Stage 6 Danube Cycle Path from Tulln on the Danube to Vienna

The 6th stage of the Danube Cycle Path Passau Vienna runs about 38 km from the Donaulände in Tulln on the Danube to Vienna on the Stephansplatz. The special thing about the stage next to the destination Vienna is a visit to Klosterneuburg Abbey.

Danube Cycle Path Passau Vienna Stage 6 Route
Stage 6 of the Danube Cycle Path Passau Vienna runs from Tulln via Klosterneuburg to Vienna

From Schiele's birthplace Tulln we continue cycling along the Danube Cycle Path through the Tullner Feld to the Wiener Pforte. The breakthrough of the Danube into the Vienna Basin is called the Wiener Pforte. The Vienna Gate was created by the erosion of the Danube along a fault line through the north-eastern foothills of the main Alpine ridge with the Leopoldsberg on the right and the Bisamberg on the left bank of the Danube.

The Vienna Gate

Greifenstein Castle sits enthroned high on a rock in the Vienna Woods above the Danube. Burg Greifenstein, it served to monitor the Danube bend at the Vienna Gate. Burg Greifenstein was probably built in the 11th century by the bishopric of Passau.
Greifenstein Castle, built in the 11th century by the Passau bishopric on a rock in the Vienna Woods above the Danube, was used to monitor the bend in the Danube at the Vienna Gate.

At the end of our journey through the Tullner Feld we come to the old arm of the Danube near Greifenstein, which is towered over by the Greifenstein Castle of the same name. Greifenstein Castle with its mighty square, 3-storey keep in the southeast and polygonal, 3-storey palace in the west is enthroned high on a rock in the Vienna Woods on the Danube above the town of Greifenstein. The hilltop castle above the southern steep bank originally directly at the Danube Narrows of the Vienna Gate on a towering rocky outcrop served to monitor the Danube bend at the Vienna Gate. The castle was probably built around 1100 by the bishopric of Passau, which owned the area, on the site of a Roman observation tower. From around 1600, the castle served primarily as a prison for the church courts, where clergymen and laypeople had to serve their sentences in the tower dungeon. Greifenstein Castle belonged to the bishops of Passau until it passed to the Cameral rulers in 1803 in the course of secularization by Emperor Joseph II.

Klosterneuburg

From Greifenstein we ride along the Danube Cycle Path, where the Danube makes a 90 degree bend to the southeast before it flows through the actual bottleneck between Bisamberg in the north and Leopoldsberg in the south. When the Babenberg Margrave Leopold III. and his wife Agnes von Waiblingen Anno 1106 were standing on the balcony of their castle on the Leopoldsberg, the bridal veil of the wife, a fine fabric from Byzantium, was caught by a gust of wind and carried into the dark forest near the Danube. Nine years later, Margrave Leopold III. the white veil of his wife unharmed on a white blossoming elder bush. So he decided to found a monastery on this spot. To this day, the veil is a sign of lottery of the donated church and can be viewed in the treasury of Klosterneuburg Abbey.

Saddlery Tower and Imperial Wing of Klosterneuburg Monastery The Babenberg Margrave Leopold III. Founded at the beginning of the 12th century, Klosterneuburg Abbey lies on a terrace that slopes steeply down to the Danube, immediately north-west of Vienna. In the 18th century, the Habsburg Emperor Karl VI. expand the monastery in the Baroque style. In addition to its gardens, Klosterneuburg Abbey has the Imperial Rooms, the Marble Hall, the Abbey Library, the Abbey Church, the Abbey Museum with its late Gothic panel paintings, a treasury with the Austrian Archduke's Hat, the Leopold Chapel with the Verduner Altar and the baroque cellar ensemble of the Abbey Winery.
The Babenberger Margrave Leopold III. Founded at the beginning of the 12th century, Klosterneuburg Abbey lies on a terrace that slopes steeply down to the Danube, immediately north-west of Vienna.

To visit the Augustinian Monastery in Klosterneuburg, you need to make a small detour from the Danube Cycle Path Passau Vienna before continuing on to Vienna on a dam that separates the Kuchelau harbor from the Danube bed. The port of Kuchelau was intended as an outer and waiting port for the ships to be smuggled into the Danube Canal.

Kuchelauer Hafen is separated from the Danube bed by a dam. It served as a waiting port for the ships to be smuggled into the Danube Canal.
Donauradweg Passau Wien on the stairway at the foot of the dam that separates the Kuchelau harbor from the Danube bed

In the Middle Ages, the course of today's Danube Canal was the main branch of the Danube. The Danube used to have frequent floods that changed the bed again and again. The city developed on a flood-proof terrace on its south-west bank. The main flow of the Danube shifted again and again. Around 1700, the branch of the Danube close to the city was called the "Danube Canal", since the main stream now flowed far to the east. The Danube Canal branches off from the new main stream near Nussdorf just before the Nussdorf locks. Here we leave the Danube Cycle Path Passau Vienna and continue on the Danube Canal Cycle Path in the direction of the city center.

The Danube Cycle Path in Nußdorf just before the junction of the Danube Canal Cycle Path
The Danube Cycle Path in Nußdorf just before the junction of the Danube Canal Cycle Path

Before the Salztor Bridge we leave the Danube Cycle Path and drive up the ramp to the Salztor Bridge. From the Salztorbrücke we ride on the Ring-Rund-Radweg to Schwedenplatz, where we turn right into Rotenturmstraße and slightly uphill to Stephansplatz, the destination of our tour.

The south side of the nave of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna
The south side of the Gothic nave of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, which is decorated with rich tracery forms, and the west facade with the giant gate