Drau Cycle Path | Sporty

Arrival in Lienz in Eastern Tyrol located at the confluence of the rivers Isel and Drau. With a total of two thousand sunshine hours annually it is Austria’s sunniest holiday region. The breathtaking panorama onto the Alps and the Lienz-Dolomites will excite you.

A train ride takes you comfortably from Lienz to Innichen. The river Drau is still a young river in this section, babbling and breaking her way through the narrow Pustertal-valley. Defiant fortresses, castels and palaces rise majestically above the valley and herald desires of the once rich and powerful. Modest Romanesque chapels, Gothic and Baroque churches, crucifixes and piety columns invite for a short break. Over a long distance the rugged, bizzare rockfaces of the Lienz-Dolomites tower over the landscape and hence turn today’s stage into an unforgettable experience.

From Lienz, the confluence of the rivers Isel and Drau, you again follow the river Drau now appearing in a shade of gray, by the locals called ‚glacier milk‘, which is due to very fine rock particles coming from the gigantic rocks. Along ancient Roman trade routes – past ruins, castles, little churches and wayside crosses – you cycle through the picturesque Oberdrautal-valley. En route you pass pretty villages such as Pirkach, Oberdrauburg and the first market town on Carinthian soil, Dellach.

You cycle mostly along the river Drau through the marvellous Carinthian farmland featuring forests, fields, old farm houses and little hamlets. Cosy wine taverns, called ‚Buschenschenken‘ await with proper farm food and invite you to take a break. Past time-honoured farm houses decorated with flowers the well-developed Drau cycle path takes you to Spittal an der Drau. The centre of Spittal features a main square, which you might call ‚cute‘ and a particularly beautiful palace, which is considered one of the most impressive Renaissance building with the clearest style in all of Central Europe and is called ‚Porcia‘ named after the previous owners.

Today you cycle through the ‘cultural promenade of Upper Carinthia’. Along the Drau, you leave the Spittal area and immerse yourself in ancient cultural landscapes, meadows and forests and idyllic wetlands. Past Kellerberg Castle, always along the Drau, you reach Villach. The heart of Villach is the charming old town with its Italian flair and cosy pubs and restaurants. The Karwanken mountain range and the Drau form a more than impressive backdrop for an unforgettable day's cycling. Impressive conglomerate rocks flank the river and offer fascinating views again and again on the way to St. Jakob in the enchanting Rosental valley.

Along beautifully designed dam-paths the cycling tour leads you through meadows and fields and past little hamlets towards the giant Völkermarkter-reservoir. Now you bid farewell to your loyal companion the river Drau, so you get to enjoy Lake Klopeiner See with its marvellous location. Time to drink in the lakescape and leave all your cares behind.

After breakfast individual return journey or extension.