Wachau Danube Road

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Krems

   Krems is where the Wachau starts, if you come from the east. The Danube turns from a wide, brown, businesslike river into something more intimate here, squeezed between terraced vineyards and forested hills, and the town sits right at the gate. Krems an der Donau has about fourteen thousand people and its twin Stein is a few minutes along the bank, with a medieval gate and a narrow main street that feels more like a film set than a place to buy groceries. You can find fuel, food and a bike-friendly hotel without effort.

   Read the complete Krems write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Krems is where the day begins. Next is Durnstein.

2. 2. Durnstein

   Dürnstein is the best-known village on the Wachau stretch of the Danube, and it is easy to see why. The river bends below a ridge, the vineyard terraces climb the slope in neat rows, and the blue-and-white tower of the abbey church rises above the roofs like a piece of confectionery. A ruined castle crowns the cliff above, and the whole scene appears on postcards, in films and in the memory of anyone who has taken a boat down the river.

   Read the complete Dürnstein write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Durnstein comes up about 8 km into the recorded legs. Next is Weissenkirchen.

3. 3. Weissenkirchen

   Weissenkirchen is the Wachau as the wine-growers see it: a village of old houses and cellars squeezed between the Danube and a hillside of terraced vineyards. It is slightly less famous than Dürnstein, and a good deal less crowded, which gives it a more natural feel. The streets are narrow, the gateways lead into courtyards with walnut trees, and the smell of fermenting must hangs in the air in early autumn.

   Read the complete Weissenkirchen write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 13 km into the recorded legs you reach Weissenkirchen. Next is Spitz.

4. 4. Spitz

   Spitz stands at the western end of the Wachau, where the Danube bends and the valley opens out a little. It is a small town in name and in size, about thirteen hundred people, but it carries itself like a place that has always known its worth. Painted houses front the main street, a medieval gate called the Rotes Tor stands at one end, and above the town the ruin of the Hinterhaus castle looks down from a wooded crag.

   Read the complete Photo stop near Spitz write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Spitz, late in the day. Next is Melk.

5. 5. Melk

   Melk is dominated by one thing, and you can't miss it. The Benedictine abbey stands on a rock above the Danube like a yellow-and-white ship, with twin towers and a baroque dome, and it has watched over this stretch of river for nearly a thousand years. The monks took up the site in 1089, when Leopold II of Babenberg gave the hilltop to the order, and the building you see today is the product of an eighteenth-century rebuilding in full baroque style. It is still a working monastery with a school, and the library, with its painted ceiling and thousands of old volumes, is as handsome a room as you will see in Austria. Umberto Eco gave the name to his narrator in The Name of the Rose, Adso of Melk, which tells you something about the abbey's reputation.

   Read the complete Melk write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Finish at Melk. That is the ride.