Cycling around Vienna:
Explore Vienna′s Surroundings by Bike
The city of Vienna prides itself for being particularly bicycle-friendly. This might well apply by international standards for a city of its size, but for an Austrian city, cycling routes are rather unattractive due to the traffic close to many cycling lanes - for further information on cycling routes, where to rent bikes and attractive routes in the city centre, please read my article on cycling in Vienna. Here, I would like to give you some recommendations for five classic cycling tours into the surroundings of the city.
Best Cycling Destinations around Vienna
1.) Mödling: The small town south of Vienna has actually merged with its big neighbour. Mödling is situated in the Wienerwald, the "Vienna Woods". These forests cover the Eastern-most outskirts of the Alps and around Mödling, you find a forest that is compost almost exclusively of pine trees, called "Föhren" in German. The nature reserve "Naturpark Föhrenwälder" is a very popular destination for people with rather ambitious mountain biking skills. For those who appreciate flatter land, there are proper streets into the forest; or you can cycle further down towards south to the spa town of Baden. Getting to Mödling is easily done by train from the Südbahnhof station.
2.) Lobau and National Park Donauauen: The forests that embrace the Danube in the South-East of Vienna were assigned to be sacrificed for a water power plant in the 1980ies. A citizen movement developed that combined the forces of environmentalists, hiking associations, academics and some politicians. In the end, the forests were made a National Park and the Green party had emerged from the citizen movement. Today, the National Park is among the favourite cycling routes in the vicinity of Vienna. You get to the Lobau area via subway line U1 to Kaisermühlen; from there you can either cycle, or take a bus to Lobau. There are guided tours offered for cyclists at the National Park.
3.) Tulln to Klosterneuburg: Take you bike on the train from Vienna to Tulln; there, do some sightseeing in this nice little town and start your tour along the Danube. Some 20 kilometres further down, you arrive Klosterneuburg, yet another pretty place. Here I recommend to stop by for a Heurigen wine tavern and do the final 5ish kilometres to Vienna by bike or catch a train that takes you back.
4.) Vienna Woods: The Wienerwald is not constrained to the area of Mödling, and it certainly doesn′t take a train to get there; in fact, the districts of Hietzing, Penzing, Ottakring, Hernals, Währing and Döbling all offer great access to the Wienerwald Woods in the West and North of Vienna. Here you find a dense network of paths and roads, of which some a suitable for mountain bikes only, others for any kind of bicycle. There are hiking and cycling maps available for the Wienerwald.
5.) Wachau: The Wachau area is the ultimate cyclist′s paradise - it is the classic Austrian cycling vacation to take a few days to slowly cycle the 35 kilometres of the Danube river valley between Pöchlarn and Krems. Usually, this is done in autumn, when the grapes are ripe, the temperatures moderate and the colours of the leaves add a bonus to the trip. As a cycling vacation, this is a very gentle trip and popular with families and children, as well as elderly cyclists. In terms of accommodation, the Wachau has papered its cyclist-friendly image and many B&Bs (Pension) and hotels offer locker boxes, repair facilities and other goodies.
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travel guide"
Vienna by District
District Overview - 1st (Innere Stadt) - 2nd (Leopoldstadt) - 3rd (Landstraße) - 4th (Wieden) - 5th (Margareten)- 6th (Mariahilf) - 7th (Neubau) - 8th (Josefstadt) - 9th (Alsergrund) - 10th (Favoriten) - 11th (Simmering) - 12th (Meidling) - 13th (Hietzing) - 14th (Penzing) - 15th (Fünfhaus) - 16th (Ottakring) - 17th (Hernals) - 18th (Währing) - 19th (Döbling) - 20th (Brigittenau) - 21st (Floridsdorf) - 22nd (Donaustadt) - 23rd (Liesing) - Ringstraße - Surroundings
Further Reading
Information on the City Bike Vienna
City of Vienna provides information on cycling in Vienna
City of Vienna: Traffic Rules for Bikers
