Danube Bike Path - Passau to Vienna Tour Reviews — 1 to 25 of 25

It was a great trip, even though we lost a day to the Danube flooding. It was fascinating to see how the officials dealt with trying to open up the pathway as quickly as possible. We would also like to say thank you to local ground folks for their willingness to assist in making changes for us so we could keep cycling.

All very enjoyable but particularly spectacular from Grein and through Wachau Valley. Durnstein ruins and abbey particularly memorable. Last night (Vienna) had been cancelled by mistake by Tripsite so some worries and no communication from Tripsite but eventually sorted out by the hotel.

Staying at the Renaissance Raffelsberger Hof was amazing. Hearing about the history of the home turned hotel was interesting. The other memory is of an Austrian band playing in the restaurant at Gasthof zur Traube in Grein. Lastly, the Hotel Widhof left a lot to be desired!! The “sister hotel” Hotel Nibelungenhof looked much nicer and more convenient.

The scenery was spectacular, especially between Passau and Linz and later through the wine region. Flat bike path almost all the way from Passau to Vienna. The booklet with directions that was given to us at orientation was extremely well organized, very clear, and useful. We enjoyed very much the freedom of the self-guided tour, stopping in villages for a cappuccino and pastries. Our luggage was always there when we arrived at our hotel. The hotels were nice, except for the one in Linz, (Shwarzer Bar) which was right above a noisy bar, and with poor service. I would recommend a different hotel. A major highlight of the trip was Hotel Kirchenwirt in the lovely village of Weissenkichen, in the one region. In fact, I would recommend staying two nights there to enjoy the spectacular biking through the vineyards and resting bit in the middle of the trip. The two 70+km days were a bit long but very doable. Overall a memorable vacation, very well organized by Tripsite.

Biking along the river with the beautiful scenery and riding through the villages on the cobblestone streets was very memorable. Also loved being in a forest and riding next to farm lands and vineyards with the Cathedrals and Castles on the hill tops. Everyone at all the hotels were very friendly and helpful! The route was exceedingly well marked and there was no threat of getting lost!

Tips: Make sure you have sunscreen, snacks, cash and your ID's with you during the ride

The small towns and inns we stayed in were lovely. The people we met in these areas were warm and friendly. Not everyone accepted credit cards or cashless payment so it is necessary to bring cash along to these areas. The bike path was very well marked and easy to ride. The company in Austria that facilitated the ride was less than helpful. We used there app but it was not setup with our exact ride so finding hotels and restaurants was a challenge. We also did not get a proper first night introduction about our itinerary and therefore we were missing critical train tickets and boat information.

Cycling the Danube is memorable and the accommodation was excellent. Melk and the Wachau Valley were high points. The bicycles were a disappointment: Heavy & Clunky. We were expecting 24 gear Hybrids. The directions for Linz and the last day in Vienna need work. Perhaps you could a more detailed map for each city that show the route in street map detail. These would be separate from the daily cycling maps. There was confusion regarding where stayed : Ardagger Shift and not Grein! The daily cycling map suggested that we end the day in Grein.

The whole course along the Danube (Donau radweg) is amazing! ! One suggestion would be for the GPS to include more tips about the towns! In one occasion (ariving in Grein) the distance did not match becouse our hotel was quite far (around 8km) from the City (route destination) . The overall experience was great as all the three previous tours we did!

The very nice villages on the Danube.

Leaving Wachova toward Tulln. The gentle rolling hills covered with terraced field of grapes; it was breathtaking.

To learn about the customs of our German and Austrian people, and specifically their specialty foods and drinks (Weissbeer). Not at all places one would accept credit or debit cards, so I strongly suggest taking sufficient cash and learn about Bancomat (ATM) machines along the way.

Wonderful trip! Beautiful scenery, easy bike trail, nice accommodations. Tripsite did a great job organizing and setting up the trip. The representative at Austria Radreisen (the on-site bike company) was friendly and helpful in fitting our bikes, answering our questions, and making sure we were satisfied. The bikes were especially nice, easy to ride and shift with plenty of storage. Our luggage was always waiting for us at each hotel when we arrived.

The scenes along the Danube. The quality of the hotels The simplicity of the directions on the the bike route.
Suggestions for others. Pack lighter and know that you will have saddle bags on the trip.
Another tip for me. If I know that I check in by 3 then it is not necessary leave each site before 11 The next thing I would do is plan my lunch stop. Might a great idea to know where half way is for a great salad.

Well organised, with bikes made available as required, bags portaged without incident, accommodation arranged as planned.
Overall good organisation albeit the bikes with their infinitely variable in hub gears seemed less efficient than conventional bikes.

Best part: Biking into Vienna

Comments are for the self-guided Danube cycle path Passau to Vienna with support by Austria Radreisen.
Most memorable was riding through the small towns. Tips and suggestions: It was a little confusing how to leave the bike at the end of the trip, whether to lock it or not, would it be safe until returned to Austria Radreisen. We locked ours in the hotel inside parking spaces and left the key inside the panniers which we left in the hotel office. The hotel choice was good except in Linz it was very difficult to get there by bike; it was a big hotel and we would have preferred a guest house. The food was very good eating in hotel dining rooms everywhere except Traismauer where dinner was not available at the hotel. The "Danube Bike Trail" booklet provided by Cycline is a little confusing to read. We used a off-line map application (Locus) to find our way. I would have preferred a lighter bike and a single sided kickstand would have been better than the heavy double sided one. The booklet provided by Austria Radreisen contained a post-trip survey that had to be mailed in to them by post; there should have been a way to submit it by email and hence we did not complete that survey.

We took the self-guided "Sport" tour from Passau to Vienna, starting on 2 April.

A. Here are our suggestions for anyone looking at the tour options for Passau to Vienna.
1. Don’t ever sign up for the “Sport” version of the tour because it requires 50+ miles every day, and leaves no time for exploring or resting.
2. If you are doing the self-guided trail, do yourself a favor and get the e-bikes. The bikes given to us were really inadequate for the distances.
3. Consider doing the bike & boat option rather than biking the whole way. The reasons? If on a boat, you won’t have to pack and unpack every day; You won’t have to search for the hotel in the evening, and you can look forward to relaxing on a boat every night. Another big plus is that from the shoreline, you often cannot get a good perspective on the scenery. When the cliffs rise overhead and you are below, you can’t see them at all. And you may be able to avoid some of the on-road biking that we encountered.

B. Here are the things we liked about the Tripsite planning and execution:
1. They booked all of the hotels and moved our bags every day. The hotel choices were excellent and the hotel owners all served good meals and provided nice rooms.
2. There were no surprise expenses.
3. Tripsite pretty much delivered what they promised.

C. Here are the things we did not like about the Tripsite planning and execution:
1. The materials and the bikes were delivered on the first morning of the trip. The trail book has lots of detail and routes on both sides of the river. Receiving the book as you are departing for a 350 mile journey is ridiculous. The company who publishes the maps (esterbauer.com) probably could provide a PDF far in advance.
2. The trail map was outdated. We encountered sections, starting on day 1, where the trail signs said the trail ended. Several times we were traveling on busy highways with no bike lane, no shoulder, and with semi-trucks screaming past us. On one section, we had to peddle for several km on soft sand past the trail closed signs, because the alternative was riding on an autobahn-type highway.
3. We purchased the Komoot iPhone app with the trail, thinking it would help us. Sometimes it did help. Other times, it tried to route us onto busy roads. It does not work well for this kind of trip, because the hotels are not on the route. We used Komoot to help get us from the trail to the hotels and Google Maps worked at least as well. I think Komoot is a good product, but not implemented well for this application.
4. During our entire trip, we encountered very strong headwinds that made progress painful. We expected that 21-speed bikes would be ok, but the gearless bikes performed very much like 7-speed bikes and is the source of complaints from others too. We concur. We should have ordered E-bikes.
5. On the second day, we called and asked to replace our bikes with e-bikes. Rad-Reisen called back and essentially said it would not be convenient for them to make the change. Trying to ride 50 miles into a strong headwind with the equivalent of a 7-speed bike is not good. I was sometimes limited to 11-14 km/hr (7-9 mph) because of the wind.
6. We signed up for a bike-tour of Vienna and stayed an extra day in Vienna. That day there were 25,000 runners in the Vienna Marathon, so we asked to cancel the tour. We found that the tour had already been cancelled for us, but we did not know it.  SHOW MORE 

I loved riding through Grein and the Wachau Valley, just beautiful!

We enjoyed the relaxed pace, mingling with local village people and enjoying what Austria and Germany had to offer. The guides for the bike route were excellent, we had local people enjoying the bike paths with us and gave us a chance to practice our german. The accommodation and meals were of a high standard, after a day in the saddle the "Hugo" cocktails where very refreshing to end the day.
Thank you Tripsite for a great holiday.
Darryl and Brigitte

Fantastic trip!!! Everything went smoothly. Want to return and spend extra days in some of the places!

This is a great ride, if you use the right company. We used Tripsite, who contracted Austria Radreisen, not the company to use. We were told that Austria Redreisen would meet us at the hotel in Passau the day before the trip was to start...they did not show( a competitor company, Donau, spent 2 hours with their clients, in our hotel). We tried to contact Austria Radreisen at their 'emergency' number...no one answer/no answering machine. The day the tour was to start, they delivered two bikes which were extremely heavy, and with 7 speed changers....we had specifically ordered 21 speed hybrids. The bikes were delivered by the person who picked up the suitcases, and we were told by him that he had no knowledge of how the bikes worked...we were on our own to figure them out. In spite of being in good physical condition, we found the bikes very difficult to use, as they would not coast. After 2 days with the heavy bikes, we had to take a day off as we were exhausted. Thanks to the help of a receptionist at the Courtyard Marriot in Linz, the company delivered replacement 21 speed hybrids(which we should have received in the first place) at our next hotel (we had to take the train to get there), which we used with no problems the rest of the way. The hotels provided by the company were excellent, and the travel maps adequate. We certainly will not go with this company again when we plan our next bike tour.

The beautiful scenery along the river was the most memorable part of the trip. We also loved all the little cafes right by the path for lunch and breaks.

We four had a blast biking thru vineyards. Nice flat well marked path.

We four had a blast biking thru vineyards. Nice flat well marked path.

Most Memorable Part: Staying at the Hotel Schloss Durnstein