Eurovelo 6

[JanePaterson]

Hi, I'm planning on cycling from Vienna to Budapest with a some friends in May, can anyone recommend a map / guidebook - we've only found 1 so far. Are there any good, cheap, places to stay on that route and are there any detours we should attempt?

We're planning on taking 5 days (with a weekend in Budapest), do you think this is feasible? We're all fairly good cyclists, most of us are mountain bikers rather than road cyclists.

thanks for any advice.

[Barrenfluffit]

Hi, I'm planning on cycling from Vienna to Budapest with a some friends in May, can anyone recommend a map / guidebook - we've only found 1 so far. Are there any good, cheap, places to stay on that route and are there any detours we should attempt?
We're planning on taking 5 days (with a weekend in Budapest), do you think this is feasible? We're all fairly good cyclists, most of us are mountain bikers rather than road cyclists.

I'd suggest the appropriate map from the EV6 set published by HuberVerlag kartographie.de. There is also a hungarian cycling guide which covers much of the route but concentrates detail on the Hungarian side; its in german as well but has lots of detail (including campsites); I can't locate my copy at the moment (big spiral bound book). Also the hungarian 1:40,000 map series; one of which is ISBN 9633531160 cm; its number 16 and 10 and 31 also cover the danube bend area.

The Vienna- bratislava stretch is usually done in a day but with 5 days your a bit short on time to explore it. Slovakia generally is cheap and Bratislava has some backpacker hostels, the camping is in a lakeside area to the northeast near the airport. Its ok but a bit awkward for danube access.

However south of there the route diverges and you can stick to the slovak side which is long flat and straight or switch to the hungarian side which is much nicer riding. There are lots of campsites. The one in Gyor in an orchard was twice as much as "normal" but worth it and very nice. The one on the very northern tip of Szentendre Island was fantastic, basic riverside camp in the sand among the trees next to the river. Its beyond a place called Kisoroszi. Estergom has a nice really central campsite and the cathedral is so worth it.

If you had more time I'd suggest crossing to slovakia, riding north so you can come south through the borzony uplands. Fantastic roads, wild camping in the woods and a decayed roads now used as tracks; mile after mile of gorgeous wooded upland trail. And almost no-one there.

In fact this area has way more to offer than you have time available. I've done it twice now.

A fair amount of the route is stony tracks on levees. The train network in this area is good and some internal hungarian trains take bikes so if you need to skip forward its possible.

[Barrenfluffit]

There is also a hungarian cycling guide which covers much of the route

See this page which lists the available guides/maps:
http://www.omnimap.com/catalog/cycling/b-danube.htm

[simonwien]

Currently looking at Ferry prices from a UK Port, preferably Portsmouth to St Malo.
Prices for May are coming in at around 49 pounds / person. With cycle.

Has anybody any advice whether I should wait till closer the time i.e Prices drop,
or should I book now. Prices tend to go up nearer the time ?

Cheers
Simon

[lucasleite]

Hi, I'm planning on cycling from Vienna to Budapest with a some friends in May, can anyone recommend a map / guidebook - we've only found 1 so far. Are there any good, cheap, places to stay on that route and are there any detours we should attempt?

We're planning on taking 5 days (with a weekend in Budapest), do you think this is feasible? We're all fairly good cyclists, most of us are mountain bikers rather than road cyclists.

thanks for any advice.

hi Jane,

im an aussie living in budapest and enjoy cycling - i would love to show you around when your in town. im planning to do a trip form bdp to istanbul this year

[Barrenfluffit]

Is a racer suitable for Budapest - Istanbul...

Well I thought Serbian roads was apauling until Bulgaria . Some parts of the EV route mean cycling along the top of dykes with a barely discernable track through pasture. Roads may not be closed if they are being resurfaced. Deep dangerous potholes are common forcing the traffic to drive all over the road in order to string together a continous road surface. Some stratches of road are in such poor condition that they have permanent warning signs. The challenges are such that its extremly easy to go off route and face a network of unsigned rough/nonexistant tracks and villages that never see visitors.

The route is of excelent quality as far as Bratislave and good but variable as far as Budapest. Immediatly after Budapest the route was often to britsh standards; i.e well meaning but terribly executed. In Serbia it was signposted and a bit rough round the edges. One stretch In Bulgaria they were remaking the road so the alternative was along a rubble strewn cart track. In other places the road seemed to run out and the original surface was barely present. Poor surfaces in Bulgaria set an incredibly low standard. Bulgaria could also have good roads, after budapest cycle paths were a rarity. I think there was one going into Novi Sad. In Turkey the surfaces were usually excellent and often with a shoulder. Its like returning to Europe!

I did it on a mountain bike, my feeling is that a well made hybrid should be ok. But you need a sturdy bike cos its tough in E. Europe.

[jchassee]

AMFS,

I am also doing the EuroVelo 6 in the summer of 2010. If you are looking for a companion on the route, contact me and we can see if its possible! My email is jchassee at gmail

[norm]

I`m thinking of doing the whole stretch this spring/summer, but I`m a bit worried about safety concerns. One thinks about eastern european mafia and stray dogs with rabies. Are these concerns to be concidered, or is my brain just working overtime ?!?

[BTP]

Is a racer suitable for Budapest - Istanbul...

I did it on a mountain bike, my feeling is that a well made hybrid should be ok. But you need a sturdy bike cos its tough in E. Europe.

I have done the French section, German Rhine through to Bodensee section. And at a different time the Donau Radweg.

One of the things to be aware of is that, East of Austria (ie Slovakia, Hungary, Serbia etc) obtaining 700c tubes and tyres is increasingly difficult. You might find the odd shop that sells a racing bike, but if they do stock 700c tubes, they're lightly to be narrow ones. Finding a 700c touring tube or tyre may well prove almost impossible in Eastern europe .

26" (ISO 559) tyres and tubes will be obtainable from nearly all bike shops.

Cheers,

Tony

[fosjo104]

Hi there
I am stoked to have come upon this page as a friend and I are looking at riding some of this route, from Vienne to as far as we can get over 4 weeks in May (we may aim for belgrade and just do lots of detours along the way), but might also head further along towards Bucharest.

The main query we have at the moment is around the condition of the paths - as I have a touring bike (a Dawes low end tourer) with 28" wheels.... and I'm keen to know if this bike and wheels will be up for the challenge. From what I've just read it could be dodgy with lots of gravel paths and potholes and dirt tracks. hmm... I don't want to have to be concerned about the durability of my bike while we are riding... has anyone ridden this setion on a touring bike? She's pretty tough but I haven't done a lot off of sealed roads

Thanks in advance

Jo

[Goinridin]

I've recently come back from completely this route. Left London 5th Sept, and went dover- calais and quick jaunt in paris, before heading to the Atlantic coast and St. Nazaire/ Nantes.
For France pretty much followed the route as laid out in the first official map pack. This was primarily due to wanting to explore the Loire wine regions, and the maps act as a good dot to dot of historical places of interest. In Switzerland I went off track a bit and had some fun in the mountains, before heading to Doneschingen (the supposed source of the Danube) then used the Cicerone Danube guide. Which is a useful tool, but tired of the authors obsession with all things religious. Took detour in Germany to go to Munich, then returned to the Danube. Route is simple and overall good quality. At times was a tad repetitive, but heading into Austria ( the passau/linz/vienna stretch) was more interesting from a cultural perspective, and with rather more traffic. At this stage of the route a capital city or major place of interest pops up at regular intervals. comfortably ride for a few days and have a long weekend in a new capital. Budapest in terms of the cities I went to was a real highlight.
But for me the real joy was cycling through the countryside and interacting with the countless numbers of people I ( and the people I travelled with) met. Finally leaving western europe and the euro zone was by that point a real relief. Then followed the route all the way to the black sea at Constanta, before heading to Tulcea and the delta reserve. This section I made several detours as the Balkan countries were a real revelation. Serbia was my favourite country, the warmth and kindness of the people was incredible, and the iron gate was truly beautiful especially with all the golden autumnal colours. Going through about 18 tunnels in the dark with no lights in the same day is not big nor clever, but can't fail to put a smile on your face. Romania was also a big highlight, travelling through the rural areas gave a much better sense of the country. So much so Constanta and Bucharest feel almost alien. I enjoyed all the places I went and I appreciate one has to be open to exploring everywhere, however preferred immensely the bits in-between and the people I met to any of the larger conurbations I went through/stayed in.
Eventually I flew back from Bucharest (18th November),flew Aer Lingus, very well priced and using a CTC plastic bag it was all rather simple (which i was relieved about). Wearing spd shoes through check in wasn't the cleverest idea, but needs must.

Weather= Sept very nice, borderline Indian Summer. A few 34 degree days in France.
Oct generally pretty decent, until very cold snap in the middle of the month when i was in Hungary. Snow, etc.
November: although was prepared for serious winter, it never really came and generally it was fine. The wind however was a bit of a killer at times.

I reckon i had 8/10 days of rain the whole trip (and these aren't full days) and about 5 days of snow. I only wore trousers 3 times, still wearing shorts cycling in wintry November is definitely a conversation starter.

The weather issue is far more a consideration when camping, as towards the end of Oct and Nov it was starting to get seriously cold at night. sleeping bag liner, multiple merino layers, etc. waking in the morn to find tent frozen shut, and ortlieb bags covered in ice was
I camped maybe 75% of the trip. Camp sites are everywhere in the France, although the price ranges for basically the same facilities is rather big. I wild camped a fair amount too, especially in the East when camp sites don't exist and certainly not in Oct/Nov. Had a few nights in pensions/ affordable hotels when I got stuck somewhere. In major cities and capitals I stayed normal backpacker hostels, which was nice for the social aspect and I met several people touring this way who I then travelled on with. Romania wild camping was great fun, cooking on open fires and pretending to be ray mears was great although following the danube in the this area of the country there is little in the way of cover. It's very much flat marsh type land, so finding a nice wooded spot needed more time and consideration. In saying that stayed in a few local hotels and the price is such that I was more than happy to pay for a warm bed.
I travelled alone, however I met several other cyclists who I travelled with. When leaving Belgrade there was me, a scottish guy and a german couple on a tandem all in convoy. So i would say if you were going on your own never underestimate the chance of meeting other cyclists, with whom you'll probably instantly get along.

Also the amount of kindness (in the form of directions to places, being bought coffee, dinner, giving places to stay, invited to a wedding..etc) you'll likely encounter really affirmed my faith in humanity

Either way this is me rambling, but if you have any specific questions please ask. I also have a whole range of maps/guide books (including the official maps) which I'd be happy to sell you for a small token. I would offer them for free, but feel I should recoup some of my looses! I also have a blog, but need to finish it off as only updated it twice whilst away and currently its still in France!

Pm'd you regarding maps/guide books........

[Barrenfluffit]

I`m thinking of doing the whole stretch this spring/summer, but I`m a bit worried about safety concerns. One thinks about eastern european mafia and stray dogs with rabies. Are these concerns to be concidered, or is my brain just working overtime ?!?

Yep its working overtime. Try to schedule your worries and get them and possible responses in proportion. I think water, heat and route finding are the major issues. These are different cultures so you may need to change your behaviour in some circumstances but its common sense.

[Barrenfluffit]

The main query we have at the moment is around the condition of the paths - as I have a touring bike (a Dawes low end tourer) with 28" wheels.... and I'm keen to know if this bike and wheels will be up for the challenge. From what I've just read it could be dodgy with lots of gravel paths and potholes and dirt tracks. hmm... I don't want to have to be concerned about the durability of my bike while we are riding... has anyone ridden this setion on a touring bike?

I took a mountain bike with 36 spoke wheels. As well as very rough tracks the bike was heavily loaded so I was very impressed that it was ok as they took a sustained battering. Could you do a loaded off road ride with it as a test?

That said its not a single route and looking at the maps there are usually road alternatives which would be better than the tracks.

[wheelskeepturning]

I see from a couple of the posts that the conditions of the roads and cycle paths drop away once into Hungary. Could anyone tell me if they think standard tyres on a tourer (Dawes) would be OK or is this a ride for something more robust?
Thanks

[Barrenfluffit]

There is a fair amount of cycle path in Hungary but thereafter it tends to be country roads or tracks.

Its very hard for me to answer your question because I don't have any experience of a Dawes or know what you mean by standard tyres. I took marathon Pluses and they lasted ok but did get a couple of punctures. Possibly overkill and certainly heavier than ideal. A good touring tyre is worthwhile because it probably the hardest used bit of kit. Good tyres and properly stressed wheels should make a big difference. If the dawes is robust then it should be ok. I think you should take it cross country in the UK and see what happens!

The general unsurfaced track quality was roughish farm track but in places you were riding across pastures with no track. I think the worst was a 10 mile section of path with large lumps in it every 2m so you had to jolt through it slowly. Each country produced a new level of shock at what constituted an acceptable surface.

Surfaced quality was highly variable but I'm talking about the worst hazards. Typically its at the edge of the roads where the surface is worst. large lumps of tarmac like waves around joints and drains up to 8" high. Hungary was highly variable; a British style experience. Bulgaria was consistently worse for broken roads.Serbia was rough at the edges and the narrowness of the roads meant you were sometimes forced to ride there. Massive potholes and sections of missing tarmac were also common; progress was sometimes a case of weaving all over the road to string together a continuous ribbon of tarmac. Large cavities and wide cracks 2-4" were common at road joints.

Consideration of cyclists road needs is usually absent so you can get vertical drops in the path. tree roots are a problem in places too.