Bike-packing adventures in Austria
with Maria Wilke
Back in 2021, Maria Wilke took herself off to explore the lakes and mountains of Austria. Here’s her account of the first days adventure, along with a map and GPX file for you to take on the same ride.
Road bike region SalzburgerLand-Salzkammergut
I’m not complaining, but doing something; or, to put it in the original: “Nit jömmera, sondern wos tua.”
The first thought on the first morning of my vacation in beautiful Salzburgerland, while I’m still lying in bed, a cold breeze is blowing around my nose and I can hear the thick raindrops pattering on the roof under our room. Although I generally prefer to avoid getting on my bike in such heavy rain, I was still extremely motivated and drove my best friend Patrick, who accompanied me on this week-long trip, to hurry up.
Our journey through the Salzburgerland, which was supported and organised by Österreich Werbung Deutschland GmbH, started in the road bike region SalzburgerLand-Salzkammergut.
This is in turn divided into 6 individual regions:
– Region Eugendorf – Bergheim – Elixhausen
– Region Dachstein – Salzkammergut
– Region Attersee – Attergau
– Fuschlsee region
– Region Salzburger Seenland
– Region Mondsee – Irrsee
When choosing the right route, I was guided by the countless tour suggestions on the website of the road bike region, where surely every racing cyclist will find the route that suits him or her and his or her demands. I wanted to focus on the deep blue, dreamy lakes of the region surrounded by peaks (of course with the one or other coffee and cake break in one of the countless refreshment stops) and therefore decided on this tour along the Mondsee and Wolfgangsee, whereby we would actually have liked to include the circumnavigation of the Attersee. However, since any weather forecasts promised no weakening of the rain until late afternoon, 80 km should certainly be sufficient.
After an invigorating breakfast at our hotel, which, by the way, is fully geared to the needs of cyclists with a bicycle cellar, washing area, free water and many other amenities, we plunged into the floods. Thanks to the rain, we were almost alone on the small roads and bike paths and could admire the imposing and cloudy peaks and the quiet lakes lying in shades of grey. Mostly flat, but in between with some long climbs to warm up, we rolled through a landscape lying in complete silence. As much as I would have liked sunshine of course, but somehow the sight had its very special charm. The lakes seemed to run out into infinity, while a few swans blended perfectly into the grey tones of the surroundings, boats lay comfortably rocking on their buoys and we had the feeling we were the only ones on the roads that day (in the weather you couldn’t blame anyone if they preferred to stay indoors).
Unfortunately, our coffee break was cancelled because our clothes were soaked through. We would have loved to visit the beautiful spa town of Bad Ischl, including the traditional Ramsauer Café and its coffee house culture, and to enjoy a piece of cake. But as we all know, postponed is not cancelled, the region is made for cyclists, so I will definitely visit the Salzkammergut again (but this time in good weather). Still a bit frozen (despite a warm shower, which we were allowed to enjoy at the hotel), but very satisfied with the first tour of our round trip, we made our way to Fusch in the afternoon, from where it should go up to lofty heights the following day.
