The Danube Bike Path 2008 bike tour - Europa

THE DANUBE BIKE PATH, 'THE JOY OF CYCLING'

Sometimes people have come to me with this question: 'I would like to do a cycling trip but i don´t have any experience at all. Where should I go?'. The Danube bike path crosses my mind immediately, because it is perfect to novice cyclotourists. Certainly there is a great difference between the Austro-German path and the Slovenian-Hungarian path -signposting, path surface, infraestructure-. Anyway, I would say that Dabube´s river bank offers an idyllic background to a cyclotourism beginning.

When I speak about the Danube Bike Path -Donauradweg in German- I compare it with a highway for cyclotourists. The signs are perfect, logistics are smooth and few stretches are shared with motor vehicles.

Orographical difficulty is minimal, the reason is that the river course always slopes down, and with few exceptions so it is the track. For instance, Donaueschingen is 686 metres above sea level and Budapest is 151 metres above sea level. That mades the path suitable for everybody regardless of age or physical condition.

Another great appealing of the track is that it combines natural landscapes, such as Donaudurchbruch cliffs in Germany or Schlögener Schlinge meander in Austria, with visits to full of History and Art cities, such as Regensburg, Passau, Linz, Vienna, Bratislava or Budapest.

Besides, bike lovers will be astonished at the cycling culture that you can feel in German or Austria, where the bicycle means an essential way of transport to almost everybody, instead of being a mere object to spend your free time.

The four visited countries belong to Europen Union so it is only needed identity card if you belong to a European Union country.

Despite of being summer you should not be overconfident of weather. It rained several days and we had to stop some hours. On the contrary, you should also be careful of hot. In Slovakia and Hungary there were extreme heat days.

Due to the trip we were doing (vaccination is recommended to travellers are hiking or camping in infectious areas) and because Danube Bike Path (Germany, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary) goes through the risk zone, we vaccinated against Tick-borne Encephalitis (TBE). It is a viral infectious disease involving the central nervous system. It is transmitted by the bite of infected ticks. The disease manifests in summer in rural wooded areas if Europe, mainly Germany, Austria, Belarus, Slovakia, Baltic States, Hungary, Czech Republic, Russia, Switzerland and Ukraine.

There are three variables when it comes to vaccination: the person, the place and time of stay. There are  International travel vaccination centres in every region, where you can consult about your personal risks. The Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality (Spain) has at your disposal its website where you can find advice about vaccination and antimalarial.

In the following link: Ministry of foreign affairs and cooperation (Spain), you can find daily updated information about country travel advice.