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.
455 km from Graz to Graz, about 6 h 39 of riding. On the way it passes Semmering Railway, Baden bei Wien, Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn and Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
This part of the ride is 18 km of Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn → Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus.
Graz has a hill in the middle of it, which tells you something about the town. The Schlossberg rises steeply out of the old centre, topped by a clock tower whose big hour hand and small minute hand were swapped, by tradition, so that the time could be read from far away. The fortress that once crowned the hill was dismantled by Napoleon's armies, but the tower was bought back by the citizens, and that act of stubbornness is part of the town's character.
Read the complete City of Graz - Historic Centre - write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
City of Graz - Historic Centre - is where the day begins. Next is Semmering Railway.
Carl von Ghega's railway over the Semmering was a bold idea in the 1840s, when many engineers doubted that a conventional locomotive could haul a train over a mountain pass. Built between 1848 and 1854, the line climbs from Gloggnitz to the Semmering summit through fourteen tunnels and across sixteen viaducts, some with two tiers of stone arches, curving around the flanks of the mountains on ledges cut into the rock. It became the first mountain railway inscribed on the UNESCO list, in 1998, and it still carries trains between Vienna and the south, with the new Semmering Base Tunnel under construction beneath it to take over the heavy traffic.
Read the complete Semmering Railway write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Semmering Railway comes up about 109 km into the recorded legs. Next is Baden bei Wien.
The Romans already knew about the hot sulphur springs at Baden, just south of Vienna, but it was in the early nineteenth century that the town became the summer playground of the Habsburg court. Emperor Franz I spent his summers here, and the aristocracy and the wealthy bourgeoisie followed, building elegant villas, parks and bathhouses in the Biedermeier style. Beethoven came to take the waters too, staying many times and working on his Ninth Symphony in a house that is now a museum. In 2021, Baden was listed by UNESCO as one of the Great Spa Towns of Europe, alongside Bath, Baden-Baden, Karlovy Vary and others.
Read the complete Baden bei Wien write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least about 178 km into the recorded legs you reach Baden bei Wien. Next is Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn.
Schönbrunn was the summer residence of the Habsburgs, the dynasty that ruled a large part of Europe for centuries. The palace, on the western edge of Vienna, was rebuilt in the Baroque style in the eighteenth century under Empress Maria Theresa, and it has more than a thousand rooms. It began as a hunting lodge on land where, legend says, Emperor Matthias found a beautiful spring, the schöner Brunnen that gave the place its name. The gardens are vast and formal, with avenues of trees, fountains, statues, a maze, and the Gloriette, a colonnaded structure on the hill above the palace with views over Vienna. The palace and gardens were inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1996.
Read the complete Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn, about halfway. Next is Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus.
Klosterneuburg Abbey rises on a terrace above the Danube just north of Vienna, its baroque domes topped with an imperial crown and an archducal hat, and few visitors realise that beneath its walls lie the remains of a Roman fort. The Romans guarded this stretch of the Danube frontier, the Limes, with a chain of forts, and Klosterneuburg's position on a hill overlooking the river made it an obvious choice. The fort and the civil settlement around it are part of the UNESCO site of the Danube Limes, inscribed in 2021.
Read the complete Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus sits at 209 km, about halfway. Next is back through Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn comes up about 245 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Baden bei Wien.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Baden bei Wien write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 276 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Baden bei Wien. Next is back through Semmering Railway.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Semmering Railway write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Semmering Railway, late in the day. Next is City of Graz - Historic Centre -.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete City of Graz - Historic Centre - write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 455 km.
City of Graz - Historic Centre - → Semmering Railway is 109 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Semmering Railway → Baden bei Wien is 69 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Baden bei Wien → Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn → Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus → back through Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn → back through Baden bei Wien is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Baden bei Wien → back through Semmering Railway is 69 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Semmering Railway → City of Graz - Historic Centre - is 110 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.