Herrenchiemsee New Palace and Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultur starting at Prien am Chiemsee
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
323 km
Riding-time estimate
4 h 46
Journey
Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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 Prien am Chiemsee it runs 323 km to Prien am Chiemsee; allow about 4 h 46 of riding. It goes by way of Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg, See, Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultur and back through See. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It crosses from Germany into Austria - carry ID and check vignette or toll rules. The line favours views over speed.
Scenic road chapters
Salkammergut Lakes Road
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 42 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Rider note
Check the pass is open before you commit to it.
Chapter facts
Length
47 km
Named road
Salkammergut Lakes Road
Pass
Pass Gschutt
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Herrenchiemsee New Palace
King Ludwig II wanted to build Versailles on an island, and for the most part he did. The New Palace on Herrenchiemsee, the largest island in the Chiemsee, is his answer to Louis XIV, a Bavarian homage to the French sun king that took years to build and was never finished. Ludwig spent barely ten days there in total. The money ran out, the king's reputation among his ministers fell, and in 1886 he was dead in Lake Starnberg under circumstances people still argue about.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Herrenchiemsee New Palace is where the day begins. Next is Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg.
2. Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg
Salzburg's old town is a stage set that happens to be real. Squeezed between the river Salzach and the steep rock of the Mönchsberg, it packs baroque domes, church towers and tall merchants' houses into a few dense streets, while the white walls of Hohensalzburg fortress sit high above everything like a lid on a jewellery box. The city has around a hundred and fifty thousand people, yet the centre still feels small enough to cross on foot in twenty minutes.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg comes up about 72 km into the recorded legs. Next is See.
3. See
At the southeastern tip of the Mondsee, where the lake narrows toward the Attersee and the cliffs of the Drachenwand and the Schafberg crowd in on both sides, lies a hamlet with the shortest name you will find on any map: See. Just offshore, in the shallow water where the lake drains, divers found the remains of a prehistoric pile-dwelling settlement, and the finds were so characteristic that archaeologists named a whole Neolithic culture after the lake: the Mondsee culture, known for its decorated pottery and early copper working. The site is part of the UNESCO listing of Prehistoric Pile Dwellings around the Alps, and as with most of them, there is nothing to see except the water, which is part of the point.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 114 km into the recorded legs you reach See. Next is Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultur.
4. Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultur
Salt made all of this. Long before anyone thought of postcards, people were tunnelling into the mountain above Hallstatt for it, and finds from the prehistoric mine and its cemetery were so rich that archaeologists named a whole phase of the European Iron Age, the Hallstatt culture, after a village you can walk across in ten minutes. The Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut cultural landscape, inscribed in 1997, takes in the lake, the village, the salt mountain, the limestone massif of the Dachstein and the valleys around Gosau, Bad Goisern and Bad Aussee.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Herrenchiemsee New Palace closes the day.
Leg by leg
Herrenchiemsee New Palace to Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg
Herrenchiemsee New Palace → Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg to See
Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg → See is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
See to Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultur
See → Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultur is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultur to back through See
Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultur → back through See is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through See to back through Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg
back through See → back through Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg to Herrenchiemsee New Palace
back through Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg → Herrenchiemsee New Palace is 72 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.