Historic Centre of Vienna and Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
269 km
Riding-time estimate
3 h 53
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.
A 269 km round trip from Innere Stadt - roughly 3 h 53 in the saddle. On the way it passes Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich, Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich, Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad and back through Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Scenic road chapters
Wachau Danube Road
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For about 47 km this is Wachau Danube Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
Length
47 km
Named road
Wachau Danube Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Historic Centre of Vienna
Vienna's historic centre has been rebuilt many times, but it never lost its sense of itself as the capital of an empire. The medieval city grew around the cathedral of St Stephen, whose patterned tile roof and soaring south tower have dominated the skyline since the fourteenth century, and later the Habsburgs added the Hofburg palace, the baroque palaces of the nobility and the grand squares. In the 1850s, the old city walls were pulled down and replaced by the Ringstrasse, a wide boulevard lined with the Opera, the Parliament, the university, the city hall and the museums, all in historic styles, which is itself a part of the listed ensemble.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Historic Centre of Vienna is where the day begins. Next is Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich.
2. Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich
The Nibelungenlied, the great medieval German epic, sends Kriemhild down the Danube to marry Etzel, king of the Huns, and has her meet him at Tulln, which says something about the town's importance on the river for centuries. Long before that, the Romans built a cavalry fort here called Comagena, and its walls still lurk beneath the town centre. The best survival is the Salzturm, a tower by the river whose lower parts are Roman, among the best preserved Roman structures in Austria. The fort is part of the Danube Limes World Heritage listing.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich comes up about 44 km into the recorded legs. Next is Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich.
3. Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich
In the fifth century, as Roman authority along the Danube collapsed, a holy man named Severinus lived at a place called Favianis, organising food supplies, ransoming captives and negotiating with barbarian kings on behalf of the remaining Roman population. His biography, written by his disciple Eugippius, is one of the most vivid accounts of the end of Roman rule in central Europe, and Favianis is generally identified with Mautern, a small town on the south bank of the Danube opposite Krems. The Roman fort here, parts of which survive in the town walls, is part of the Danube Limes World Heritage listing.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 90 km into the recorded legs you reach Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich. Next is Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad.
4. Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad
Pöchlarn is a small town on the south bank of the Danube, a few kilometres upstream from Melk, where the river is broad and slow and the Wachau valley is about to begin. The Romans called it Arelape and kept a fort here on the frontier of the empire, with a civilian settlement, the vicus, and a bathhouse for the garrison. Not much is visible above ground, but the town is part of the Danube Limes World Heritage site, which traces that long line of forts and watchtowers through Austria.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Historic Centre of Vienna closes the day.
Leg by leg
Historic Centre of Vienna to Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich
Historic Centre of Vienna → Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich to Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich
Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich → Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich to Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad
Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich → Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad to back through Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich
Pöchlarn - Vicus und Kastellbad → back through Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich to back through Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich
back through Mautern - Kastell Ostbereich → back through Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich is 47 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich to Historic Centre of Vienna
back through Tulln - Kastell Zentralbereich → Historic Centre of Vienna is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.