This year's summer vacation took us to Passau, Germany, which was the starting (and return) point for an eight-day boat/bike trip along the Danube River. The trip, which is called
The Danube By Bike & Boat, is offered by UTracks. We biked along the Danube River mainly in Austria, but also part of one day in Slovakia. Our 'hotel' was the boat Theodor Korner, which took us to the different towns where each daily biking trip would start. We biked from Mauthausen to Grein (a beautiful village with a castle and old theater--the Stadttheater), from Devin to Schloss Hof (impressive palace with lovely gardens) to Bratislava in Slovakia, around the city of Vienna, through the beautiful Wachau Valley (wine country) from Krems to Melk, from Melk back to Grein, and then from Obermuhl to Engelhartszell (total biking distance including Vienna was around 210 km/130 miles). From Engelharszell, the boat sailed back to Passau and we disembarked.
The trip included three meals per day, a cabin on the boat with private bathroom, and bicycle rental. It was extremely well-organized and went off without a hitch. A big thank-you to UTracks for the professional organization of the trip and the support at all points along the way. We didn't lack for anything.
Austria is a beautiful country, and the Austrian Danube bike path is impressive. If you'd like to read more about it, you can find more information at these links:
https://www.donau-oesterreich.at/en/danube-cycle-path/ and
https://www.danube-cycle-path.com/austrian-danube.html.
Here are some photos of a memorable fantastic vacation; I'd do something like this again in a heartbeat.....
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| bike path along the Danube River |
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| one of many small cafes along the bike path |
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| one of many wheat fields along the bike path |
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| an idyllic small brook |
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| approaching the lovely village of Grein |
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| Greinburg castle |
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| Sala Terrena at Greinburg Castle--mosaics made from tiny pebbles from the Danube River |
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| courtyard at Greinburg Castle |
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| Schloss Hof palace |
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| bike path leading away from Schloss Hof |
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| St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna |
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| bike path in Vienna |
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| the beautiful Wachau valley--wine country |
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| view from the town of Durnstein in the Wachau region |
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| one of many roadside shrines in Austria |
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| our boat--the Theodor Korner |
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| approaching Grein on our return trip |
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| one of the quaint ferries that take bicyclists over the Danube |
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| Engelszell Abbey, a Trappist monastery, in Engelhartszell |
