Perchtoldsdorf lies on the very edge of Vienna, where the city's southern suburbs meet the first hills of the Vienna Woods, and it has the relaxed atmosphere of a wine village rather than a suburb. The hills behind the town are covered in vineyards, and the old streets are lined with Heurigen, the traditional wine taverns where producers serve their own new wine with simple cold food. When a Heuriger is open, it hangs a bunch of pine branches over the door, a sign that has been used for centuries.
The town's history has a darker side. Its massive defensive tower, the Wehrturm, rising next to the parish church, was built in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to protect against Ottoman raids. In 1683, during the second Ottoman siege of Vienna, the people of Perchtoldsdorf were massacred after surrendering to Ottoman troops, an event still remembered in the town. In more peaceful times, the composer Hugo Wolf lived and worked here, and his house is now a small memorial.
As a starting point for rides south and east, Perchtoldsdorf is excellent. It sits right at the start of the Thermenlinie, the line of wine villages and spa towns that runs south along the edge of the Vienna Woods towards Baden, and the roads through the vineyards and into the woods are pleasant, with gentle curves and views over the Vienna basin. Further afield, the rides head east to the Neusiedler See, a vast, shallow steppe lake on the Hungarian border, or west to the lakes and mountains of the Salzkammergut.
There is fuel and food in Perchtoldsdorf and the neighbouring towns, and the coffee houses in the centre are a civilised place to start the day. Traffic in the Vienna area can be heavy, especially on weekday mornings, so it pays to leave early. At the end of a long ride, sitting in a Heuriger garden with a glass of local white wine, under the chestnut trees, watching the sun set over the vineyards, is a very Viennese way to finish.