The Great Tauern Cycling Holiday

Look forward to a varied and leisurely cycling holiday in the Tauern region. First you travel to Passau. Located on the border with Austria, the Danube, Inn and Ilz rivers flow together here, giving the city a very special flair, which can also look back on almost two thousand years of history. Take a short boat tour and enjoy the Italian flair of the colorful facades, St. Stephen's Cathedral and the mouth of the three rivers with their different colors from aboard the river steamer.

In the morning, you can enjoy a leisurely breakfast and take in the charm of Passau. At 2 p.m., the shuttle bus will take you from Passau to the charming mountain village of Krimml in Oberpinzgau. And what awaits you here is tremendous. Even from afar you can hear the masses of water from the Krimml Waterfalls cascading down into the valley, up to 40,000 liters of water per second! They are one of the main attractions in the Hohe Tauern National Park and also mark the start of the Tauern Cycle Route. Visit this natural spectacle on a leisurely walk and breathe in the proven healthy air.

The first cycling day of the Tauern cycling holiday takes you along the Krimmler Ache river and at the foot of the 3657-metre-high Großvenediger mountain eastwards through the Obersulzbachtal valley. Visit the local history museum in Bramberg am Wildkogel. Here you can see, among other things, emeralds that were mined in the Habachtal valley, the only relevant emerald deposit in Europe. Mittersill awaits you with its magnificent town houses. Take the panoramic cable car up into the Kitzbühel Alps! A magnificent view of the mighty High Tauern mountains awaits you.

The shortest stage of the Tauern cycling holiday lies ahead of you, so you can take it easy. You follow the lively Salzach river through the Hohe Tauern National Park and the Oberpinzgau region. Small villages line the route and many a farmer offers hungry and thirsty cyclists hospitality. The magnificent panorama of the snow-covered three thousand meter peaks accompanies you all the way to Kaprun or Zell am See. The Zell am See-Kaprun vacation region is one of the most important tourist centers in Austria. There is a large selection of sports and leisure facilities and wonderful sights such as Kaprun Castle, the high mountain reservoirs and Lake Zell.

A rest day like this would be a great thing if it wasn't so difficult to decide on an activity. And it's particularly tricky in the region around Kaprun. Should you spend an easy day at Lake Zell? How about cycling around Lake Zell? A visit to the impressive Kaprun high mountain reservoirs at an altitude of around 2040 meters offers a magnificent view of the High Tauern glaciers.

From now on you cycle through the Pinzgauer Saalachtal valley. You should pay a visit to the Seisenbachklamm gorge and the Lamprechtshöhle cave. With unbridled force, the water shoots along the sometimes only one meter wide, jagged, meter-high rock walls. A nature spectacle of a special kind! With a total length of around 51 kilometers, Lamprechtshöhle is one of the largest cave systems in Europe. The traditional and hospitable village of Lofer in the middle of the Lofer Mountains awaits you with a beautiful market square. Enjoy one or two Austrian delicacies.

This beautiful, natural cycle path follows the course of the Saalach river through a charming landscape to the spa town of Bad Reichenhall. The Bavarian King Maximilian II and his entourage stayed there for a five-week cure back in 1848. The elegant Kurhaus building and the royal spa garden are beautiful to behold. Visit Alte Saline, a listed industrial monument, and take a guided tour through the ramified tunnel system. Salzburg, the enchanting city on the Saalach river, is not only rich in sights and has a long history as an art and cultural metropolis, it has also been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Now it's time to say goodbye to the mighty mountains that have been your constant companion for the first few days. You now cycle through the varied foothills of the Alps. In the Bavarian town of Laufen, a beautiful town square and a striking Gothic collegiate church await you. You cycle around the Salzach loop, which describes a 180-degree bend. A few kilometers further on, near Tittmoning, the former summer residence of the Salzburg bishops is enthroned on a geographically favorable hill. You leave the riverside path for a short while and cycle through lush forests. An absolute must is a visit to Burghausen Castle, which still towers over the old town as an imposing bulwark.

Shortly behind Burghausen, the Salzach flows into the Inn. The different colors of the two rivers are particularly evident here. The Inn carries dark, green water, the Salzach the meltwater from the Alps. The vegetation is particularly lush and many bird colonies have made themselves at home here. You have reached the Europareservat Unterer Inn. You can stop for lunch in the pretty little town of Braunau and take a look at the spruced-up houses with Gothic gables dating back to the 14th century. Along the banks, whether on the Bavarian or Austrian side, you will soon reach Obernberg am Inn.

You continue to follow the course of the Inn on your Tauern cycling holiday and soon come across the Augustinian monastery of Reichersberg, which stands on the high terrace above the river. Now it's a quick ride and you pass through one pretty village after another until you come across a special gem. Sit down in a café on the market square of the baroque town of Schärding and enjoy the view of Silberzeile (an ensemble of colorful houses) and Christopherusbrunnen fountain. On the way to Passau, you can see the pretty 18th-century monastery castle of Vornbach. Then you have reached the three-river city of Passau, which you were able to take a brief look at at the start of the Tauern cycling holiday.

Your great Tauern cycling holiday has now come to an end. You have reached the starting point of your trip and you are starting your journey home. If you would like to give Passau a little more time, we are also happy to extend your stay.