Czech Greenways – Prague to Vienna by Bike

Our travel plan – to use the Czech Greenways route to get to Prague and then the Danube Bike Trail to Budapest.

I found this site with routes and gpx files for my Garmin.

I downloaded the gpx files and consolidated them into one route, then sub-divided at suitable points so I could upload to my gps. The final section, Valtice to Vienna, was not available as a gpx file so I compiled this route myself using Google maps, in mapping and satellite mode, by reference to other resources.

The routes turned out to be very accurate, virtually turn-perfect. Overlaying the track file onto the planned route shows hardly any deviation that was not planned.

On day one, we cycled almost 58 miles together, finishing at Sedlčany. Our campsite was a sports ground (with permission). We resolved to identify a campsite from our large-scale map and aim for that each day. Just as well as we came across very few by chance.

Day two, we found ourselves cycling along rolling countryide in the heat, passing through Tabor. During the hottest part of the day we rested in the shade so on this day we cycled just 46 miles. We departed from the route, so far followed perfectly, at Plana Nad Luznici to get to our chosen campsite near Skalice.

Day three, we re-joined our route and 44 miles later made camp early, by a lake at Nová Bystrica. The following morning we decided to cycle separately; my pace was faster, and I preferred to continue following the “official” route instead of taking the occasional short cut along the busier roads to avoid the hills.

On Day four, I cycled mostly alone, crossing the Vranov Dam and on through the Národny Park Podyji. At one point in this heavily wooded area, the path became ever more overgrown and eventually was blocked with a bale of straw. Here, I was cycling alone, without a paper map, so I had to use the gps to find a way out. The forest tracks weren’t marked on the gps so all I could do was head for the nearest village and keep moving in that direction along the many twisting paths. I couldn’t see any way to get out to the South, where I needed to be, so I took a long detour to the North and round the forest to the next target camp site. I crossed into Austria and we met up again at Retzbach. I cycled 74 miles that day.

The next morning we crossed back into Slovakia and then I cycled alone along the planned route to Poysdorf. The last part was back across the border into Austria, at Schrattenburg, and this is the point where I was navigating using my own route towards Vienna. I planned the route from a large scale overview and a bit of intuition using Google satellite view. This turned out to be quite successful and even if it didn’t follow the official route precisely it got me along 60 miles with hardly a hitch.

On the last day, we cycled to Vienna using our own route choice again, upon arrival there was the most spectacular thunderstorm I have seen for many years ! I took shelter along with many other pedestrians under the canopy of a petrol station, before making the final few miles of 60 in total to the chosen campsite. It was ideally placed close to the Danube Bike Trail, the second leg of our trip to be followed after a day in Vienna.

If you are planning a similar route using gps, I can recommend using the route files from here, but with an alternative way through the Národny Park Podyji. I ended up on mountain bike routes and had to push up through some very poor tracks through the forest.

We had just one large-scale map to share so on three of the six days I cycled with just the gps for navigation; it worked flawlessley even though I wouldn’t normally suggest going without a map.

There seemed to be very few campsites along the route but plenty of shops and small supermarkets, so stocking up with provisions was never a problem.

Checking on Google satellite view later, showed that the forest route certainly did seem to exist, so I cannot explain why it should have been blocked.

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