Kalkalpen - Hintergebirg and Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert
Plan this ride
Recorded distance
471 km
Riding-time estimate
8 h 41
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.
471 km from Windischgarsten to Windischgarsten, about 8 h 41 of riding. On the way it passes Dürrenstein-Lassingtal, Ybbs - Kleinkastell, Blashausgraben - Wachtturm and Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. 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 30 km this is Wachau Danube Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
Length
30 km
Named road
Wachau Danube Road
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Kalkalpen - Hintergebirg
The Kalkalpen National Park is the largest forest wilderness in Austria, and the Hintergebirge is one of its quiet corners, a limestone mountain range in Upper Austria with steep wooded slopes, deep valleys and very few roads. It is a landscape of beech, spruce and fir, with some of the oldest unmanaged beech forest in the Alps, so valuable that it is included in the UNESCO listing of ancient beech forests of Europe. Walking in it feels like walking in the Europe before the roads.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Kalkalpen - Hintergebirg is where the day begins. Next is Dürrenstein-Lassingtal.
2. Dürrenstein-Lassingtal
Dürrenstein-Lassingtal is a wilderness area in the Ybbstal Alps of Lower Austria, where the limestone mountains rise above deep valleys covered with forests of beech, spruce and fir. It includes the Rothwald, one of the largest remaining primeval forests in Central Europe, a forest that has never been logged, and it is part of the transnational World Heritage Site of the Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians and Other Regions of Europe. Here trees grow, die and decay naturally, creating a rich habitat for insects, fungi, birds and mammals.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Dürrenstein-Lassingtal comes up about 64 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ybbs - Kleinkastell.
3. Ybbs - Kleinkastell
Ybbs an der Donau and Persenbeug face each other across the Danube in Lower Austria, connected by a hydroelectric dam that was one of the first built on the Austrian Danube after the war. Persenbeug is dominated by its castle, perched on a rock above the river, which belonged to the Habsburgs and was the birthplace of Emperor Charles I, the last emperor of Austria-Hungary. On the Ybbs side, the remains of a small Roman fort have been found, part of the Danube frontier of the Roman Empire.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 163 km into the recorded legs you reach Ybbs - Kleinkastell. Next is Blashausgraben - Wachtturm.
4. Blashausgraben - Wachtturm
The Wachau is the most beautiful stretch of the Danube in Austria, a narrow valley between Melk and Krems where the river winds between steep hills covered in vineyards and forest, with castles, abbeys and villages on its banks. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site in its own right. Near the village of Aggsbach, on the southern bank, a small Roman watchtower stood in the Blashausgraben, a side valley, as part of the Danube frontier of the Roman Empire.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Blashausgraben - Wachtturm, about halfway. Next is Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert.
5. Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert
Traismauer is a small wine town on the south side of the Danube, just where the Traisen river comes down from the Alpine foothills to meet the big river, and it has been a fortified place for something like eighteen centuries. The Romans called their fort here Augustianis, one link in the chain of camps and watchtowers that guarded the frontier of the province of Noricum. In 2021 the Danube Limes was added to the UNESCO list, and Traismauer is one of the places where you can still see the old walls doing a job.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 471 km.
Leg by leg
Kalkalpen - Hintergebirg to Dürrenstein-Lassingtal
Kalkalpen - Hintergebirg → Dürrenstein-Lassingtal is 64 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Dürrenstein-Lassingtal to Ybbs - Kleinkastell
Dürrenstein-Lassingtal → Ybbs - Kleinkastell is 99 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Ybbs - Kleinkastell to Blashausgraben - Wachtturm
Ybbs - Kleinkastell → Blashausgraben - Wachtturm is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Blashausgraben - Wachtturm to Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert
Blashausgraben - Wachtturm → Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert to back through Blashausgraben - Wachtturm
Traismauer - Kastell südwestlicher Fächert → back through Blashausgraben - Wachtturm is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Blashausgraben - Wachtturm to back through Ybbs - Kleinkastell
back through Blashausgraben - Wachtturm → back through Ybbs - Kleinkastell is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ybbs - Kleinkastell to back through Dürrenstein-Lassingtal
back through Ybbs - Kleinkastell → back through Dürrenstein-Lassingtal is 93 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Dürrenstein-Lassingtal to Kalkalpen - Hintergebirg
back through Dürrenstein-Lassingtal → Kalkalpen - Hintergebirg is 71 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.