Self-Guided/Guided

Self-Guided: Daily 4/1-10/31/2010
Guided: Daily 4/1-10/31/2010

Self-Guided: €630
Guided: €980

All tours cover the same route between Passau and Vienna. Actual overnight locations and daily distances depend on hotel category and availability. The following programs are provided only as examples.

7-day program starts with arrival in Linz on Day 3.

Day 1: Individual arrival in Passau
Arrive in Passau, the City of Three Rivers, at the confluence of the Inn, Ilz and Danube Rivers. If you’d like, take a sightseeing tour around the city and the cathedral, where you might hear a concert on the world’s largest church organ.

Accommodations: Hotel Weisser Hase (4 stars)

Day 2: Passau – Schlögen (13 miles)
After you leave your luggage in the lobby, you head the short distance to the river, where you board a riverboat for a scenic tour down the Danube. Strengthen yourselves for the ride ahead with lunch on-board (included).

You get off the ship at the charming town of Engelhartszell with its unique Trappist monastery and breathtakingly beautiful rococo church. Here your bike ride actually starts. After riding through granite massifs, you enter an opulent green landscape and soon come to Schlögen, where the Danube rounds a nearly 270-degree bend.

Lodging is at the Hotel Donauschlinge (4 stars) with its own indoor swimming pool. From your home base at the hotel, you have many options for hiking with great views; a small children`s playground is next to the hotel.

Day 3: Schlögen to Linz (14 miles)
Continue your ride along the Danube under the gaze of old castles that look from the hilltops. Ride through the narrow and winding Danube valley to Ottensheim, a medieval market town with historic parish church and castle. Stop in Aschach for lunch, with plenty of swimming lakes to choose from along the way, and board the riverboat in the afternoon.

You'll soon come to Linz, Austria's third-largest city, with an historic market square surrounded by baroque buildings. The majestic fifteenth-century Linz Citadel stands watch over the Danube. If you'd like, board Europe's steepest mountain railway to climb the Pöstlingberg, a hill overlooking the city. The train, which still operates with its original 19th-century cars, covers nearly 2 miles and about 825 vertical feet in 16 minutes. The view to the river is superb.

At the top, you can board the “Grotto Railway” to explore a fairy-tale park.

Lodging tonight is in the heart of Linz at the Hotel Arcotel Nike (4 stars).

Day 4: Linz to Enns (24 miles)
Start your morning, if you'd like, with a visit to the Linz Zoo.

You continue past two medieval castles to the Enns River and head a few miles upstream to Enns, the oldest city in Austria. Enns is postcard-perfect with its medieval tower and fortifications and its Renaissance and Baroque façades.

In Enns, you can also try an alpine slide or open air “adventure” swimming park.

Day 5: Enns to Grein (20 miles)
In Wallsee, you can visit the 14th-century Wallsee Castle, still in the possession of the Habsburgs. Past the tiny village of Adragger, you ride under the mighty Fortress Clam. You explore the fertile farmland of the Danube Valley, with rural towns and picturesque farms. A Danube highlight soon comes into view: the baroque village of Grein with its imposing castle. With only 2,800 residents, Grein is one of Austria’s smallest towns. Due to its strategic location above rapids on the Danube, the city became quite rich during the 16th and 17th centuries, and the wealth still shows off in elaborate houses built around the town square.

Day 6: Grein to Melk (16 miles)
After Grein, the Danube starts getting narrower. The valley is tighter and craggy where ruins of ancient castles seem to appear at every bend in the river.

You can stop at the Persenbeug Castle, which still watches over the Danube from a stark rock outcropping. It dates from the 9th century, although its current form is “only” 400 years old. You cross the river to Ybbs, with its recently restored old town with winding lanes, quiet courtyards and patrician homes from the 15th and 16th centuries. Much of the historic town wall is still intact.

In Ybbs, you enjoy lunch and board the riverboat and follow the Danube around a tight curve and travel a short distance to another tour highlight: the Melk Abbey.

Melk marks the official start of the Wachau, Austria's most famous wine-growing region. Vineyards stretch up the sides of the valley, and wine villages lie along the river as well as in the neighboring hills.

The Benedictine Abbey, a magnificent baroque structure built between 1702 and 1736, surrounds seven courtyards and stretches 1,065 from end to end. Take a tour of the abbey and the adjacent English landscape garden.

Your hotel is immediately across the river in Emmersdorf at the Hotel Zum Schwarzen Bären (4 stars) with its own indoor swimming pool. If you’d like, visit the adventure park Hubhof with a fairytale nature trail for children

Day 7: Melk to Krems (13 miles)
Ride your bikes to Spitz, in the heart of the Wachau, where you can make a short hike to the ruins of the Hinterhaus castle and look across to the Tausendeimerberg—the Mountain of a Thousand Buckets—where vineyards are carved into hillside terraces. Board the riverboat in Spitz for the short but scenic ride to Krems. The 1000-year-old town is surrounded by vineyards and filled with historic buildings—including churches, monasteries and fortifications. It's also a lively town with cafés, shops and bistros.

Day 8: Krems – Vienna
Leave your bikes in Krems and take the train from Krems to Vienna (included). To celebrate your arrival, perhaps you can visit the famous Prater Park and ride with the “Riesenrad,” until recently the tallest Ferris wheel in the world.

Stay overnight at the centrally located Hotel Mercure (4 stars), where you can walk through the historic city center and visit the attractions.

Day 9: Vienna
Rest day in Vienna.

Day 10: Departure or extension in Vienna

Distances listed are miles traveled by bike – actual distances are longer and include boat or train transportation. Hotels are typical and subject to availability.

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