Vienna to Budapest by Hotel & Bike - Trip Report

Since returning to live in the UK in 2021, my family and I have been keenly exploring Europe, seeing its cities, soaking up its culture and trying to gain an understanding of its history - wow there is a lot of it to get your head around!

We booked the Vienna to Budapest Bike Tour so that we could do some of all of these things, as well as, of course, cycling the banks of one of Europe’s great rivers and ticking Austria, Slovakia and Hungary off the family ‘countries visited’ list in the process.

This tour has 6 days of cycling following the course of the Danube and we added an extra day at each end, meaning we had a day and a half in Vienna before we started riding and a full day in Budapest at the end.

I would highly recommend doing the extra nights, but the truth is that it wasn’t nearly long enough - there is just so much to see and do in both of these extremely attractive and visitor-friendly cities, you could easily stay for 2 or 3 days at either end.

We arrived in Vienna at lunchtime, took a taxi to the hotel, dropped the bags and went straight to Mozart House in the city centre for a short piano-trio concert featuring pieces from composers who were born, or spent time, in Vienna, including Schubert, Haydn and, of course, Mozart. The finale? Strauss’s Blue Danube Waltz naturally.

The next day the weather was fine and we wanted to see a different side of the city, so we took the U-bahn to Copabeach, a riverside park with access to the water and several relaxed bars and cafes. Later in the day we explored an old market area close to the hotel that is now packed with trendy places to eat and happily sampled some of the local food and drink.

It’s an easy cycle out of the city along the banks of the river heading southeast. The path then moves away from the river along the Marchfelddamm, but as it was a hot day, we cut back down to the river and then took a small ferry across the fast-flowing Danube to find a spot out of the current where we could take a dip. The tour guidebook clearly shows where there is an alternative route option like this. 

The breeze picked up in the afternoon as we made our way across farmland to the historic town of Hainburg complete with medieval town gates and a castle on the hill above.

Leaving the atmospheric Hotel Altes Kloster the second day of riding is an easy 20kms, crossing the border into Slovakia and arriving in Bratislava.

We covered the distance quickly in the morning, leaving plenty of time to have a relaxed lunch and explore the city in the afternoon - you can park your bikes at the perfectly located Hotel Park Inn before checking-in later in the day.

There are plenty of historic buildings and sights to see in the old town here, as well as architecture with a more Soviet feel in the newer parts of the city. All of this is easily explored on foot from the hotel.

We'd had hot, sunny weather for the trip so far, but this changed dramatically as we left Bratislava. We crossed the border into Hungary and pushed on through a morning of torrential rain towards Győr. We stopped for an early lunch at Raijka where we decided to split up, the girls continuing to Mosonmagyarovar and from there by train to Győr, and the boys opting to air-dry by continuing on bikes. That made for an 80km day in the saddle, but we were dry when we got there! 

Sadly my phone succumbed to the wet and after trying to get it fixed in Győr I spent the rest of the trip phoneless - quite a shock at first, but rather enjoyable once I got used to the idea and I actually read some of my book. Unfortunately, that meant no more photos, other than the ones I managed to cobble together from the family!

This is a flat day of riding along a cycle path without much to distract from getting the head down and covering the distance. We had a nice stop in a cafe overlooking the river in Gönyű, made longer by discovering and fixing a puncture, but otherwise pushed on, crossing the border back into Slovakia in Komárno. We stayed in the casino hotel, which made for an entertaining evening (we lost, of course), after sampling some excellent local delicacies at the restaurants in the town square.

With the weather in our favour once more, this was a nice day of riding beside the Danube, past a Roman ruin dating back to the 2nd century, and into the ‘Hungarian Rome’, Esztergom, with its incredible basilica which you can see for miles before you arrive. It’s a small town with a waterside park under the basilica where you can sit and watch the boats coming and going, many home to Danube boat and bike tours!

The final day is unquestionably the best of the trip which we broke up into different phases. First, a quick leg to Szob for a coffee stop. Then a scenic stint along the river between the hills to Vac for lunch. Next stop God, where we crossed the river on a small ferry which we were lucky to make, arriving bang on departure time. Then another larger ferry and a few more kilometres into the beautiful little town of Szentendre.

From here we again split with the girls taking the 5pm boat cruise down the river into the city and the boys opting to ride the final 20-odd kms and having the satisfaction of having ridden the whole distance from Vienna. Although I’m pretty sure the girls had the better experience, arriving at the spectacular Budapest waterfront as the lights were coming on, whilst we battled with rush hour city cyclists and were chased by an incoming thunderstorm, arriving at the hotel just as the first drops fell.

We were all a bit too tired to do much more that day, other than gawp at the incredible Parliament building just across the river from the hotel - what a sight. Truly one of the most amazing buildings we have ever seen and particularly impressive at night.

Our final day saw us exploring the city and visiting some of Budapest’s must-sees. Top of the list, the House of Terror Museum, which is exactly what it sounds as if it is and undoubtedly one of the best museums I’ve ever been to. It clearly and powerfully explains the horrors experienced by the Hungarian people under two brutal regimes.

Next, we rode the tram to the Central Market Hall for a browse around the food stalls and a restorative lángos - a deep-fried flatbread loaded with sausage, sour cream and onions - before walking through the city centre, across the Elizabeth Bridge and up Castle Hill to get sweeping views of the city from the Buda side of the river.

We ran out of time before we had a chance to adequately explore the city’s ruin bars and thermal baths. As I said at the beginning, a day in Budapest is just not enough and we all promised that we’d have to come back... and then continue cycling further down the Danube.

Visit our Vienna to Budapest Bike Tour page to view the full itinerary, dates and prices and book online. Or for personal advice from our friendly team, call +44 (0) 1273 225066 or enquire online.

We also have a range of Boat & Bike tours along the Danube and our team sampled the stretch from Passau to Budapest back in April. Read their trip report for a different way to see and cycle the Danube.

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