North East Austria

[juha]

Hi,

I'm planning to spend a couple of days in the middle of July driving in North East area in Austria.
My trip starts from Maria Alm (Hotel Simonhof) and ends somewhere close to Ybbs an der Donau.

I noticed in the AR main site there is recommended routes around Linz like "gold seal" route Monchdorf - Pabneukirchen - Bad Kreuzen - Grein.
I most definitely will check those routes.

In case someone has more good tips where to go in that area it would be nice hear.
And .. where to stay .. please recommend good/nice hotels also.

-J-

[tim]

A couple of days .... loads of options. Now the question is what sort of roads do you want? Most of Austria is pretty scenic, but the highest mountains rarely have the best biking roads (that's my opinion only).
Central/North Austria has loads of hills and central area has smaller mountains all adding up to really twisty roads, and not many of the straight/hairpin/straight/hairpin ... type roads.

Obviously the Simonhof leads you to the Grossglockner, which will take you south, but you can always come back the same way. Ending near Ybbs is also good as you can go either north of the river (Grein etc) or south (Gesäuse, Wildalpen) and still maybe do the great roads around Puchenstuben and the Kalte Küchl (really, really twisty). The biggest bore is getting across the Danube valley, which is full of towns.
If there's anywhere special you really want to go to, or to see, let me know and I'll have a think and maybe suggest something tomorrow.

[juha]

Hi Tim.
Yes, two days starting from Simonhof, one night somewhere and second night close to Ybbs.

Grossclockner is on my route before I arrive to Simonhof.
The initial idea was to drive first to Nockalmstrasse via Dientensattel but after that everything is quite open.
High passes and hairpins are not first on my list either.

Main target is to drive nice roads.
Finding roads like (even close to) this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XRnlzWdyVE would be very very nice...

-J-

[tim]

How about these: Ochsattel /Kalte Küchl
Puchenstuben
You can get to Ybbs from Salzburg in a couple of hours on the motorway if you ever get stuck for time, but with a night somewhere you can cover the best roads north and south of the river, avoiding all the motorway sections. Say a good whole day south of the river, then cut across and double-back for some of the northern bits, which you can adjust depending on time/weather.

[tim]

Day one: maria Alm to Kalte Kuchl *** I changed my suggestion 14:00 24. June***
Over 8 hours of riding, should give you time for breaks and photos. You can cut out the Hengstpass bit and go via the Gesäuse to save a bit of time. That's also very nice (see waypoint here )

Kalte Kuch is a restaurant guest house, I think they have rooms but it's a bit basic. You cam stop anywhere around there and look for B&B or hotels in say Türnitz, Rohrbach an der Gölsen, Traisen, Rohr im Gebirge. Most small towns will have something.

[tim]

Day two:
I recommend bombing over the Danube (you'll have to cut through a bit of boring valley road for that, but not too far).

Part one about 5 hours, finishes at Grein. Waypoints here

But I can suggest a longer detour if you want to fill up the day. here.[Waypoints]
As you can see there are plenty of choices and chances to make it longer or cut it short, you you can take it as you go.

[juha]

Thanks Tim, this was very welcomed help from you.
-J-

[tim]

Pick what you want out of that, hope you enjoy it