Printed from Brian Wasson's Czech/Austrian bike trip report. © 2005 by Brian Wasson.

Bad Reichenhall, Germany, to Salzburg, Austria (17 miles by bike)
Day 11: Tuesday, June 1.

The evening rain cleared the clouds away, and we were greeted by sun and blue sky when we awoke. We decided to give the town a second chance and see what it looked like when in the sunshine. We rode over to the main town park, or "Kurpark," where we were promptly chased out by town maintenance workers. The park gate said "no bikes," but we thought that walking the bike through the park would not be a problem. So, we took turns exploring the Kurpark while the other person waited with the bike outside the gate. One interesting feature of the park is the outside "inhalatorium," a large wall of vines with salt water streaming down the walls. Bad Reichenhall is famous for its salt water, and many people suffering from breathing ailments come to the town to partake of special "cures" based around salt air. The idea with the inhalatorium is that sick folks can walk around and around the wall, taking in the salt-tinged air (kind of like going to the seashore).

We rode around a bit more and took some photos, then headed off on the short ride to Salzburg. We got lost following the path out of town. There are a number of official bike routes that converge at the town, and the Tauernradweg signs are easy to miss if you aren't paying close attention. We located our road on the map and finally rejoined the route a few miles outside of town. The route takes you through some nice farmland and suburbs of Salzburg, and is mostly flat or downhill all the way.

The route got progressively busier as we got closer to the city of Salzburg, taking us along city streets with bike lanes. We stopped at a Spar supermarket to pick up some drinks and provisions for lunch, and continued to make our way into the city center. The route we chose took us through the Monchsberg (??) mountain that isolates one side of the city. The tunnel was short, dark and damp, and we were glad when we were through it. This mountain is honeycombed with a large parking garage, burial areas, and even catacombs from medieval times.

Having ridden both variations of the Tauern route from Zell am See to Salzburg, we definitely liked the route through Bavaria better. It was a bit more remote and took us through fewer towns, but the scenery was nicer and there was less vehicular traffic along the route. And, with occasional detours off the marked route and onto paralleling roads, much of the route was flat or even downhill. In fact, we felt like we spent most of our time on a somewhat downward grade. I think riding this section the opposite way from Salzburg to Zell am See would entail many more hills, and that this section is better done in the direction we rode.

All day we had been looking forward to getting a Kaesekrainer (a wurst filled with cheese) for lunch, and made our way directly to Salzburg's well-stocked open-air market. We bought two wursts, complete with accompanying Semmels and Senf (mustard) and headed over to the main square to find a bench where we could relax and eat. We've been to Salzburg numerous times and really enjoy the ambiance and people watching. We grabbed a bench along a wall near the cathedral, parked the bike, and spread out our lunch (cold sodas, wurst, yogurt, etc.). As usual, the tandem drew a lot of looks. A few people (obviously Americans) even took photos of us and the bike! We could imagine them telling folks when they got home "Here's a photo of some German bike tourists!"

After lunch we wandered about, pushing the bike and window shopping. Hans, our bunny mascot, was excited to see many other stuffed animals in one store window. We checked out a few hotels recommended in Rick Steve's book, but all were either full or had no place to store our large bike. So, we headed over to the tourist info center (TI) to see if they could book us something. The very helpful clerk pointed out several options, and we decided on "Pension Chiemsee" in the old part of town. We made sure to ask if there was a bike garage, and the clerk called the owner who said there was. While we were there we picked up the very useful bike route map titled "Alle Radwege in der Stadt" (ask for it at the desk); it not only has bike routes in the city center, but also in the surrounding areas.

We paid our booking fee to the TI for the reservation, and then headed over to the pension. When we got there nobody was around, but there was a phone that directed us to call the owner on her cell phone. I did, and she directed me to a room with the key in the door, and told me to put our bike in small storage room two flights up. I tried to explain that we needed a garage or basement for the tandem, but she didn't have anything else to offer. I hung up and went to look at the room, which turned out to be dirty and tiny. When I came back outside to report back to Ginny, she pointed out that the pension was next door to a night club that proudly advertised that it was a "late-night club."

We could have lived with the room and the night club, but the lack of storage space for our bike made us decide to look for another place to stay. We started heading back to the TI and passed the Hotel Weisse Taube ("white dove" in German), which looked pretty nice. I went in to ask about a double room, and found that we could get a decent-sized double room with breakfast for about the same price as the pension we had booked. We reserved the room and then headed back to the TI to cancel our other reservation and get the booking fee back. They were very nice about it, apologized, and happily returned our money.

Hotel Weisse Taube is a family operated hotel that was built in 1365! The owner and his wife were at the desk, and were very friendly and hospitable. They found a place for the tandem in the breakfast room, and even helped us carry our bike bags up to the room. Our room faced the front of the hotel and the street, but was fairly quiet because of the double-glazed windows. The most unique aspect of the room was the bathroom, which was a strange, orange plastic modular unit that looked as though it had been dropped in intact (it reminded us of a 1970s McDonalds restaurant). I guess when you are modernizing an ancient building bathrooms are difficult to add. But, it was functional and clean, and we had no complaints. We'd definitely stay at this hotel again, and would recommend it because of the welcoming and attentive staff and convenient location.

Although we had been to Salzburg numerous times, we had never stayed overnight in the old part of the city center (usually we stay at a pension just outside of town) and were looking forward to basically just poking around the old town. We obtained a city map from the front desk, along with some sightseeing suggestions, and then headed out to wander around for the afternoon. We window-shopped some more along the main shopping street (Getreidgasse), and then crossed the bridge over the Salzach River to visit the gardens at Mirabell Palace.

Just before we left home Ginny had a test done that would tell us our baby's sex. Unfortunately, the results of the test wouldn't be back until we were on the trip. So, just outside Mirabell Gardens we stopped at a pay phone and used our calling card to call our doctor back in the states, who reported that it was a boy and everything looked good! (Matthew was born on Nov. 29, 2004; he got his passport when he was one month old, and we hope to take him bike touring with us when he's old enough!) With smiles on our faces and our spirits uplifted, we headed into the gardens and enjoyed the flowers and the good views of the old part of town across the river.

After wandering around the gardens, we headed back across the river in search of dinner. One place had been highly recommended for dinner, but when we went down the alley where it was located we saw that it was closed for the evening (rest day, or "ruhetag"). Directly across from it was a Chinese buffet, of all things. It was pretty reasonable (11 euros each) and looked good, so we decided to eat there and enjoyed a good and filling dinner. While Chinese restaurants are common throughout Europe, we've only seen a few buffets. I think this one caters to the many American tourists that flock to Salzburg.

We walked around some more after dinner, but a combination of rain and tiredness drove us back to the hotel sooner than we had planned. We spent some time at the hotel's Internet kiosk and determined that the rain was forecast to continue for several days. We had planned to continue riding to Passau, but the forecast dampened our spirits and we decided to take the train to Munich the next day and then rent a car for the remainder of the trip. We researched the train schedules and found an early-morning train to Munich from Salzburg (there are direct trains that run often between the two cities), and booked a rental car from Hertz via the Web site.

Daily costs 6/1 (euros): Lunch: 5; Hotel: 85; Dinner: 23; Snacks/drinks: 12. Total: 125 euros/$154 USD.