CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Innsbruck it runs 309 km to Innsbruck; allow about 5 h 42 of riding. The stops in between: Linderhof Castle, The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria:, Neuschwanstein Castle and Pilgrimage Church of Wies. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,950 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Austria into Germany - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules.
46 km on Romantische Strasse.
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
24 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it. Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
Innsbruck sits in a bowl. The Inn river runs through the middle, the town name means bridge over the Inn, and on both sides steep limestone mountains rise almost from the streets. To the north the jagged Nordkette stands over the rooftops, and a funicular and a cable car carry you from the old centre to over two thousand metres in about twenty minutes, so that you can drink a morning coffee in town and an afternoon coffee among the rocks.
Read the complete Innsbruck write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Innsbruck is where the day begins. Next is Linderhof Castle.
Of all the palaces King Ludwig II of Bavaria dreamed up, Linderhof is the only one he saw finished, and it is the one he actually lived in for long periods. Hidden in the Graswang valley in the Ammergau Alps, it is a small, extravagant rococo villa inspired by Versailles, with gilded rooms, a hall of mirrors and a dining table that rose from the kitchen below so that the shy king could eat without seeing servants. The park around it is full of follies: a Moorish kiosk, a Moroccan house and, most famous of all, the Venus Grotto, an artificial cave with a lake, a shell-shaped boat and coloured lighting, built so Ludwig could imagine himself in a Wagner opera. Linderhof belongs to the group of Ludwig's palaces recently listed by UNESCO.
Read the complete Linderhof Castle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Linderhof Castle comes up about 81 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria:.
Neuschwanstein is the castle that everybody has seen before they arrive, and it is almost impossible to see it freshly. Ludwig II, the king of Bavaria, had it built from 1869 as a private retreat in the style of a medieval knight's castle, with towers, turrets and rooms painted with scenes from the operas of Wagner, whom he adored. It stands on a rocky spur above the Pöllat gorge, with the Alpsee lake and the plain below. Ludwig lived in it only a few months before he was declared unfit to rule and died in mysterious circumstances in Lake Starnberg in June 1886, at the age of forty. The castle was opened to the public within weeks.
Read the complete The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least about 127 km into the recorded legs you reach The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria:. Next is Neuschwanstein Castle.
King Ludwig II of Bavaria began building Neuschwanstein in 1869 as a private dream, a medieval knight's castle with all the comforts of the nineteenth century, including central heating and running water. He never saw it finished, and he lived there for only a handful of months. In 1886 he was declared unfit to rule and removed, and he died a few days later in the Starnberger See, in circumstances that are still debated. Within weeks the castle was opened to the public to pay off his debts, and it has been admired ever since. Walt Disney's designers are said to have taken inspiration from it.
Read the complete Neuschwanstein Castle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Neuschwanstein Castle, about halfway. Next is Pilgrimage Church of Wies.
In a meadow at the foot of the Ammergau Alps, surrounded by fields, cows and a few farmhouses, stands one of the most extraordinary churches in Europe. From the outside, the Wieskirche looks fairly plain, a white building with a modest tower. Step inside and you are hit by a wave of light, colour and movement: white and gold stucco, pastel frescoes, columns and galleries that seem to float, and a ceiling painting of Christ's return that opens the roof into heaven. It is the masterpiece of the Bavarian Rococo, built between 1745 and 1754 by Dominikus Zimmermann, with frescoes by his brother Johann Baptist, and it was listed by UNESCO in 1983.
Read the complete Pilgrimage Church of Wies write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pilgrimage Church of Wies sits at 109 km, about halfway. Next is back through Neuschwanstein Castle.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Neuschwanstein Castle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Neuschwanstein Castle comes up about 180 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria:.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 181 km into the recorded legs you reach back through The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria:. Next is back through Linderhof Castle.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Linderhof Castle write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Linderhof Castle, late in the day. Next is Innsbruck.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Innsbruck write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 309 km.
Innsbruck → Linderhof Castle is 81 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Linderhof Castle → The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Neuschwanstein Castle → Pilgrimage Church of Wies is 27 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pilgrimage Church of Wies → back through Neuschwanstein Castle is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through The Palaces of King Ludwig II of Bavaria: → back through Linderhof Castle is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Linderhof Castle → Innsbruck is 82 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.