raybo

My (non-touring) wife has expressed interest in a boat-bike trip from Passau down the Danube to Budapest. Wanting to encourage such desires, I readily agreed it was a good idea, with the understanding that I can ride to Passau before it starts.

One easy place to fly into is Amsterdam. Thus, my first thought is to ride from Amsterdam to Passau. Most of the established routes are along the big rivers, such as, the Rhine, Mosel, and the Danube. But, I don't really like riding along big rivers for many miles/days. I find the views repetitive and uninspiring. Unfortunately, most of the signed biking routes follow major rivers.

I prefer more varied and interesting terrain and don't mind climbing hills to get better views and varied landscape. One problem I've run into is that Germany doesn't allow Google street view. Thus, I have no way of checking out roads that look like good ones to ride. I'd prefer not to create a route based only on grainy satellite photos and lines on a map.

Can anyone suggest a route though Germany that isn't Eurovelo 6-like and that goes through interesting terrain?

fietsbob

Whats wrong with rivers? I have the Columbia Out My front window.

Up the Rhine valley and down The Danube valley the head waters of both are very close to each other on the German-Swiss Border.

Get off the Bike Go into Bars and Cafes & talk to the locals

University Geography departments have Big Panel Paper Maps in a Library.

I went from Shiphol to Zandvoort , and slept in a campground, there, on day 1.

Next day I went to a Book Shop and Bought a Map..


Read a Lot of History , so You know something about what you are looking at.

91 i Returned from Poland and the Czech Republic thru Linz Austria then at Passau followed the Rott River into Bavaria

got flooded out of My bucolic campsite and when I asked the locals for help they put me in touch with the local Bürgermeister and I stayed with his family for a few days , then boarded a train for Strassburg, came thru Belgium

Including down the main straightaway of the Spa Francorchamps GP race course and looped back to see friends I had Made in Ypres on the first part of the trip.





./.

mercator

That would be a nice ride, although coming from the low countries there really isn't much for mountains between the two endpoints.
Maybe you want to consider a shorter ride, but fly into Zurich and take a route through the alps?

350htrr

The country side along the rivers in Europe is NOT the same as in N America, not even close.. You would not be bored, you will be pleasantly suppressed...

jefnvk

About the only climbing you'll be doing through most of the Netherlands is highway overpasses.

Fietsrouteplanners - Vlaanderen - Nederland is the site we used for Netherlands and Belgium. It takes you down some interesting paths, everything from two track forest trails to active concrete unloading docks. I found the scenery in Flanders to be more interesting than the Netherlands, maybe hit it up a bit on your way to Germany.

https://www.opencyclemap.org/ also has some German routes. Might be a starting place

gauvins

You may want to look at a Gmap of Europe to roughly test various starting points. We did Regensburg to Berlin on non EV routes and enjoyed ourselves (Germany, as you probably know, has an extensive network of bicycle paths, so routing is unlikely to be a problem). Berlin, Wittenberg, Leipzig, Dresden, Prague, Regensburg, Passau. Several interesting cities.

If you'd like a couple of serious climbs, you may want to start from Geneva (or Zagreb).

raybo

Thanks for the suggestions.

Since this ride will likely be in mid-to late-May, the Alps are probably out of the question. Besides, I've ridden in Switzerland and would prefer to visit other countries.

As a start, I'm thinking of heading south from Amsterdam, through eastern Belgium (find a route with some war history?) and then down into Luxembourg before crossing over into Germany. I realize Germany doesn't have big mountains, but it does have plenty of hills and smaller rivers whose valleys I might find more interesting than the Rhine.

Please keep the good ideas coming!

saddlesores

check with the ADFC.....german cycling federation....

ADFC Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club e. V.

they have an awesome series of paper maps
(or did anyways...) covering the entire country.

depending on your start/end points and dates, you
might could sign up with the french liberty trail ride.
usually run in late may or early june, route changes
year to year.

groovy supported ride following routes covered
by generals during the war. about 400 or so
riders, led by vintage vehicles, with official
motorcycle escort stopping traffic. kinda cool
to ride through paris with all the traffic stopped
for you....

https://www.voiedelaliberte.fr/index.php?lang=en

Scummer

If you ride south through Belgium, Luxembourg, then Saarland and through the 'Vogesen' and then heading east through Baden-Baden, you will pass through the blackwood forest, which is pretty and hilly. Keep heading south-east direction 'Allgäu' und pass either south of the Starnberger See or enjoy the Walchensee/Tegernsee/Schliersee area and then start heading north-east again to finish in Passau.

Stay on small roads which connects smaller villages, avoid the big cities and I think you will have a nice experience.

When I moved to Bavaria 3 years ago, I basically set my compass where I wanted to go and just used small streets to get from village to village and enjoyed the view and culinary findings.

fietsbob

Yea, Lots of War History in Belgium .. Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo, by Wellington's forces was there..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Waterloo

Juan Foote

great read, thanks

Philly Tandem

AMS can often be expensive to fly to. Frankfurt tends to have better fares from my experience. Germany has thousands of kilometers of bike routes, going just about everywhere. It's easy to make your own route, especially if you are scared of climbing some hills.

One very nice ride would be to start in Munich, ride south to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Alps, take the train over to Innsbruck, ride up the Inn River a few miles and cut over to the Zillertal (Ziller Valley, look for Zell am Ziller on a map, just NE of Innsbruck). Ride over Gerlos Pass to Krimml, Austria (or take a taxi to the top of the pass), and then ride up the really nice Tauern Bike Route from Krimml through Zell am See, then Salzburg, and ultimately to Passau where you could connect with your wife. The Tauernradweg would take about five days or so. Munich to G-P is about two days, and figure another day or two to get to Gerlos Pass.

If your wife wanted to tag along, but not bike, most of this route is doable by train, and she could meet you in the stopping-point towns each night. Just a thought.

Another idea is to bike from Munich to Salzburg, via Rosenheim and Chiemsee (large Alpine lake that is really nice), and then pick the Tauernradweg up there instead. Here's a sample itinerary: Munich to Salzburg Self Guided Cycle Tour - Hooked on Cycling

We just got back from three weeks in Austria and Germany, including biking Passau-Vienna and other day rides in Germany and Austria. We've bike a lot in these two countries and travel there quite often, so if you have specific questions, feel free to PM me.