Biking along the Vienna River to the Vienna Woods

Sunday, 07 April 2019 09:52
Written by Portal Editor

The sunny weather once more lured outdoors - this time the Vienna River should be our destination and at the same time tour beginning to the Vienna Woods, where the Vienna River has its origin.

The river rises named as Drought Vienna at 520 meters altitude on Kaiserbrunnberg at Rekawinkel. From the confluence of the Pfalzauer Creek, as well named Cold Vienna, with the Drought Vienna into the center of Pressbaum, from where on the river is simply called the Vienna River. Here, from the year 1100, lot of small mills settled on the banks of the Wien River. Vineyards and taverns were often attached to the mill factories, today hardly imaginable. Wood processing companies settled around the mills, also because the wooden constructions of the mills had to be renewed frequently.

Today concreted bicycle & footpaths on the course of Vienna

Once again our starting point is the Campsite Wien West, which still is the location of the wintering this year. From here we cycled through the district of Hütteldorf down to the Vienna River, which today is to help as a heavily embedded concrete cycle and footpath to tame the river after heavy rains or during the snowmelt. In the course of the river in Vienna, the artificial concrete bed was created to prevent the until the end of the 19th century frequent devastating floods, which is reminiscent of the name of the suburb Gumpendorf in today's 6th district of Vienna. Partly the river in Vienna is completely vaulted. In the area of the Vienna City Park, its course was used as a landmark element of the landscape.

Once at the riverbed, we also find numerous warning signs that point to the possible danger of a tidal wave on the Vienna River. As soon as possible with a noticeable increase in the water level, the bike path should be left, as heavy rainfall in particular can cause the water level to rise a lot very suddenly. In general, the regulation of the Vienna River to prevent flooding has been a topic of discussion for many years.

Wientalradweg - open up the city from the west for bikers

The Wientalradweg (Vienna Valley Biking Route) is 13 kilometers long and it takes about an hour to reach Vienna's city center. The bike path connects the far west of the city of Vienna with the city center and follows the course of the Vienna River. As a result, it borders on many districts and is a very important component of the cycle path network in Vienna. The cycle path starts in Purkersdorf and continues along the Bike Route Vienna Valley in southeastern direction. This bike path takes the cyclist first to Vienna Valley Road and then to Auhofstraße. Along the course of the river there is a separate area reserved for cyclists, with whom one is far faster, especially during holiday periods, then the cars stuck in the traffic jam.

Today we cycle in the opposite direction along the river in the direction of the Vienna Woods, have left the river little later and up it goes into the Vienna Woods. Further up, at the confluence of the Vienna with the Wolfsgraben Creek, the Vienna River flows into the Wienerwald Lake, where the river is dammed up for the Wiental Water Power Plant. This lake was originally built as a drinking water supply of Vienna and Purkersdorf and for a long time it was in use. Today it is used as a retention basin. After Pressbaum the Wienfluss briefly flows through the local area of Tullnerbach and further through the urban area of Purkersdorf.

Numerous hikers and cyclists in the Vienna woods

Not only the sunshine had lured us up here in the Viennese forest, so numerous bikers / hikers were on the way, who were on the way on the numerous routes across the huge area. Sometimes gravel roads, then only slightly groomed forest roads, so the mountain bikers had found their terrain. The proximity to the city attracts not just excursionists in the numerous restaurants up here, the Vienna Forest is very actively used by all imaginable recreational athletes and their activities. So too many adults who had fallen for the children's swings or used the extensive green areas just to relax.

Please read the following articles too:

Mountain biking in Vienna - From Campsite Vienna West
Wine Cellars in Plže - Petrov and its Wine Cellars