The Danube Cycle Way
Squeak191
Posts: 24
Hi everyone,
My friend and I are planning to cycle the Danube Way from Passau in Gemany to Budapest in Hungary in August this year. Has anyone else cycled this route before? Can you give us any advice about accomodation if you have? We are particularly concerned about Aug being peak season and we're not planning to book ahead for our accomodation, just stop where the mood takes us. I am worried that all hostels, b&b's etc will be choc full of European's and that we might be left high and dry on accomodation!, and we're not going to take a tent. If anyone has done this route before and had any advice, please do let me know!
Kind regards.
My friend and I are planning to cycle the Danube Way from Passau in Gemany to Budapest in Hungary in August this year. Has anyone else cycled this route before? Can you give us any advice about accomodation if you have? We are particularly concerned about Aug being peak season and we're not planning to book ahead for our accomodation, just stop where the mood takes us. I am worried that all hostels, b&b's etc will be choc full of European's and that we might be left high and dry on accomodation!, and we're not going to take a tent. If anyone has done this route before and had any advice, please do let me know!
Kind regards.
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Comments
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Did this route in 2006..It will be very difficult to get accomodation at that time..Literally hundreds of riders on the route then..My advice..Go in September..July..or camp...ctowen0
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Squeak191 wrote:we might be left high and dry on accomodation!, and we're not going to take a tent.
Saying that reminds me of when I rode along it in August 2005. We camped (which made life very easy on the accomodation front) although the weather was a bit wet. The week after we got to Bratislava and turned away from the river the water rose and it burst it's banks in many places in Austria flooding the bike path and several campsites.
It's a good route but I'd avoid the busy season if I was doing it again.0 -
The Circerone guide - the Danube Cycleway by John higginbottom has a listing.Ive seen it on some mailorder websites but they can be slow to react.May be try E bay or amazon.Try hostelworld.com .for booking in advance.Lots of cycle holiday companies do the Danube cycle way,booking it all for you with self guided bike ride route and bike hire but expect to pay over the odds for that...jc0
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We finished the Vienna - Budapest stage just a couple of days ago - it was a great ride, and we had very few issues with accommodation. I'm still in the Budapest hotel (Carlton, recommended, specially if you can get it entirely on Airmiles like we did
), and people want on the pc, so I can't hang about. Will do a full post on the trip when I get home to Edinburgh in a few days.
btw, can recommend the Cycline Guide, you can get it from the Sustrans online shop. And join Sustrans at the same time...0 -
Here's a link to 30 journals that used the Danube trail...
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/cate ... pe=journal
Enjoy0 -
We did the Danube trail from Donauschingen to Budapest in that rainy August of 2005 mentioned above. 1400 km of adventure. I remember very well getting lost in a fluvial forest south of Vienna cos the path was underwater and arriving in rural Hungary on a Sunday night with no local currency and the nearest bank a days cycle ride away.
We mixed camping with Bett und Bike, never planned any of it and I would recommend that way of travelling because the route is so historical and so packed with things to see. The worst thing about it is that you are constantly having to decide what to ignore as you'd need a couple of months to stop and see everything.
We got to villages where we had to ask in 2 or 3 b+bs til we found something but the people where so friendly that they would phone round for us. Same story with cheap hotels in the larger towns.
I didn¡t find carrying a tent a bind as we had a really light one, and split it, one had the poles the other the tent. This really allows you to be spontaneous.
Take rain gear! The weather is weird all along the Danube.0 -
A P.S. to my post above.
BUY THE 2 BIKE LINE GUIDES THAT COVER WHAT YOU WANT TO DO.
The one from Passau to Vienna is translated into English, the Vienna Budapest one is only in German I believe but that's not a problem because it is the detailed maps that are the real boon, especially from Vienna to Budapest as the Hungarian part of the route is quite "flexible" and only signposted in populated areas if at all.0 -
A bit more on our recent Vienna - Budapest trip as promised:
Day 1 Vienna to Bad Deutsch Altenburg - approx 55 kilometres.
Day 2 BDA to Bratislava (Slovakia) - approx 20 k, spent the rest of the day sightseeing.
Day 3 Bratislava to Mosonmagyarovar (Hungary) approx 55k.
Day 4 Stopover in Moson - beautiful little town with thermal pool next to hotel.
Day 5 Moson to Gyor (pronounced Gyir) - apprx 44k
Day 6 Gyor to Komarom - approx 55k
Day 7 Komarom to Tata - approx 20k
Day 8 stopover in Tata
Day 9 Tata to Esztergom approx 55k
Day 10 Esztergom to Vac via left (north) bank of Danube - approx 40k
Day 11Stopover in Vac
Day 12 Evening boat to Budapest.
Hotels in Vienna and Budapest were pre-booked, otherwise we improvised. This was mid to late June 2008, and we had little trouble finding good accommodation. Cycling is pretty much dead flat until the Komarom to Esztergom stretch, where with the hills in the 30 degree heat and 12kilos each of baggage, it was a bit more demanding. Bikes were rented from Pedal Power Vienna and were good flat-bar tourers.
We gave ourselves plenty of time for the trip as we wanted to see some of the places we were passing through, and it was well worth it - Hungary is beautiful and largely unspoiled, and well-appointed with ice-cream and cake stops.
We used the English version of the Cycline guide, from the Sustrans shop.
Highly recommended trip
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