Danube Cycle Path Stage 3 North Bank: Linz - Grein

Of pill turners and Celtic graves

From pill turners and Celtic graves

The Upper Austrian capital of Linz entices you with a number of attractive sights for an extensive sightseeing tour: for example, through the old town including the main square and Landstraße to the Palace Museum, Botanical Gardens, St. Mary's Cathedral, Music Theater am Volksgarten, Lentos Museum and Ars Electronica Center - to name just a few of the most important. You can be sure that the Pöstlingberg, another of the city's landmarks, will be beckoning you down to the Danube cycle path.

You soon pass Steyregg with its magnificent castle. Its history dates back to the 11th/12th century, although it only opens its doors for events.

A little away from the Danube, you cycle on to Mauthausen. Once founded by the Babenbergs, the "toll site", hence the name, became sadly famous as the location of Austria's largest Nazi concentration camp (memorial!). At Mauthausen's Pragstein Castle, you can learn everything you ever wanted to know about making pills and mixing ointments. Austria's only pharmacy museum is housed here.

At Au an der Donau, you have the opportunity to take a detour to the lively town center of the district capital Perg, where restaurants and cafés invite you to take a break.(Tip: shopping in Perg.) A detour along the R30 Aist-Naarntal cycle path is well worthwhile. This stretches from Au/Donau to Schwertberg and Perg and back to Au.

The next rest stop can be combined with a visit to the Celtic village of Mitterkirchen, an open-air museum that gives you a first-hand impression of everyday life in 700 BC. Not too far away, you can also visit Baumgartenberg Abbey, whose collegiate church with its magnificent stucco work is considered a jewel of Baroque architecture. From here, the river takes you leisurely to Grein, the "pearl of the Strudengau". Known far and wide in the Middle Ages as the "golden town", Grein enchants today with its nostalgic charm. The Grein Municipal Theater, with its much admired curiosities, and the oldest residential castle in Austria, Greinburg Castle, welcome you.