Cycling the Danube pathway

[vontoews]

Hello out there.
We are going to be cycling the Danube pathway this summer through Germany,Austria, and possibly Hungary. Has anyone out there done this before that could provide us with a little information? For example, we are touring in July and are wondering whether we have to book accommodation in advance along the path or whether there is plenty of rooms available along the way. We would also like to know the condition of the pathway and how easy it is to find your way in Germany. Should we take our bikes or is it easy to rent touring Bikes in Germany? Any general information or experiential advice would be much appreciated. Thank-you in advance.
-vontoews in Alberta, Canada

 

[Powerful Pete]

For more information google a bit. A good place for all touring information are the Trento Bike Pages (always proud to point out the good work of another Italian! ).


They have tour information submitted by riders, subdivided by country. Check out http://www-math.science.unitn.it/Bike/Countries/Austria/, the first entry is a cycling the Danube one the actual link is http://www.boblucky.com/Biking/Danube.htm

Looks like a lot of fun! Enjoy your trip!

 

[vontoews]

Thanks for the info and the links, Powerful Pete. Your response is much appreciated and very useful .We are still hoping to hear from someone with personal experience in seeking accommodation along the way in Summer and the condition of the path in Germany and Hungary, as it is less well travelled than the Passau-Vienna stretch.
-vontoews

 

[geoffs]

We will be riding along the Danube about Juy the 8th to the 13th so we might see you there!!
We will be camping so that we wont have to worry to much about finding accomodation. I last rode along the Danube in '89 but that was outside of the main holiday season and in the middle of the week so there weren't many people on the path. However, there are large numbers during the holidays. If you are reliant on accomodation, I would be booking now to ensure that you have somewhere to stay.
We are flying in to Vienna from Nice on the 7th after cycling for 5 weeks in France and will catch a train to Salzburg. From there we will ride up to Linz and start along the Donau.
Where in Germany are you starting from and how long do you have?

Cheers

Geoff

 

[vontoews]

Thanks for the reply Geoff. We hope to start at the source of the Danube, in Donaueschingen in the Black Forest and then take about two weeks to get to Vienna. We hope to spend a few days at a few choice places along the way. Thanks for the tip about the accommodation. I am most concerned about finding accommodation along the Passau-Vienna stretch, which seems to be the most popular. Every town along the way has a website offering info on accommodation and even direct booking through e-mail. Maybe we will see you on the trail. We will probably be in Passau around the 12th of July or so.
Cheers
-G vontoews

 

[KnoxGardner]

I did most of this last summer! It was, of course, swell. I was there near the end of August and into September, connecting with the Danube Trail near Regensburg (which is lovely and I could have easily spent more time there). I rode most of it to Budapest. I skipped the section near Wels, Austria to visit some friends inland.

I camped and had my own bike, so I don't know what to tell you about accomadations or rentals. There are certainly plenty of cyclists. I actually had one fairly long day with mysterious camping 'where in the hell is the camp' issue after Passau. I would need to look at the map to point out a specific distance issue I had. For Europe, that bit is fairly "remote". I saw plenty of people who appeared to be hotel cyclists and certainly the nightlife would probably be livelier than mine in camp.

The path is very well-marked the entire way and in great shape until you get to Hungary. There it is off and on, mainly off, but still not bad cycling (now that I cycle in Boston!) just a bit to get used too after the ease of being the Danube path for a couple weeks. I can't wait to get back there for more cycling.

Here is a link to that part of my trip:
http://bikenerd.blogspot.com/2004_09_01_bikenerd_archive.html

I think my favorite stretch of this trip was the wine region on the west side of Vienna. I hit as the New Wine came out and I spent several shorter days sitting in bars by the river watching the other bikes go by... The last 50 miles into the camp closest to the city at Klosteneuberg was perhaps the one day of my entire 3 month trip that I could have skipped due to boredom. Taking the train is evidently not that hard and I met a family that night in camp that had done that. From the camp it was a snap to take the train in everyday to Vienna. I ended up staying 6 days and could have stayed longer.

You might want to also consider some of the spur trips into central Austria if you have the energy. There are well marked "routes"/some paths and you should be able to find the maps in any of the book stores on your route. The Danube trail books are incredibly detailed and if you bike 50-60 miles a day, you will burn through them.

Austria in general was a pleasant surprise. I kind of anticipated it being a bit drab or staid. But then I am stupid. It was just swell.

Knox Gardner
www.bikenerd.blogspot.com

 

[vontoews]

Thanks for all the great Info, Knox. I enjoyed reading your Blog.
Reading about your camping experiences is causing us to reconsider bringing the camping gear over.
-vontoews