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.
A 271 km round trip from Semmering - roughly 4 h 41 in the saddle. The stops in between: Baden bei Wien, Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn, Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus and back through 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.
18 km on Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn → Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus.
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 is where the day begins. 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.
Baden bei Wien comes up about 69 km into the recorded legs. 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.
At least about 101 km into the recorded legs you reach Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn. 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, about halfway.
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.
Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn sits at 132 km, about halfway. Next is back through Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus comes up about 154 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 171 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn. 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.
back through Baden bei Wien, late in the day. Next is 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.
The route ends here after 271 km.
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 → Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Palace and Gardens of Schönbrunn → back through Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through 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 → Semmering Railway is 69 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.