Route from Amsterdam to Passau, Germany?

[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?

[andymiller]

Maybe one answer might be *not* to start from Amsterdam.

The Inntal Radweg goes to Passau through Switzerland, Austria and Germany. So maybe you could take it from Innsbruck (potentially you could also pick it up from northern Italy). I've only ridden the southern section which was pretty varied, but I don't know what the section from Innsbruck north to Passau is like. Yes it's still a river route, but the landscape is probably going to be more interesting than a river route across a huge plain. Unfortunately I think the Austrians have banned Google Streetview as well.

[willem jongman]

See here from many routes out of the Netherlands: https://www.europafietsers.nl/fietsrout ... t-fietsweb. You may want to mix and match. All, or almost all, of these have gps tracks.

[Vorpal]

My recommendation:
Head more or less straight south to the Ardennes, then along the French border (through Luzembourg, if you like?)
Strasbourg
north shore of Bodensee (there is a cycleway that goes around the lake)
either side of the Austrian-German border (my brother and I went north of the border when we were there because I wanted to see Hohenswangau & Neuschwannstein)
Munich
Passau

Salzberg is worth a visit, too. and the ski resorts on the German-Austrian border are good places to stay in the summer. Discounted rates are often available.

In Germany, you can use http://www.falk.de/routenplaner-fahrrad It prioritises by routes with cycle facilties, but IMO, most are decent, and there are places that you can revert to the roads, if you don't the like the cycle routes.

When my brother and I were there in the late 90s, we just bought paper maps as we went and followed county roads (Kreisstraßen), which usually have a 'K' designation, and local roads (Gemeindestraßen), which are named, rather then numbered. We later found out that some of the places we went had segregated facilities, and it probably would have been worth investing in cycle maps, instead (or as well!)

[raybo]

Thanks for the recommendations.

In Germany, you can use http://www.falk.de/routenplaner-fahrrad It prioritises by routes with cycle facilties, but IMO, most are decent, and there are places that you can revert to the roads, if you don't the like the cycle routes.

I liked this route planner but I couldn't find a way to save my route or to download a GPX track of it. Do you know if there is a way to do this on this site?

[Vorpal]

Thanks for the recommendations.

In Germany, you can use http://www.falk.de/routenplaner-fahrrad It prioritises by routes with cycle facilties, but IMO, most are decent, and there are places that you can revert to the roads, if you don't the like the cycle routes.

I liked this route planner but I couldn't find a way to save my route or to download a GPX track of it. Do you know if there is a way to do this on this site?

I'm afraid I haven't done anything like that, but you might be able to do it with their app. You can try their app page, or the falk mobile page.

[foxyrider]

Once you get to Germany there are certainly several signed routes that are not rivercentric that you could use in all or part for your trip.

The Limes Radweg starts near Koblenz on the Rhein but follows the German equivalent of Hadrians Wall south east into Bavaria.

The Romantic Road starts further down but could be combined with the Limes route - the RR takes you south to the Alpine foothills.

The German Alpine Road can be picked up from the RR and will take you east to Salzburg where yes, you might return to river riding along to Passau.

All the routes have their own websites.

Have a good trip

[ChrisF]

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.

Not exactly answering your question but I have just returned from a trip which included Vienna to Budapest on the Danube path (EuroVelo 6). I'd done Passau to Vienna last year and it's great for a 'non-touring' or less confident cyclist. The same as far as Bratislava. But after that I found some big problems:

Long sections which are perfectly straight (and not very interesting) for 10-15 k at a time
On the Northern side in Slovakia, long sections on uncompacted gravel which I found impossible to ride on 28mm tyres. I crossed into Hungary as soon as I could
Before (and around) Bratislava there was a café at least every 20km or so, often much more frequent, but after that there was a 100km section with nothing at all on the path itself.
The final 30km into Budapest was an annoying maze of suburban streets and junctions; I was so cross and losing the route so often I took a train to the centre

....so you may want to consider making Bratislava to Budapest the 'boat' par of your trip!