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.
From Semmering it runs 388 km to Semmering; allow about 6 h 02 of riding. The stops in between: Baden bei Wien, Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus, Zwentendorf - Kastell and Windstallgraben - Wachtturm. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
46 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it — speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
For about 34 km this is Wachau Danube Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it. Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast.
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 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.
about 123 km into the recorded legs you reach Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus. Next is Zwentendorf - Kastell.
The Danube flows broad and brown past Zwentendorf, a quiet village on the Tullnerfeld plain west of Vienna, and for once the most famous building in the area is not the oldest one. Zwentendorf is where Austria built a nuclear power station in the 1970s and then, after a national referendum in 1978, decided never to switch it on. The plant still stands by the river, complete and unused, now a training site and a curiosity.
Read the complete Zwentendorf - Kastell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Zwentendorf - Kastell, about halfway. Next is Windstallgraben - Wachtturm.
Between Dürnstein and Mautern, a small gully called the Windstallgraben cuts down toward the Danube, and somewhere along its edge stood a Roman watchtower. The Wachau valley was once the frontier of the empire, and the Danube was the line. The Romans built a chain of forts and watchtowers along the south bank, and Mautern, ancient Favianis, was one of the strongest. The Danube Limes in Austria and Germany is now part of a UNESCO World Heritage listing, and these modest remains are part of that long, thin story.
Read the complete Windstallgraben - Wachtturm write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Windstallgraben - Wachtturm sits at 195 km, about halfway. Next is back through Zwentendorf - Kastell.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zwentendorf - Kastell write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Zwentendorf - Kastell comes up about 228 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 266 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus. 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 388 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 → Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus is 54 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus → Zwentendorf - Kastell is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zwentendorf - Kastell → Windstallgraben - Wachtturm is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Windstallgraben - Wachtturm → back through Zwentendorf - Kastell is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zwentendorf - Kastell → back through Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Klosterneuburg - Kastell und Vicus → back through Baden bei Wien is 52 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.