Stage 5 from Spitz an der Donau to Tulln

From Spitz an der Donau to Tulln an der Donau, the Danube Cycle Path initially runs through the valley of the Wachau to Stein an der Donau and from there through the Tullner Feld to Tulln. The distance from Spitz to Tulln is about 63 km on the Danube Cycle Path. This can easily be done in one day with an e-bike. In the morning to Traismauer and after lunch to Tulln. What is special about this stage is the journey through the historical places in the Wachau and then through the lime towns of Mautern, Traismauer and Tulln, where there are still well-preserved towers from Roman times.

Wachau railway

A set of the Wachau Railway
A train set of the Wachaubahn operated by NÖVOG on the left bank of the Danube between Krems and Emmersdorf.

In Spitz an der Donau, the Danube Cycle Path turns right into Bahnhofstrasse at the transition from Rollfahrestrasse to Hauptstrasse. Continue along Bahnhofstraße in the direction of Spitz an der Donau station on the Wachaubahn. The Wachau Railway runs on the left bank of the Danube between Krems and Emmersdorf an der Donau. The Wachau Railway was built in 1908. The route of the Wachau Railway is above the flood marks of 1889. The elevated route, which is higher than the old Wachauer Straße that runs parallel and in particular higher than the new B3 Danube federal highway, gives a good overview of the landscape and the historic buildings of the Wachau. In 1998, the railway line between Emmersdorf and Krems was placed under protection as a cultural monument and in 2000, as part of the Wachau cultural landscape, it was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Bicycles can be taken on the Wachaubahn free of charge. 

Tunnel of the Wachaubahn through the Teufelsmauer in Spitz an der Donau
Short tunnel of the Wachaubahn through the Teufelsmauer in Spitz an der Donau

parish church St. Mauritius in Spitz on the Danube

From the Danube Cycle Path on Bahnhofstrasse in Spitz an der Donau you have a beautiful view of the parish church of St. Mauritius, a late Gothic hall church with a long choir bent out of axis, a high gable roof and a four-storey, articulated west tower with a steep hipped roof and a small attic. The parish church in Spitz an der Donau is surrounded by a medieval, well-fortified enclosure wall over sloping terrain. From 4 to 1238 the Spitz parish was incorporated into the Niederaltaich monastery. It is therefore also dedicated to St. Mauritius, because the monastery in Niederaltaich on the Danube in the Deggendorf district is a Benedictine abbey of St. Mauritius is. The possessions of the Niederaltaich monastery in the Wachau go back to Charlemagne and were intended to serve the missionary work in the east of the Frankish Empire.

The parish church of St. Mauritius in Spitz is a late Gothic hall church with a long choir bent out of axis, a high gable roof and a four-storey, articulated west tower with a steep hipped roof and a small attic house with a medieval, fortified enclosing wall over sloping terrain. From 4 to 1238 the Spitz parish was incorporated into the Niederaltaich monastery. The possessions of the Niederaltaich monastery in the Wachau go back to Charlemagne and were intended to serve the missionary work in the east of the Frankish Empire.
The parish church of St. Mauritius in Spitz is a late-Gothic hall church with a long choir that is bent from the axis and drawn in, a high gable roof and a west tower.

From Bahnhofstrasse in Spitz an der Donau, the Danube Cycle Path joins Kremser Strasse, which it follows to the Donau Bundesstrasse. He crosses the Mieslingbach and comes along at the Filmhotel Mariandl Gunther Philipp Museum that was set up because the Austrian actor Gunther Philipp had often made films in the Wachau, including the classic romantic comedy starring Paul Hörbiger, Hans Moser and Waltraud Haas Councilor Geiger, where the Hotel Mariandl in Spitz was the filming location.

The Danube Cycle Path on Kremser Strasse in Spitz an der Donau
The Danube Cycle Path on Kremser Strasse in Spitz on the Danube just before the Wachau Railway crossing

St. Michael

The Danube Cycle Path runs alongside the Danube Federal Road towards St. Michael. Around 800, Charlemagne, King of the Frankish Empire, which comprised the core of early medieval Latin Christianity, had a Michael sanctuary built in St. Michael at the foot of the Michaelerberg, which slopes steeply down to the Danube, on a slightly elevated terrace instead of a small Celtic sacrificial site. In Christianity, Saint Michael is considered the slayer of the devil and the supreme commander of the Lord's army. After the victorious Battle of Lechfeld in 955, the culmination of the Hungarian invasions, Archangel Michael was proclaimed the patron saint of the East Frankish Empire, the eastern part of the empire that emerged from the division of the Frankish Empire in 843, the early medieval precursor to the Holy Roman Empire. 

The fortified church of St. Michael is in a position dominating the Danube valley on the site of a small Celtic sacrificial site.
The square four-storey west tower of the branch church St. Michael with a braced pointed arch portal with a shoulder arch insert and crowned with round arch battlements and round, projecting corner turrets.

Wachau Valley

The Danube Cycle Path runs past the northern, left-hand side of the Church of St. Michael. At the eastern end we park the bike and climb the three-story, massive round tower with numerous slits and machicolations of the well-preserved fortress wall of St. Michael from the 15th century, which is located in the southeast corner of the fortifications and was up to 7 m high. 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.

The Thal Wachau from the observation tower of St. Michael with the towns of Wösendorf, Joching and Weißenkirchen in the far background at the foot of the Weitenberg.

church way

The Danube Cycle Path runs from Sankt Michael along the Weinweg, which initially hugs the foothills of the Michaelerberg and runs through the Kirchweg vineyard. The name Kirchweg goes back to the fact that this path was the path to the next church, in this case Sankt Michael, for a long time. The fortified church of St. Michael was the mother parish of the Wachau. The vineyard name Kirchweg was already mentioned in writing in 1256. In the Kirchweg vineyards, which are characterized by loess, mostly Grüner Veltliner is grown.

Grüner Veltliner

White wine is mainly grown in the Wachau. The main grape variety is Grüner Veltliner, an indigenous Austrian grape variety whose fresh, fruity wine is also popular in Germany. The Grüner Veltliner is a natural cross between Traminer and an unknown grape variety called St. Georgen, which was found and identified in the Leitha Mountains on Lake Neusiedl. The Grüner Veltliner prefers warm regions and produces its best results on the barren bedrock terraces of the Wachau or in the loess-dominated vineyards on the Wachau valley floor, which used to be beet fields before they were converted into vineyards.

Wösendorf in the Wachau

The building on the corner of Winklgasse Hauptstraße in Wösendorf is the former inn "Zum alten Kloster" in Wösendorf in the Wachau
The building on the corner of Winklgasse Hauptstraße in Wösendorf is the former inn "Zum alten Kloster", a mighty Renaissance building.

From the Kirchweg in St. Michael, the Danube Cycle Path continues on the main street of Wösendorf in the Wachau. Wösendorf is a market with Hauerhöfen and former reading courtyards of the monasteries of St. Nikola in Passau, Zwettl Abbey, St. Florian Abbey and Garsten Abbey, most of which date back to the 16th or 17th century. In front of the hall of the late baroque parish church St. Florian, the main street widens like a square. The Danube Cycle Path follows the course of the main road, which curves slightly downwards from the church square at a right angle.

Wösendorf, together with St. Michael, Joching and Weißenkirchen, became a community that received the name Thal Wachau.
The main street of Wösendorf running from the church square down to the Danube with stately, two-storey eaves houses on both sides, some with cantilevered upper floors on consoles. In the background the Dunkelsteinerwald on the southern bank of the Danube with the Seekopf, a popular hiking destination at 671 m above sea level.

Florianihof in Wösendorf in the Wachau

After reaching the level of the Danube, the main road bends at right angles in the direction of Joching. The northeast market exit is accentuated by the monumental former reading courtyard of the St. Florian monastery. The Florianihof is a free-standing, 2-storey building from the 15th century with a hipped roof. In the north-facing facade there is a stair case as well as window and door jambs. The portal has a broken segmental gable with the coat of arms of St. Florian.

Florianihof in Wösendorf in the Wachau
The Florianihof in Wösendorf in the Wachau is the former reading courtyard of St. Florian Abbey with an exposed, pointed-arched window frame and bar profile.

Prandtauerhof in Joching in the Wachau

In its further course, the main street becomes Josef-Jamek-Straße when it reaches the settlement area of ​​Joching, which is named after a pioneer of Wachau viticulture. At Prandtauer Platz, the Danube Cycle Path leads past the Prandtauer Hof. Jakob Prandtauer was a Baroque master builder from Tyrol, whose regular client was the Canons of St. Pölten. Jakob Prandtauer was involved in all major monastery buildings in St. Pölten, the Franciscan monastery, the Institute of the English Lady and the Carmelite monastery. His main work was the Melk Abbey, on which he worked from 1702 until the end of his life in 1726.

Melk Abbey chamber wing
Melk Abbey chamber wing

The Prandtauerhof was built in 1696 as a baroque 2-storey four-wing complex under a steep hipped roof on the main road in Joching in der Wachau. The south wing is connected to the east wing by a three-part portal with pilaster structure and a round-arched gate in the middle with a volute-flanked top with a niche figure of St. linked to Hippolytus. The facades of the Prandtauerhof are provided with a cordon band and local incorporation. The wall surfaces are divided by incised oaval and longitudinal areas that are emphasized by different colored plaster. The Prandtauerhof was originally built in 1308 as a reading courtyard for the Augustinian monastery of St. Pölten and was therefore also called St. Pöltner Hof.

Prandtauerhof in Joching in Thal Wachau
Prandtauerhof in Joching in Thal Wachau

After the Prandtauerhof, the Josef-Jamek-Straße becomes a country road, which leads to the Untere Bachgasse in Weißenkirchen, where there is a 15th-century Gothic fortified tower, which is a former fortification tower of the Fehensritterhof of the Kuenringers. It is a massive, 3-storey tower with some partially bricked-up windows and beam holes on the 2nd floor.

Former fortification tower of the feudal knight's farm of the Weißen Rose inn in Weißenkirchen
Former fortification tower of the Feudal Knights' Courtyard of the Weiße Rose inn in Weißenkirchen with the two towers of the parish church in the background.

Parish Church Weißenkirchen in the Wachau

The market square leads off Untere Bachgasse, a small square square from which a staircase leads up to the parish church of Weißenkirchen. The Weißenkirchen parish church has a mighty, square, towering north-west tower, divided into 5 floors by cornices, with a steep hipped roof with bay window and pointed arch window in the sound zone from 1502 and an older hexagonal tower with a gable wreath and coupled pointed arch slits and a stone pyramid helmet, which was built in 1330 in the course of the 2-nave extension of today's central nave to the north and south in the western front.

A mighty, towering, square north-west tower, divided into 5 floors by cornices and with a bay window in the steep hipped roof, and a second, older, six-sided tower from 1502, the original tower with a gable wreath and a stone helmet of the two-nave predecessor building of the parish church Wießenkirchen, which is halfway set south into the western front, towers over the market square of Weißenkirchen in der Wachau. From 2 the parish of Weißenkirchen belonged to the parish of St. Michael, the mother church of the Wachau. After 1330 there was a chapel. In the second half of the 987th century the first church was built, which was expanded in the first half of the 1000th century. In the 2th century, the squat nave with a monumental, steep hipped roof was baroque-style.
A mighty towering north-west tower from 1502 and a 2nd semi-discontinued older six-sided tower from 1330 tower over the market square of Weißenkirchen in der Wachau.

Weißenkirchner white wine

Weißenkirchen is the largest wine-growing community in the Wachau, whose inhabitants live mainly from wine-growing. The Weißenkirchen area has the best and most well-known Riesling vineyards. These include the Achleiten, Klaus and Steinriegl 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 both in the direction of Weißenkirchen and in the direction of Dürnstein. The Weißenkirchner wines can be tasted directly at the winemaker or in the vinotheque Thal Wachau.

The Achleiten vineyards in Weißenkirchen in der Wachau
The Achleiten vineyards in Weißenkirchen in der Wachau

Steinriegl

The Steinriegl is a 30-hectare, south-southwest-facing, terraced, steep vineyard site in Weißenkirchen, where the road meanders up the Seiber into the Waldviertel. From the late Middle Ages, wine was also grown on less favorable sites. This was only possible if the vineyards were always hoed. Larger stones that came out of the ground due to erosion and frost heaving were collected. Long stacks of so-called reading stones, which could subsequently be used for dry wall construction, were called stone blocks.

Steinriegl in Weissenkirchen in the Wachau
The Weinriede Steinriegl in Weißenkirchen in der Wachau

Danube ferry Weißenkirchen - St.Lorenz

From the market square in Weißenkirchen, the Danube Cycle Path runs down the Untere Bachgasse and ends in the Roll Fährestraße, which goes to the Wachaustraße. In order to get to the landing stage for the historic rolling ferry to St. Lorenz, you still have to cross Wachaustraße. While waiting for the ferry, you can still taste the wines of the day for free in the nearby Thal Wachau vinotheque.

Landing stage for the Weißenkirchen ferry in the Wachau
Landing stage for the Weißenkirchen ferry in the Wachau

During the crossing with the ferry to St. Lorenz you can take a look back at Weißenkirchen. Weißenkirchen is located at the eastern end of the valley floor of the Wachau Valley at the foot of the Seiber, a mountain range in the Waldviertel north of the Wachau. The Waldviertel is the northwestern part of Lower Austria. The Waldviertel is a wavy trunk area of ​​the Austrian part of the Bohemian Massif, which continues in the Wachau south of the Danube in the form of the Dunkelsteiner Forest. 

Weißenkirchen in the Wachau seen from the Danube ferry
Weißenkirchen in der Wachau with the elevated parish church seen from the Danube ferry

Wachau nose

If we direct our gaze to the south during the ferry crossing to St. Lorenz, we will see a nose from afar that looks as if a giant were lying buried and only his nose was sticking out of the earth. It is about the Wachau nose, with nostrils large enough to enter. As the Danube rises and flows through the nose, the nostrils subsequently fill with lettuces, a gray deposit of the Danube that smells of fish. The Wachau Nose is a project by the artists from Gelitin, which was funded by art in public space Lower Austria.

The nose of the Wachau
The nose of the Wachau

St Lorenz

The small church of St. Lorenz opposite Weißenkirchen in der Wachau, located at a narrow point between the steep cliffs of the Dunkelsteinerwald and the Danube, is one of the oldest places of worship in the Wachau. St. Lorenz was built as a place of worship for boatmen on the south side of a Roman castle from the 4th century AD, the north wall of which was included in the church. The Romanesque nave of the Church of St. Lorenz is under a pitched roof. On the southern outer wall there are late Romanesque frescoes and a featured, baroque, gabled vestibule from 1774. The squat tower with a Gothic brick pyramid helmet and stone ball crowning is presented to the south-east.

St. Lawrence in the Wachau
The Church of St. Lorenz in the Wachau is a Romanesque nave under a gable roof with a gabled baroque vestibule and a squat tower with a Gothic brick pyramid helmet and stone ball crowning

From St. Lorenz, the Danube Cycle Path runs through vineyards and orchards on the shore terrace, which stretches via Ruhrbach and Rossatz to Rossatzbach. The Danube winds its way around this disc-shaped shore terrace from Weißenkirchen to Dürnstein. The Rossatz area goes back to a gift from Charlemagne to the Bavarian monastery of Metten at the beginning of the 9th century. From the 12th century under the Babenbergs clearing and construction of stone terraces for viticulture, some of which still exist today. From the 12th to the 19th century, Rossatz was also a base for shipping on the Danube.

Disc-shaped terrace along the banks of the Danube from Rührsdorf via Rossatz to Rossatzbach, around which the Danube winds its way from Weißenkirchen to Dürnstein.

Dürnstein

When you approach Rossatzbach on the Danube Cycle Path, you can already see the blue and white church tower of Dürnstein Abbey glowing from afar. The former Augustinian Monastery of Canons Dürnstein is a baroque complex on the western outskirts of Dürnstein towards the Danube, which consists of 4 wings around a rectangular courtyard. The high-baroque tower is presented on the south-west front of the south-adjoining church, which is elevated above the Danube.

Dürnstein seen from Rossatz
Dürnstein seen from Rossatz

From Rossatzbach we take the bike ferry to Dürnstein. Dürnstein is a town at the foot of a rocky cone that falls steeply to the Danube, which is defined by the high-lying castle ruins and the former, 1410 founded, baroque Augustinian monastery on a terrace above the Danube bank. Dürnstein was already inhabited in the Neolithic and in the Hallstatt period. Dürnstein was a gift from Emperor Heinrich II to Tegernsee Abbey. From the middle of the 11th century, Dürnstein was under the bailiwick of the Kuenringers, who had the castle built around the middle of the 12th century where the English king Richard I the Lionheart was imprisoned in 1192 after he was returning from the 3rd Crusade in Vienna Erdberg was captured by Leopold V.

Dürnstein with the blue tower of the collegiate church, the symbol of the Wachau.
Dürnstein Abbey and Castle at the foot of the Dürnstein Castle ruins

Arrived in Dürnstein, we continue our bike tour on the stairway at the foot of the rock of the monastery and castle in a northerly direction, to cross the Danube federal road at the end and on the Danube bike path on the main road through the core of the 16th century building of drive to Durnstein. The two most important buildings are the town hall and the Kuenringer Tavern, both diagonally opposite in the middle of the main street. We leave Dürnstein through the Kremser Tor and continue on the old Wachaustraße in the direction of the Loiben plain.

Dürnstein seen from the castle ruins
Dürnstein seen from the castle ruins

Taste Wachau wine

At the eastern 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 Passau Vienna Danube Cycle Path.

Vinothek of the Wachau domain
In the vinotheque of the Wachau domain you can taste the entire range of wines and buy them at farm-gate prices.

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.

The Loiben plain where the Austrians fought the French in 1805
Rothenhof at the beginning of the Loiben plain, where the French army fought against the allied Austrians and Russians in November 1805

On the Passau Vienna Danube Cycle Path 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 through the Pfaffenberg on the north bank before it flows into the Tullnerfeld, a gravel area heaped up by the Danube. which extends to the Vienna Gate.

The Danube Cycle Path in Rothenhof at the foot of the Paffenberg in the direction of Förthof
The Danube Cycle Path in Rothenhof at the foot of the Paffenberg next to the Danube Federal Road in the direction of Förthof

In Stein an der Donau we cycle along the Danube Cycle Path over the Mauterner Bridge to the south bank of the Danube. On June 17, 1463, Emperor Friedrich III issued the bridge privilege for the construction of the Danube bridge Krems-Stein after Vienna was allowed to build the first Danube bridge in Austria in 1439. In 1893 the construction of the Kaiser Franz Joseph Bridge began. The four semi-parabolic beams of the superstructure were built by the Viennese company R. Ph. Waagner and Fabrik Ig. Gridl created. On May 8, 1945, the Mauterner Bridge was partially blown up by the German Wehrmacht. After the end of the war, the two southern spans of the bridge were rebuilt using Roth-Waagner bridge equipment.

The Mautern Bridge
The Mauterner Bridge with the two semi-parabolic girders completed in 1895 over the northern shore area

from the ssteel truss bridge from you can see back to Stein an der Donau. Stein an der Donau has been inhabited since the Neolithic Age. A first church settlement existed in the area of ​​the Frauenberg Church. Below the steeply sloping gneiss terrace of the Frauenberg, a riverside settlement developed from the 11th century. Due to the given narrow settlement area between the bank edge and the rock, the medieval city could only expand in length. At the foot of the Frauenberg is the St. Nicholas Church, to which parish rights were transferred in 1263.

Stein an der Donau seen from the Mauterner Bridge
Stein an der Donau seen from the Mauterner Bridge

Mautern on the Danube

Before we continue our journey along the Danube Cycle Path through Mautern, we make a small detour to the former Roman fort Favianis, which was part of the safety systems of the Roman Limes Noricus. Significant remains of the late antique fort have been preserved, especially on the western section of the medieval fortifications. The horseshoe tower with its up to 2 m wide tower walls probably dates from the 4th or 5th century. Rectangular joist holes mark the location of the support joists for the wooden false ceiling.

Roman Tower in Mautern on the Danube
The horseshoe tower of the Roman fort Favianis in Mautern on the Danube with two arched windows on the upper floor

The Danube Cycle Path runs from Mautern to Traismauer and from Traismauer to Tulln. Before reaching Tulln, we pass a nuclear power plant in Zwentendorf with a training reactor, where maintenance, repair and dismantling work can be trained.

Zwentendorf

The boiling water reactor of the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant was completed but not put into operation but converted to a training reactor.
The boiling water reactor of the Zwentendorf nuclear power plant was completed, but not put into operation, but converted to a training reactor.

Zwentendorf is a street village with a row of banks that follows the former course of the Danube to the west. There was a Roman auxiliary fort in Zwentendorf, which is one of the best-researched Limes forts in Austria. In the east of the town there is a 2-storey, late baroque castle with a mighty hipped roof and a representative baroque driveway from the Danube bank.

Althann Castle in Zwentendorf
Althann Castle in Zwentendorf is a 2-storey, late Baroque castle with a mighty hipped roof

After Zwentendorf we come to the historically significant town of Tulln on the Danube cycle path, in which the former Roman camp Comagena, a 1000-man cavalry force, is integrated. 1108 Margrave Leopold III receives Emperor Heinrich V in Tulln. Since 1270, Tulln had had a weekly market and had city rights from King Ottokar II Przemysl. The imperial immediacy of Tulln was confirmed in 1276 by King Rudolf von Habsburg. This means that Tulln was an imperial city that was directly and immediately subordinate to the emperor, which was associated with a number of freedoms and privileges.

Tulln

The marina in Tulln
The marina in Tulln used to be a base for the Roman Danube fleet.

Before we continue on the Danube Cycle Path from the historically important city of Tulln to Vienna, we pay a visit to the birthplace of Egon Schiele in Tulln train station. Egon Schiele, who only gained fame in the USA after the war, is one of the most important artists of Viennese Modernism. Viennese Modernism describes cultural life in the Austrian capital around the turn of the century (from around 1890 to 1910) and developed as a counter-current to naturalism.

Egon Schiele

Egon Schiele has turned away from the beauty cult of the Viennese Secession of the fin de siècle and brings out the deepest inner self in his works.

Egon Schiele's birthplace at the train station in Tulln
Egon Schiele's birthplace at the train station in Tulln

Where can you see Schiele in Vienna?

The Leopold Museum in Vienna houses a large collection of Schiele works and also in the Upper Belvedere see masterpieces by Schiele, such as
Portrait of the artist's wife, Edith Schiele or death and girls.