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Why Sit On A Tour Bus Or Train When You Can Explore Vienna By Bicycle?
Vienna is a fantastic place to discover. You can explore Vienna on two wheels as the city boasts over 1.300 kilometers of bicycle paths. Some of the paths allow you to avoid the city traffic while other paths require more caution. You can explore Vienna by bicycle easily! See the city sights and enjoy Vienna’s scenery.
Lots of stores have bicycles available for purchase, however, if you are on holiday, there are numerous options for places to rent bikes.
What Will It Cost You To Explore Vienna By Bicycle
Around 120 stations have been strategically placed near subway stations or other public transportation, making it easy to explore Vienna and its surroundings.
Renting a bike is both easy and cheap. If you use the services offered by Citybike, the first hour is free.
After that you are charged:
One Euro for a newly started hour (2nd hour)
Two Euros for the next started hour (3rd hour)
Four Euros for each started hour from the 4th to up to the 120th hour (5 days!).
CAUTION: Bike rentals are for a maximum of five days. Bikes not returned or lost will cost you 600 Euros!
Can I Take By Bicycle Everywhere In Vienna?
Vienna’s public transportation also allows you to take your bike with you on the underground. Not sure where to begin? Guided city tours are also available for either half or full-day trips.
You can also use this great app which is mainly for walking tours but will help you explore Vienna on two wheels just as well. Hotels and bed & breakfasts offer great accommodation for cyclists. Upon request, your hotel will offer you free maps and information.
Anything from packed lunches to guides you might need to enjoy your two – wheeled tour of Austria.
Biking Along The Danube & In The Vienna Woods
The best way to explore Vienna by bicycle is to follow the path which takes you along the Danube.
The path begins in Passau, Germany and will lead you all the way to Vienna. Continue along the Danube and the path will take you to Hungary! The “Wienerwald”, or Vienna Woods is a great place for mountain bikers. If that is your thing you will love this bike path!
All routes to explore Vienna are clearly marked, with bike paths for beginners, family trails, or experienced mountain bikers who are up for an adrenaline challenge. You won’t find me there. Never. Ever.
An Unexpected Fun Day Out On Our Bicycles
Let me tell you a little story about a day I got to explore Vienna by bike as well as one of its suburbs.
Now, I am not the fittest person and I have to confess that I have not been on a bike in a little while.
It was not a planned day out for bike-riding. Our intention was to go out and grab a coffee. A sunny day with clear blue skies, to sit outside and relax.
I started talking about how much fun it would be to go for a bike ride along the Danube, not to explore Vienna as I live here, but to enjoy a little scenery. Next thing you know we are on a train heading to Krems, a small town an hour away from Vienna.
We were spending the weekend in Tulln so we were even closer to Krems at this point. The rental spot was closed as the owner had to take care of an emergency. Oh drat! What now?
A nice couple who lived two doors down who had seen us at the entrance of the rental store came out to offer us their bikes! Is this for real? Are you kidding me? You would do that?
And So The Adventure Begins….
Nowadays you do not come across people who are so trusting. Well, they us made the offer and we gladly accepted.
That being said – their bikes were old. Old bikes with only three gears. Hadn’t been on one of these in years! How does the saying go? Beggars can’t be choosers.
Yes, we could have gone back home to switch bikes, put on some trainers, gotten my camera, packed some water and sandwiches into a rucksack – but what’s the fun in all that when you can be spontaneous?
Besides, it would have taken way too long and the entire day would have been over by the time we got back out there.
So here I am biking along the Danube from Krems to Traismauer.
The path is completely flat (no uphill for me this time) – the path is about 19km/12 miles.
If you ride at a comfortable speed, you can complete the path in about 1 hour. So not only can you explore Vienna by bicy cle, you can visit other great places in Austria and see a lot of Austria’s beauty and nature.
We needed 1 hour 20 minutes because I stopped for Ice-Cream (I know, I know!)
Took a moment to enjoy the scenery here. It was beautiful and very quiet for a Sunday.
Being out of shape meant riding back the 19km was tough battle! My butt hurt, my legs hurt.
We returned the bikes and expressed our Thank You’s to the elderly couple.
They invited us in for Kaffee und Kuchen (coffee and cake), which we politely declined.
It was time to head back home. We were able to enjoy a nice day out with a bit of an adventure.
Bike Tour and Wine Tasting In The Wachau Valley
Another great way to see one if Vienna’s surroundings is to take the bike tour to the Wachau Valley.
Wine lovers enjoy this tour! Included in the price of a guided tour you visit two wineries for wine tastings, schnapps and liqueur in Austria’s most famous wine region.
Accompanied with amazing scenery you are guaranteed a wonderful cultural experience in the valley voted the Best Historic Destination in the World in 2008.
What do you think of the great ways to explore Vienna by bicycle? Have you been on a bike tour? If so when and where? Share your experiences with me in the comments section below. Would love to hear about your adventures!
Keep this to refer back to later and of course, please share 🙂
41 comments
I’ve never biked around exploring a place, but definitely want to do it after reading this post! Sounds so fun, thanks for sharing!
Incredible countryside views of Vienna! And there’s nothing better than to explore a new place up close and personal by riding its streets and trails on a bike. The castle is awesome!
And those forested hills….hmmm….we would love to hike there! 🙂
We love our bicycles! I’m not great on hills, so I’d be taking the flat trip, too. I would be for stopping for ice cream and all the beautiful sights along the way!
This looks like such a great trip. I wish we rented bikes on some of our holidays. Vienna looks beautiful, we didn’t make it there – now I wish we had though. We went to Salzburg, Innsbruck and Bad Hofgastein though.
Oh how beautiful is this! Such a good post and great pictures! Very rare you’d get locals offering to help travelers too! Great read x
I love biking in cities designed for it so this sounds like an ideal way to see Vienna! Gorgeous photos and really useful information!
Looks like a beautiful city to bike around- and 11 bucks for a six hour bike rental is a great deal! 🙂
It will be a wonderful experience to tour a country in a different way. I usually spend my tour using the public transportation like taxi, bus, mrt. Using a bike to explore the beautiful places sound awesome. I will be suggesting this to my partner on our next trip. By the way, this is a great post. 🙂
Great tips for seeing Vienna on a bike! We were supposed to visit Vienna in May but ended up having to take it out of our itinerary because of flight changes. Wish we could’ve gone though because it looks absolutely amazing! We’ll definitely be exploring Vienna on bike when we finally do go one day.
I’ve never been to Vienna, but I know it would be love at first sight. Cycling sounds like a fun way to explore the area, and it looks as though it doesn’t cost the earth!
Thank you so much for sharing.
Great tips! I hadn’t been on a bike in awhile and even though they say, “it’s like riding a bike,” I still felt super wobbly. Maybe the wine would help!! haha.
Oh wow, I miss Vienna sooo much! Thanks for this post, I recognize some places on your photos. Is this 4th one near Lobau?
Hi, This is actually Traismauer, but it does look a little bit like the water and picnic area near the Lobau! You are right. You remember well.
What amazing weather you had on your cycling trip and what a fun adventure too! I love that you can leave the city and cycle in the countryside, that’s a great thing to do! Karen
That’s such a lovely idea! I love riding a bike, and it’s just so nice to visit the city whilst doing exercice! Haha x
If only the monsters would sit still for a day to enjoy the scenery, this would be a great option for our trip next year. sounds like you had a great time .
This sounds like an incredible adventure. A great way to explore the city and find things you wouldn’t see otherwise 🙂
This looks like a great way to keep fit and stay happy. Cycling around vienna and witnessing such a beautiful scene can be a treat. And it seems to be pretty affordable. I totally see myself doing it on my future trip!
Your adventure seems like so much fun. I would have never thought to explore a new city (or country) via bicycle. Thank you for this!
Sadly I do not know how to ride a bicycle! There was no room for a bike in our apartment and my mom didn’t really know how to ride a bike so I never learned. I am excited to see your pictures, though! I will be in Vienna for three nights at the end of July and I am really looking forward to seeing such a beautiful and historic city.
I hope you will learn how to ride a bike one day. it is fun. It is also one of those things that once you know how to do it, you never forget. You will love it in Vienna. The end of July is great. It is around my birthday and there is always so much to do. It will be very hot though! If you need any information to plan your trip, let me know.
Oh my gosh this is such a gorgeous post! It makes me want to hop the next plane there and rent a bike!
It does feel good to be spontaneous doesn’t it? I can’t ride a bike so I’d rather drive around but Vienna is on my list of places to visit. Maybe I should learn to ride before I visit.
I love that the ride is flat which is good for me. At the end of it you get rewarded with a simply stunning view in Vienna so what more could you want?
Biking around is one of the best ways to explore a place and especially a city like Vienna.
Seems like you had real fun doing that. Nicely written post 🙂
I never thought about discovering a new place via the bike but your pictures look lovely! What is the place called where you showed us the castle? It looks fairytale like! Seems like you had the perfect weather as well!
This looks like a trip of a lifetime! I can only hope to be so lucky to see it in person!
Wow! I would love to travel to Vienna. It looks absolutely stunning. I love renting bikes in new cities!
Sounds like a wonderful day. I love being spontaneous and how lucky for you to run into generous people.
Oh my goodness! I want to do this so badly!!! Looks like a beautiful bike tour!
I know my husband’s uncle used to tell me about when he was stationed in Germany during the Vietnam war that he and his friends would ride bikes on the weekend across the border into Austria and Vienna. He said it was really beautiful. Judging by your pictures, he was right!
That is super awesome. They are trying to get something like CityBikes here but have not gotten it done yet. So many people around here ride bikes already and explore the area via bike. Great way to travel.
I love getting out and exploring a city whether it’s with my two feet or on two wheels…so I love the idea of exploring Vienna via bike! And thank you for sharing the heads up about losing the bike!
Ooooh- these photos are making me soooo super jealous of your time here! Love it…and really cool to do on a bike! That’s such a great idea…and really good for you too! Win-Win!
Karen
Wow, I can’t believe they just let you use their bikes! That’s amazing. Love the spontaneity of your day.
Vienna sounds absolutely lovely! I would love to get there myself someday. It’s definitely on my bucket list.
While cycling is something we do daily here in Belgium, I must confess I’ve never do bike tour. Looking at your beautiful pictures, making me feel like I need to do this kind of trip, maybe in Vienna,(one day), or simply here in country side of Belgium. BTW, the castle looks so magical.
Your pictures of Vienna look beautiful and cycling around such an awesome landscape is a treat. We hope to try it out soon. Thanks for sharing!
Great photos! I would love to do a bike tour of Vienna. I would have to get the bike back in time though– 600 euro is no joke! That’s an expensive bike.
A wonderful day and great people you met. It is amazing how nice people seem to be in most of the world. I think it is that way everywhere but some places they have let their life overcome their brains. We have not been to Austria but will be going at the end of summer when we finish our Asia Loop. I don’t think the bikes would work for us but I found a lot of places of interest in the article, perhaps an E Bike if we can find them.
I think they actually do have ebikes here. I can check on that for you. Austria is beautiful and you will have a great time here. If you have any questions regarding your trip, please let me know.