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Our Family-Friendly Cycle Trip in the Austrian Alps
On this page, you will find...
For generalities concerning our “Family-Friendly” trips, please see our “Family-Friendly” introductory page.
Austria
As a cultural reference, Julie Andrews and the “Sound of You-Know-What” are fading from view. And the gingerbread houses, flowerboxes, alpine pastures, perfect churches..., were only a film set, anyway, right?
 Well, no, actually: they live here, in the Salzburg hinterland, romantically known as the Salzkammergut (it’s more idyllic than it sounds). And the film’s success must have had at least as much to do with its setting as with its story. At least, that’s our theory....
So come and test it! Bike through emerald meadows sprinkledwith flowers, and along the shores of lakes which admirably reflect their surrounding snow-capped peaks. Glide over inland seas as smooth as glass, in electric boats as silent as the swans that swim alongside.
Fresh trout, mountain black current juice, world-class coffee and the most beautiful pastries, are served on terraces which look upon scenes so romantic that it is hard to take them seriously.
And everywhere, the glory and opulance of Baroque and Rococo architecture, legacies of the Austro-Hungarian empire at its mightiest. From the sophistication of Salzburg to the bourgeois elegance of Bad Ischl, to the back-country magnificance of the Ennstal, this is without a doubt one of our most beautiful rides.
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Day-by-Day Itinerary: “Sound of Music” Country
Day of the Week |
Description |
Typical distances, in km |
Sunday |
SET OUT from SALZBURG, VON TRAPP TRICKERY
For help arriving, see our “Access Package.” Here are hints on reaching Salzburg.
Our trip assembles on Sunday morning, though you will prefer to arrive prior to that to visit beautiful Salzburg.
An early train gets us out of town, and then it’s off to a pair of beautiful lakes, the Mondsee and St. Wolfgangsee. Follow lakeside roads through fairy-tale landscapes. The yellow onion-domed church in Mondsee is where the marriage took place in “Sound of Guess What.” You'll have to go on the trip if you want to know about the trickery....
Then into the mountains. This evening we take a cog railway to our hotel on top of a local Alp.
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45 k |
Monday |
BAD ISCHL, the HALSTATTERSEE and the DACHSTEIN
Down the mountain in the morning, and then from St. Wolfgang to Bad Ischl for Austria's most famous pastry shop. You'll quickly see why. Kaiser Franz Joseph kept his country villa here: a visit allows you to admire the gardens, and also his single-minded persecution of the local deer population. “Bad” in this context is not a qualitative comment, incidentally, but rather the German word for “bath,” or spa.
Up the valley to the Hallstätter See, and to Austria's prettiest village. A day of superlatives. Rent an electric boat to glide out onto the glass lake, or have a cherry strudle on the shore and watch the trout in the waters at your feet.
Finally, on up the Traun valley to Bad Aussee for a two-night stay in a country gasthof.
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60 k
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Tuesday &
Wednesday |
BAD AUSSEE / GRUNDLESEE / HALLSTATTERSEE
Two days in the enchanting Bad Aussee land. From our base in a country inn outside Bad Aussee, cycle back to Hallstätt, or up to Altaussee to visit the salt mines. Go to Obertraun for a cable-car ride to the top of the Dachstein. There is an Eishöhle (pronounce carefully) — an ice cave — up here, too.
Gaze up at the Loser (an Alp, not a person). Sip the local white wine or its founding grape juice as you gaze at the Grundlesee. Or leave behind the already limited hustle and bustle for a hike to one of Austria's most isolated and beautiful lakes... perhaps a picnic on its shores. Venison is a local specialty, in season.
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0 - 70 k |
Thursday |
ALPINE VISTAS, the GESÄUSE GORGE
An early start is wise for this long and beautiful day. You're in the heart of Austria now, pedaling through farming villages covered in flowers, and down bucolic river valleys surrounded by soaring mountains. Tourists rarely come this way - you'll see far more farm animals.
The scenery unfolds before you, and no two kilometers are the same, on this, one of our most magical biking days. Morning sees us pass out of the Salzkammergut, down a valley enclosed by sheer mountains. Admire the white village of Pürgg, whose Johanneskappel is high enough up on the bluff that you have an excuse not to climb up for the Romanesque frescoes. Trautenfels Castle menacingly guards our exit to the Enns Valley plain.
In the afternoon, we enter the Gesäuse Gorge and the national park of the same name. Which name derives from the sound of the Enns rushing over its rocky bed. The twin onion domes of Frauenberg church face the slim spires of the Admont abbey, in turned framed by the natural spires of two imposing mountains. The spectacular Rococo abbey library merits a quick stop, even if you don’t read German. On down the narrow gorge, a favorite destination of Austrian climbers....
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All the k you can handle.
Hang on! |
Friday |
A day to explore the Enns valley, and the mountains above it. An old mining railway converted to a rails-to-trails bike path offers an opportunity to get even further away from it all. Trout streams abound, and forest creatures stare out at you from the woods. Or at least we assume they do.
The decorative wood trim which decorates the rooms of our usual in was hand carved by the father of the current owner, and the atrium dining room offers a beautiful view of the valley below. |
Variable k |
Saturday |
THE ENNSTAL, STEYR
We pass out of the Alps via a gentle path through soothing country, witness to one of the more dramatic scenery changes you will ever see in a such a short geographical distance. Our route follows the Enns River to its confluence with the Steyr, in the city of Steyr, itself the capital of the Steyr district of Austria. Dearth of imagination in all that, eh?
Wake up in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by tall mountains, and end the day in a bustling provincial city surrounded by lush (and flat!) farmland.
If your travel by bike ends here, try to give a bit of time to Steyr. Visit the entertaining “work museum,” or watch for Shubert’s trout in the rapids. The prettiest location in town happens to be right where our hotel is, overlooking the mingling waters. See our “Access Package” for a hotel night and a celebratory final dinner, plus a train to Vienna or elsewhere.
If you are continuing with us, you will have two nights in Steyr, and can use the loop day in between to hang out on the hotel’s delightful terrace and get looped....
Half Baggage |
40 k Saturday |
Lively, Singing Hills — Facts & Figures
2010 Dates |
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Baggage Services
Offered**
(optional) |
Difficulty of the Ride |
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$2.095 US
$2,150 C
1,375 € |
Daily
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Easy to Moderate
A couple of long days, but the longest are flat, as is the bulk of the riding. Back-ups are excellent. A few “walking” hills (you are in the Alps...); if you voluntarily go up a few more, you have a “Moderate” or a “Challenging” ride on your hands.
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* Prices in $ and € do not include precisely the same things. Click here for details.
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Prices of Optional Extras (links lead to explanations)
| Currency |
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$ prices include the bike.
See here for information on bringing your own.
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| $US |
$190 |
$370 |
| $C |
$197 |
$385 |
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| €uros |
140€ |
260€ |
140€ |
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Family Pricing / Child Discounts
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Age of Child |
| Desired Lodging |
Under 2 |
2 - 5
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6 - 11 |
12 - 19 |
| Sharing Parents’ Room** |
Price* =
$235 US / $250 C / 160€ |
Price* =
$575 US / $600 C / 390€ |
40% discount on regular price |
20% discount on regular price |
Not in Parents’ Room
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30% reduction on base trip cost***
(includes use of high quality child monitors)
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20% reduction on base trip cost*** |
| Conditions |
*Price does not include rental bike equipment. Child seats, trailers, and tagalongs are available at additional cost.
** With separate bed (crib or pack-and-play for children 2 and under)
***The trip’s Private Single Room charge will apply if the child occupies a single room.
- Discount triple rooms (used by three children) may be twin rooms with an extra bed.
- Quad parent-and-child “family” rooms cannot be guaranteed, as not all hotels have them, and certainly not in sufficient quantity for multiple families. When
available, they will typically be rooms with one double bed and two single beds. If you are two parents travelling with two children over 2 years old, you may request such a room when you sign up for the trip. But you must be willing to accept the alternate (and less discounted) solution of two separate-but-proximate rooms. If a quad can be assigned at some stops and not others, the additional discount will be pro-rated. Available quads will be assigned in order of trip sign-up.
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| Specific information on reaching your trip’s start in... |
Salzburg |
| Specific information on departing from your trip’s end... |
Steyr |
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Services