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Report 132: Austria by Bike - June 2003

By Steph from Italy, Summer 2003

Page 3 of 6: Days 3 and 4 - Zell am See to Salzburg

Day 3 – Mon, 16 June 2003 Zell am See – Bischofshofen, 59km

It was Monday morning so I stocked up on food for lunch and set out looking for a guide in English. I couldn’t even find it in German this time. I then realized I had been looking in the wrong places. I had gone to bike rentals and bike shops. I finally ended up in a bookshop (duh) and found it in German. I couldn’t read it but the maps were great. They show where the path is paved, where it is not, when it goes uphill and downhill and when it is along a busy road.

I set out for Bischofshofen and promptly got lost. I followed the lake’s shore rather than heading back the way I had come. You head across a field on an unpaved bikepath toward and then through Bruck. You’ll see Schloss Fischhorn on your left just before Bruck.

Leaving Bruck the path goes up a small hill and you are above the river. It was a bit up and down along this hill with a beautiful view. The path goes through Taxenbach along a road with little traffic. The path starts again and goes up and down a bit and crosses the river a couple of times and is along the railroad tracks. There is a turn off to the right just after Lend with quite a climb up to Brandstadt, a small man made lake. There were signs explaining everything (in German, of course) from Austrian power so I guess it has something to do with hydropower. The view was nice and the downhill bit afterwards was as well!

I stopped off in Schwarzach and with a plan to visit Schloss Schernberg, but the woman in the information office explained to me that it is now a home for the handicapped (I think that is what she was telling me) so I just walked up the road a bit and had a look from the outside. I took a spin around town on my bike and headed on my way. The path from Schwarzach to St Johann was unpaved and along the river, crossing it a few times.

Just outside of Schwarzach, I took the 3 km trip off the mainpath to visit Liechtenstein Gorge. There was a wooden boardwalk? - don’t know what to call it- and steps taking you through the gorge which was quite spectacular and you end up at a waterfall. There were a lot of people there.

I stopped off in St. Johann and visited the church. There was an incredible amount of construction going on in this small town and quite a lot of traffic so it was a bit noisy. I left.

Unpaved path again until Bischofshofen, which I had chosen as my next stopping point. I chose it because I saw all the self-guided tours had a stop there. I can’t imagine why, though. I found it very unappealing. There wasn’t much to see, no main square and the favorite past time for young people seemed to be racing around the streets of this small town squealing their tires with music blaring from the stereo. It was also Monday so all the restaurants were closed. I found a small café and had some snacks. I also stayed in a privat zimmer – my first and only time. The tourist office assured me it was nice. It was not. Very ugly, small room. I did not make note of the family nor address.

Day 4 - Tue 17 June 2003 Bischofshofen – Salzburg, 70km

I left Bischofshofen and traveled along the path next to the river. The view of the mountains was stunning, and shortly after, the view of the castle Hohenwerfen. Just about 10km down the road was Werfen, a cute little town that would have been much nicer to stay in rather than Bischofshofen. I found out upon arrival that Werfen is famous for the world’s largest ice caves. This peaked my curiosity so I parked my bike where the bus takes you up.

The bus ride was 5.50 Euro, round trip. It went up the mountain for 5km and arrived at a parking area at 1000 meters. The bus was packed with people from all over the world. We then walked for about 20 minutes uphill to where the cable car us straight up (I couldn’t look down) (16 Euro – cable car and cave entrance fee). Then we walked for another 20 minutes and arrived at the cave’s entrance. It was quite cool up there at 1600 meters. Most people were much better prepared than I for the 0 degree temperature in the caves (it’s an ice cave). I had on shorts and put on my rain jacket, which wasn’t enough.

They warned us that there would be a gust of wind when they opened the door to the caves but I was not prepared. The cold air inside rushes out in an amazing blast. We were taken on a 1-hour tour of the caves with just lanterns to light the way. It was pretty interesting though I expected more spectacular ice formations. And it would have been more enjoyable if I had been dressed more warmly.

The time it took to get there, go on the tour and get back to my bike was a lot more than I expected. Next trip I will visit Hohenwerfen instead.

Beyond Werfen the path is actually on a very busy road. And there are some quarries so a lot of the traffic was big trucks. This was by far the most unpleasant part of the trip. It went on for about 15 km and some was slightly uphill. The road went through a nice gorge but I couldn’t enjoy it because I was too worried about the cars and trucks passing me. I would recommend taking the train to skip this part of the “bike path”. You could easy take the train from Werfen to Golling and skip this dangerous, unpleasant stretch.

Golling was another picturesque town. I love how the main street or square of these towns has brightly colored buildings, each a different color.

At Golling I had the choice to follow the main path or go on a variant – the Salt Seen Tour. I opted for the variant. I think it was much longer than the main path – at least it felt like it. I zigzagged through fields and small villages with a beautiful view of the mountains all around. This variant joined the main path, if I remember correctly, at Hallein. I did not go to Hallein because at that point I was close to Salzburg and it was getting late – too much time spent at the ice caves. So I road the sometimes paved, sometimes not, path along the river to Salzburg.

For reasons I can’t explain, it was very exciting arriving at Salzburg by bicycle. I had phoned ahead to the tourist office from Werfen and booked a room at Hotel Hausperger Hof, a simple hotel just a couple of blocks from the river and not too far from the train station (but far enough). A single room was 45 Euro, included breakfast and cable tv. I got to watch the BBC – on the regular news they talked about Beckham’s transfer to Real Madrid. Then on the financial news they talked about Beckham’s transfer to Real Madrid. Then on the sports news they talked about Beckham’s transfer to Real Madrid. So I got my fill of news from around the world.

Salzburg is a beautiful city with loads to see but still on a human scale. I was amazed, absolutely amazed at the number of American tourists there. Everywhere I went I heard English. I had been there a couple of times before and did not remember this.

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Trip Report Pages

Introduction and Practical Information

Days 1 and 2 - Krimml to Zell am See

Days 3 and 4 - Zell am See to Salzburg

Days 5, 6 and 7 - Salzburg to Passau

Days 8 and 9 - Passau to Grien

Days 10 and 11 - Grein to Vienna, the final run.

Resources

Resources are on the last page of the trip report.

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