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EV13 Stage 4: Drosendorf - Hardegg
Cycling tour Starting from
- Distance: 36,64 km
- Duration: 2:30 h
- Ascent: 316 m elevation gain
- Descent: 444 m elevation gain
Start: Drosendorf / Finish: Hardegg
- Distance: 36,64 km
- Duration: 2:30 h
- Ascent: 316 m elevation gain
- Descent: 444 m elevation gain
- Lowest point287 m
- Highest point488 m
Description
Head up from Drosendorf to the picturesque village of Vratěnín, which is already located in South Moravia. In Uherčice, you can visit the local chateau or cool off in the natural swimming pool in Langau in Lower Austria and visit the local open-air museum. The mother-of-pearl museum in Felling is well worth a visit. After the village, we leave the Waldviertel region and enter the Weinviertel winegrowing region. Before the Czech border, visit the smallest Austrian town of Hardegg with its magnificent castle silhouette above the Thaya.
From the west, the EuroVelo 13 route with the border crossing at Vratěnín leads from the medieval town of Drosendorf to South Moravia. Just over the border, the Vratěnín pond invites you to linger and relax. On the way to Uherčice, note the bunkers in the fields, which were built here in 1936-38 as part of the Czechoslovakian fortifications before the Second World War. After Uherčice, the route descends through the forest into the Thaya Valley and then uphill to the picturesque village of Stálka. You then cycle through slightly hilly landscapes to the Austrian village of Felling. There are picturesque ponds in the village of Šafov and after crossing the border into Austria, the Bergwerkssee lake offers a good opportunity for a swim. After Felling, the Thayatal National Park begins and the route descends steeply to the small town of Hardegg with its magnificent castle.
- Route description From Drosendorf you will go to Oberthürnau and straight across the border to Vratěnín, a listed village with a former Augustinian monastery and an interesting Baroque building which once housed a post office. On the way to Uherčice you will see not only stone crosses but also small concrete bunkers in the field, which were built before World War II. Along the way, you can visit a Renaissance-era château with arcades and a Baroque garden. After Uherčice you will go downhill through the forest to the deep valley of the Thaya River and back up to the picturesque village of Stálky. A large number of tombstones in Šafov show how important the local Jewish community was; the cemetery is one of the oldest in South Moravia. On hot summer days, you will certainly enjoy a cooling off in the Bergwerksee Langau natural swimming pool. Then the route continues to Hardegg, passes around Riegersburg, one of Austria’s most impressive Baroque castles, and further on to Felling. In Felling one will find the only museum of pearl oysters in Austria. Following the village, you will enter into the dense forests of the Thayatal National Park and descend sharply to the bottom of the Thaya Valley, where Hardegg with its magnificent castle will appear before you. This is the smallest Austrian town on the border between Austria and South Moravia!
- Editor’s tip Visit the Vranov nad Dyjí Château, located in the western part of the Podyjí National Park, a national cultural heritage site. It offers visitors a tour of the authentic Baroque interiors of the Hall of Ancestors and the Chapel and also shows the estate culture at the Vranov Château in the late 18th and the 19th century.