Austria (local)

A really beautiful collection of photographs from his October 2002 tour along the Tauern Radweg from Krimml to Salzburg to Passau, and then the Danube from Passau to Vienna. Includes a written account of the trip.

[This is our] online Austria photo album. We (Bob Parry, Ed James, Greg James and Bonnie Vargo) took this biking tour between August 11 to 26, 1999. We flew to Munich, Germany with our bikes packed in boxes, put the bikes together in the Munich airport and then took a series of five trains from Munich to Krimml, Austria for the beginning of our big adventure.

We traveled by bike from Krimml to Zell am See, to St Johann im Pongau, to Salzburg, train to Braunau, then biked to Passau (Germany), Aschbach, Linz, Mauthausen, train to Melk, then biked to Krems and Vienna. (Click map thumbnail to see trip map) Ed and Bonnie then continued for another week and biked into Hungary. We biked about 36 miles a day sightseeing as we went. We stayed in youth hostels and Pension's along the way. During the two week trip we biked about 365 miles, trained about 600 miles and flew about 10,000 miles.

The[se pictures are] accompanied by descriptions which give a general idea of what it's like to bicycle in Austria along the Danube River, and into the voralps (the fore-alps). For anyone considering such a ride (the Danube River Trail makes for an easy self-supported tour), I hope these pictures inspire you to follow through with your plan. For those who have been there, I hope it brings back memories. Enjoy.

One day: 26 July 1996 from 09:00 to 15:30 - Km 90.

La pista ciclabile dei Tauri, dal nome della catena montuosa austriaca, si snoda lungo le valli dei fiumi Salzach e Inn partendo dalle cascate di Krimml, attraversando la città di Salisburgo fino a giungere a Passau (D), dove si congiunge con la pista del Danubio. L'itinerario di circa 400 km è stato da noi percorso in una settimana (AGOSTO 1999), dedicando un po' di tempo alla visita di cittadine e altri luoghi interessanti. Il materiale utilizzato per organizzare l'itinerario (in italiano) ci è stato fornito dall'Ente Austriaco per il Turismo.

Nice pictures but not a lot about bicyles: ``On this summer sunday, after months of travel, I was riding my bicycle through lush, green, central Austrian farm country. The narrow unmarked country roads carried little traffic and provided enough space and quiet for me to stop whenever I wished to play my penny whistle or take pictures of poppy fields. As I was riding along, letting my mind wander across open fields, the steady spinning of my legs and feet, the rotating wheels and the rhythm of my own breath all fused together into a meditative gestalt - with me at the center.''

Jamtalhütte, Piz Puin, Inneres Bergle, Heilbronner Hütte, die Greitspitz, Silvretta-Skigebiet: six mountainbike tours with pictures.

This site has a number of excellent tour descriptions at all levels in Austria, with maps and useful practical information.