Semmering is where Lower Austria meets Styria on a saddle of a little under a thousand metres, and it has been a place of passage and of pleasure for a long time. The pass itself is not high by Alpine standards, but the name carries weight: the Semmering Railway, engineered by Carl von Ghega and opened in the 1850s, was the first true mountain railway in the world, and it is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its viaducts and tunnels thread through the valleys below the road, and if you stop at one of the lookouts you may see a train crawling across a stone arch far below.
Once the railway arrived, Vienna came up for the air. The grand hotels that still stand on the slopes, some restored and some waiting, belong to the era when the capital's bourgeoisie took the train up for the summer season and for winter sport. There is something wistful about the place now, a resort that peaked long ago, wrapped in dark spruce forest with views out over the Rax and Schneeberg.
The modern expressway sweeps through tunnels below the pass, which is excellent news for anyone on two wheels, because it leaves the old road over the top relatively quiet. Coming up from Gloggnitz and Schottwien, the climb has a run of tight bends that are a lot of fun if the surface is dry, though they can be greasy in the shade on cool mornings and you will meet cyclists and the odd bus. Over the top, the road drops down the Styrian side towards Mürzzuschlag in gentler curves. The Wechsel and Bucklige Welt to the east offer an endless supply of smaller roads for the rest of the day.
As a food stop, Semmering is a village of a few hundred people, so options are modest but pleasant: a couple of guesthouses and cafés where a coffee and a slice of cake on a terrace feel exactly right. For fuel it is wiser to rely on Gloggnitz below on the eastern side or Mürzzuschlag on the western. Autumn is lovely here, with larches turning gold and clear views, but be prepared for fog in the hollows and occasional ice early or late in the season.