 to 814, had a Michael sanctuary built on the site of a small Celtic sacrificial site. In Christianity, Saint Michael is considered the supreme commander of the Lord's army.
Thal Wachau
In the south-east corner of the fortifications of St. Michael there is a three-storey, massive round tower, which has been a lookout tower since 1958. From this lookout tower you have a beautiful view of the Danube and the valley of the Wachau stretching to the northeast with the historic villages of Wösendorf and Joching, which is bordered by Weißenkirchen at the foot of the Weitenberg with its elevated parish church that can be seen from afar.
Prandtauer Hof
The Danube Cycle Path now leads us from St. Michael through the vineyards and the historic villages of Thal Wachau in the direction of Weißenkirchen. We pass the Prandtauer Hof in Joching, a baroque, two-storey, four-winged complex built by Jakob Prandtauer in 1696 with a three-part portal installation and a round-arched gate in the middle. After the building was originally erected in 1308 as a reading courtyard for the Augustinian monastery of St. Pölten, it was called the St. Pöltner Hof for a long time. The chapel on the upper floor of the north wing dates from 1444 and is marked on the outside by a ridge turret.
Weissenkirchen in the Wachau
From Prandtauerplatz in Joching, the Danube Cycle Path continues on the country road in the direction of Weißenkirchen in der Wachau. Weißenkirchen in der Wachau is a market located on the Grubbach. Already at the beginning of the 9th century there were possessions of the Bishopric of Freising in Weißenkirchen and around 830 a donation to the Bavarian monastery of Niederaltaich. Around 955 there was a refuge "Auf der Burg". Around 1150, the towns of St. Michael, Joching and Wösendorf were merged into the Greater Community of Wachau, also known as Thal Wachau, with Weißenkirchen as the main town. In 1805 Weißenkirchen was the starting point of the Battle of Loiben.
Weißenkirchen is the largest wine-growing community in the Wachau, whose inhabitants live mainly from wine-growing. The Weißenkirchner wines can be tasted directly at the winemaker or in the vinotheque Thal Wachau. The Weißenkirchen area has the best and most well-known Riesling vineyards. These include the Achleiten, Klaus and Steinriegl vineyards.
Achleiten vineyards
The Riede Achleiten in Weißenkirchen is one of the best white wine locations in the Wachau due to its hillside location directly above the Danube from south-east to west. From the upper end of the Achleiten you have a beautiful view of the Wachau in the direction of Weißenkirchen as well as in the direction of Dürnstein and the floodplain landscape of Rossatz on the right side of the Danube.
Weissenkirchen Parish Church
A mighty, towering, square north-west tower, divided into 5 floors by cornices and with a roof core in the steep hipped roof, and a 1502nd, older, six-sided tower from 2, the original tower with gable wreath and stone helmet of the two-nave predecessor building of the Weißenkirchen Parish Church, which is set halfway south into the west front, towers over the market square of Weißenkirchen in der Wachau.
From 987 the parish of Weißenkirchen belonged to the parish of St. Michael, the mother church of the Wachau. After 1000 there was a chapel. In the second half of the 2th century the first church was built, which was expanded in the first half of the 13th century. In the 14th century, the squat nave with a monumental, steep hipped roof was baroque-style. After visiting the historic center of Weißenkirchen, we continue our tour on the Danube Cycle Path Passau Vienna with the ferry across the Danube to St. Lorenz. From the ferry dock in St. Lorenz, the Danube Cycle Path runs right through the vineyards of Rührsdorf with a view of the Dürnstein ruins.
Dürnstein
In Rossatzbach we take the bike ferry to Dürnstein. During the crossing we have a beautiful view of the Augustinian monastery of Dürnstein on a rocky plateau and in particular of the collegiate church with the blue tower, which is a popular photo motif. In Dürnstein we drive through the medieval old town, which is surrounded by a well-preserved wall that reaches up to the castle ruins.
Castle ruins of Dürnstein
The Dürnstein castle ruins are situated on a rock 150 m above the old town of Dürnstein. It is a complex with a bailey and outwork in the south and a stronghold with Pallas and a former chapel in the north, which was built in the 12th century by the Kuenringers, an Austrian ministerial family of the Babenbergs who held the bailiwick of Dürnstein at the time . Azzo von Gobatsburg, a pious and wealthy man who came to what is now Lower Austria in the 11th century in the wake of a son of Margrave Leopold I, is considered to be the progenitor of the Kuenringer family. In the course of the 12th century, the Kuenringers came to rule the Wachau, which, in addition to Dürnstein Castle, also included the Hinterhaus and Aggstein Castles.
Taste Wachau wine
At the end of the Dürnstein settlement area, we still have the opportunity to taste Wachau wines at the Wachau Domain, which is located directly on the Danube Cycle Path in Passau Vienna.
Domäne Wachau is a cooperative of Wachau winegrowers who press their members' grapes centrally in Dürnstein and have been marketing them under the name Domäne Wachau since 2008. Around 1790, the Starhembergers bought the vineyards from the estate of the Augustinian monastery of Dürnstein, which was secularized in 1788. Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg sold the domain to the vineyard tenants in 1938, who subsequently founded the Wachau wine cooperative.
French monument
From the Wine Shop of the Wachau Domain, the Danube Cycle Path runs along the edge of the Loiben Basin, where there is a monument with a bullet-shaped top commemorating the battle in the Loibner Plain on November 11, 1805.
The Battle of Dürnstein was a conflict as part of the 3rd coalition war between France and its German allies, and the allies of Great Britain, Russia, Austria, Sweden and Naples. After the Battle of Ulm, most of the French troops marched south of the Danube towards Vienna. They wanted to engage the Allied troops in battle before they arrived in Vienna and before they joined the Russian 2nd and 3rd Armies. The corps under Marshal Mortier was supposed to cover the left flank, but the battle in the Loibner plain between Dürnstein and Rothenhof was decided in favor of the Allies.
On the Danube Cycle Path Passau Vienna we cross the Loibner plain on the old Wachau road at the foot of the Loibenberg to Rothenhof, where the valley of the Wachau narrows one last time before it enters the Tullnerfeld, a gravel area heaped up by the Danube, which goes all the way to the Vienna Gate enough, passes.