The precinct
The Vienna Woods are located in the west just outside the Austrian capital - part of it is in Vienna, part in Lower Austria. There is a bike trail network of over 1250 kilometres in the entire area. 80 kilometres of these are trails. Over the past four years, their legalisation and construction has been driven forward in collaboration with the biosphere reserve, Klosterneuburg Abbey, the Austrian Federal Forestry Office and other stakeholders. The WienerWaldTrails association played a leading role in this process. Currently, the trail hotspots are largely concentrated in the region around the Hohe Wand Wiese in Mauerbach and the Weidlingbach Trail Park as well as around the Anninger, which is located 30 kilometres further south near Mödling. Here are the three connecting trail tours.
Tour 1: Fun-Loop
- Length: 24.6 kilometres
- Uphill: 680 metres in altitude
- Journey time: 1:30 hours
- Difficulty: medium
Tour description
This entertaining fun loop connects the two fun lines of the Weidlingbach trail park and the trail centre - and it actually starts with a relaxed roll-in on a forest path. In a loop, you ride through a wild, unspoilt core zone of the biosphere reserve through small suburbs in Vienna's suburban belt and from the Windischhütte on the Kahlenbergerdorf route to Weidlingbach. There, the fun line is peppered with berms and tables. However, there is even more airtime on the final Kenda line in the trail centre, a line that was crowdfunded.
- Starting point Trail centre Hohe Wand Wiese, Mauerbach
- Highlights With the Kenda Line, the Viennese bike community has jointly created an exemplary fun trail - where you will want to pedal up again at the end.
- Key points The gaps and drops of the Kenda Line can be bypassed via the Chicken Line.
- Retreat The Landgasthof Windischhütte is situated in a secluded location near Klosterneuburg (closed on Mondays and Tuesdays).
Tour 2: Flow-Loop
- Length: 32.5 kilometres
- Uphill: 980 metres in altitude
- Journey time: 2:50 hours
- Difficulty: medium
Tour description
The proportion of trails on this loop is high - over 13 kilometres, the route flows through the Vienna Woods. After the first climb, the view from the Sophienalpe extends across the whole of Vienna all the way to the Carpathian Mountains. The Schottenhof trail sets the perfect mood for the flow day and leads down to Schwarzenbergpark on soft forest soil. From here, you head up to Hameau-Anhöhe, from where several trails start. On the Roan Trail, you can really let it rip: it is 1.5 kilometres long and the gradient is mostly gentle. You are spit out near the Weidlingbach trail centre, where the flow line winds its way through the forest for almost two kilometres. After the final ascent at the back of the Sophienalpe, you finally reach the final flow line of the trail centre.
- Starting point Trail centre Hohe Wand Wiese, Mauerbach
- Highlights The combination of natural and man-made trails on which you spend almost half of the route.
- Key points All trails are wonderfully rideable. In wet conditions, the Roan Trail can get muddy in places.
- Retreat In the small forest restaurant Zur Allee am Schwarzenbergpark, vegan and classic Austrian dishes are cooked from regional ingredients - and the coffee is excellent.
Tour 3: Enduro loop
- Length: 32.3 kilometres
- Uphill: 1170 metres in altitude
- Journey time: 3:20 hours
- Difficulty: difficult
Tour description
An enduro tour could hardly be more varied. You start from the trail centre directly onto the uphill trail and remain on narrow paths for 40 per cent of the tour. The root trail from Hameau is a wake-up call, followed by the Unteren-Roan trail. On the other side of the valley, the route climbs halfway up the Hermannskogel until you reach the fairly flowing Sauberg trail. Things get spicier on the following Dornröschen and Schönstatt trails: rough root carpets and steeper sections alternate with fast passages where you shoot through green beech forest tunnels like a cannon barrel. The Enduro Line in the trail centre, an only slightly modified natural trail, is the crowning glory.
- Starting point Trail centre Hohe Wand Wiese, Mauerbach
- Highlights The Sleeping Beauty Trail and the Schoenstatt Trail demonstrate how varied the Vienna Woods can be over a short distance.
- Key points The trails are technically challenging in places, especially the root and Schönstatt trails. You also have to be wary of the dense trees.
- Retreat The beautifully situated Gasthaus zum Agnesbrünnl on the Jägerwiese serves traditional dishes (closed on Mondays and Tuesdays).
GPS data for the Vienna Trail Centre
Info about the Vienna biking area
Best time to travel
The season on the Hohe Wand Wiese begins on 1 March. The average temperature is already over 20 degrees in May. It can get quite hot in summer, but the forest offers pleasant shade. From mid-November, the trails outside the trail centre are closed due to the weather. During this time, the trails are repaired and/or newly created and the drag lift no longer transports bikers. Planned opening date 2024 of the Vienna Trail Centre: 1 March!
Arrival
The Viennese themselves usually cycle to the trail centre. It would be quicker to take the underground from the city centre. If you are travelling from the west, take the Westbahn to Hütteldorf station and cycle another seven kilometres from there to the Hohe Wand Wiese trail centre. If you are travelling by car, take the A1 to Auhof outside Vienna and continue for just under five kilometres to Mauerbach.
Trail centre & guides
The trail centre in Mauerbach is the hub of the Vienna Woods bike scene. From here you can set off directly onto the trails and also book guides, riding technique training and shuttles. Between the runs or before and after the tour, you can also stop off at the bistro here. The menu includes dishes such as: Thai curry, pulled pork wrap (organic meat) as well as locally roasted coffee and delicious pastries. Open in the low season March/April/October only at weekends. May/June/September Friday to Sunday and July/August daily.
Info trail centre: Hohe Wand Wiese Vienna, Mauerbachstraße 174-184, Vienna,
Tel. 0043/1/9346711300, www.hohewandwiese.com/trailcenter
Bike shop & hire
The well-stocked bike shop is also located directly in the trail centre. Scott and Trek bikes are available for hire (including e-MTBs and kids' bikes) as well as helmets and protectors.
Opening hours: July/August daily, March-June & September/October: Friday-Sunday. Tel. 0043/664/88192280, www.hohewandwiese.com
Accommodation
- The name says it all: not far from the trail centre lies this small guesthouse, lovingly run by Elena and Herbert: sweet rooms, hearty breakfast, warm atmosphere. Address: Waldgasse 17, A-3001 Mauerbach, www.diekleinepension.at
- If you really want to have a good time, check into the Hotel Schlosspark in Mauerbach and enjoy the fine cuisine and the huge wellness area. Hotel Schlosspark, Herzog-Friedrich-Platz 1, A-3001 Mauerbach, www.schlosspark.at
- Further bed & bike establishments in the vicinity can be found at: www.wienerwald.info/bettbike
SCENE HIGHLIGHTS
Stop for a bite to eat
- Apart from the trail centre, you can also stop off at the Sophienalpe (www.sophienalp-wien.at) for a bite to eat on the laps, with dishes ranging from Holzhackernockerln to Nutella pancakes.
- The flow loop leads directly past the small forest inn Zur Allee (www.zurallee.com). Seasonal and regional dishes are cooked and baked here - from meat loafs to vegan cakes.
- The Agnesbrünnl inn is located on the idyllic Jägerwiese on the Enduro Loop and serves good home cooking.
General information
Further information about the Vienna Woods, events, other tours and excursion destinations is available from Wienerwald Tourismus at www.wienerwald.info
The report: Naschmarkt for bikers
First day: flow loop. 30 kilometres of pedalling and trails through the Vienna Woods. Idyllic forest paths uphill, piping fine trails downhill - some old paths, some newly created lines. The ground is sometimes forest-soft, sometimes sticky-loamy. Day two: enduro loop. Even more metres in altitude, even more trails. It gets rooty and technical. Fast through green mixed forest tunnels and close around tree trunks. Day three: fun loop. The half-day loop with lots of tables, plenty of airtime and plenty of desire to pedal up again at the end. Three days of rolling on sacred ground, through the biosphere park and across ski meadows. You have a view of Vienna and can see as far as Bratislava beyond. You start, finish and chill out in the trail centre. That's the Vienna Woods in a nutshell. But because it's just so nice, as they say here, here's the extended version:
Continue along the A1 motorway towards the capital. Then, just before it, the Viennese charm is already in the air, get off the motorway and continue left towards Mauerbach - just keep following the ski lift sign. Vienna, the Danube metropolis, the liveliest and most liveable city in the world, is just a few hills away on the underground railway. It takes 20 minutes to get from Hütteldorf to the centre of the city of 1.9 million people. But it could hardly be more rural here. Tractors hum through the streets, signs at inns warn of free-range hens, the village bakery is closed at lunchtime.
And at the Hohe Wand meadow, a mini ski lift pulls summer tobogganers 100 metres up the slope. On the right, bikers return from the trails, while kids roll down the pump track on the left. The Hohe Wand Wiese trail centre has been open since 2017. In just a few years, 12 trails have been created here. The 1350 square kilometres of the Vienna Woods spread out in a semi-circle around it. Thanks to the WienerWaldTrails association, more and more trails are being legalised here too.
First it was friends from Vienna who started raving about it. Then suddenly people from the Alpine region made a pilgrimage to the east of Austria for a city & bike trip and came back enthusiastic. What's the deal with cycling in the suburbs? Patrick shrugs his shoulders. What can he say? It's his territory. He made an important contribution to the development and now runs the trail centre. "We'll just show you what we've got," he says over a long drink on the trail centre terrace, "and then you tell us what's up with the Vienna Woods, okay?" Okay.
One thing is obvious: it's autumn, but that doesn't matter to the sun-drenched Vienna Woods. Autumn comes a little later in the year here, and spring comes earlier. From October onwards, when the bike parks in the Alps are dozing under their first blanket of snow, Patrick converts the lift and, depending on the weather, it pulls bikers onto the trail centre routes at weekends until the end of November. The season starts again on 1 March. Our start today is pleasantly cosy: first a wrap from the café and fresh brake pads from the shop - after all, everything is under one roof. We relax and squint into the sun until Saul reminds us to set off.
The end of cosiness. If you think you're going to roll into the Viennese hilly landscape at a relaxed pace, you've got another think coming. The uphill trail immediately sets your pulse racing. Only on the forest path do you have enough breath for bike and botany questions. The Vienna Woods are characterised by beech trees, but also oak, ash and maple. The layman recognises "foliage instead of needles", Saul and Patrick can be a little more nuanced. But the two of them also have the best schooling behind them: Patrick researched and taught at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna, while Saul is currently writing his Master's thesis there. It's a good thing that Horst, the third member of the pair, is head of marketing at the Danube Island Festival (Europe's largest open-air festival) and knows more about bands and stages than flora and fauna. But it is he who points delightedly to the purple orchid speckles in the clearing. We have arrived on the wide plateau of the Sophienalpe. And suddenly the town appears.
The nice thing, says Horst, is that "you can get out of Vienna so quickly - and then you're standing here, standing above it." Saul points across the city to a mountain range on the horizon: "And over there, that's Bratislava with the Carpathians." Very nice. But the city may have its towers and spires - the forest has its trails. A natural, narrow path sets the tone for our flow loop, which continues in exactly the same groove: fast and unblocked, winding, forest-soft and at the same time varied, the shared trails, which you share with the hikers, take you to the trail park in Weidlingbach.
It's a small, tranquil village, this Weidlingbach, around 13 kilometres north of the Hohe Wand Wiese. Two official bike trails were opened here in 2016. 5000 hours of voluntary construction time, support from the landowners, the tourism association and dozens of volunteers, bikers and non-bikers alike. They came with shovels, hoes and even diggers - "and with food," emphasises Saul.
The Filipino-Mountainbikers-in-Austria-Club turned up with homemade crab chips, and the biosphere park served organic sausages.
Why is it possible in the Vienna Woods to do what seems impossible elsewhere? Patrick shrugs his shoulders again: "It's really no walk in the park, but we had support from the very beginning, especially from the biosphere reserve, the federal forestry organisation and Klosterneuburg Abbey, which owns a lot of the land here." A "heavenly collaboration", he says with a smile. The pressure from users in the area surrounding Vienna is high and managing the different interests is not easy. The lines in Weidlingbach are a perfect example of how to equalise the whole thing - and are also a lot of fun. Just like the flow finale at the trail centre. The après-bike drink flows just as well.
The second day turns out to be much spicier. We stand on the root trail, the start of our enduro loop, and adjust our pads. The name says it all - the trail shakes you up and shakes you down. We pedal uphill and circle downhill - over and over again. From the quiet Roan Trail to the smooth Sauberg Trail, from the shaggy Sleeping Beauty to the lush Schönstatt. It's technical over gnarled roots, but also extremely fast through magnificent, green beech tunnels. Treesurfing in general! What fun - as long as you don't get too close to the trunks.
It gets dangerous when you try to keep in touch with the three of them on the tyres. They know the Vienna Woods like the back of their hand and have personally hugged almost every tree. Saul in particular likes to go on an involuntary hugging spree. He is less of a meditative forest bather than a lively treehugger. "I resisted biking for a long time," explains the 32-year-old. He comes from freeride skiing "and in summer I was surfing and climbing. I didn't necessarily want to take up another sport." It's only bad when your father is from Vancouver, you visit your grandma and have so much fun on the Canadian trails on an old bike from the 80s that you order a bike from Canada. In his early days at home, he consistently "never managed a ride without crashing or hugging a tree".
No contact with trees today, but almost 1200 metres of ascent and a total of six trails. The Vienna Woods are opening up for us bikers - from top to bottom: The sun shoots its rays through the canopy, a little breeze makes the leaves rustle. And then there's the grippy surface, which means that there is no gravel on the routes, which is as firm and cracked as elephant skin under the wheels. What has been created here and will continue to be created is - mei, leiwand halt.
