TOUR-Promotion: The most beautiful road bike tours from Wels through Upper Austria

The gentle hills of the Mühlviertel, the rugged peaks of the Kalkalpen National Park, glistening Upper Austrian lakes and Europe's second longest river, the Danube, provide the impressive backdrop in the Wels cycling region. The tour options are as varied as the landscape. The described and signposted road bike tours are designed to be suitable for beginners as well as ambitious amateurs and professionals. With its central location, Wels is the perfect starting point for rides in all directions. The flat terrain is ideal for gaining your first experience on a road bike or for easy training. For the more ambitious, there are more challenging routes, such as those used by the Wels-based Felt Felbermayr team for their training routes.

To discover the best routes and insider tips, it's worth joining the locals. Under the motto 'go where the locals go', the most beautiful routes and hidden highlights around Wels can be found and experienced on joint, organised rides. After an extensive tour, the city centre of Wels invites you to linger, whether in one of the numerous inns or for shopping in the many boutiques. The cultural scene with exciting exhibitions and concerts also makes Wels a highly recommended destination for a longer road bike holiday. Four selected road bike tours and all important information about the Wels cycling region can be found here.

Information about road cycling in Wels

Information on

Wels Region Tourism AssociationStadtplatz 44, 4600 Wels, Phone: 0043/(0)7242/677 22 22,Email: office@wels.at, www.wels.at/rennrad

Arrival

Car

Travelling from Germany is easy by car and train. The city is very well connected to the European railway network, especially via the Westbahn railway line. From Germany, you can drive to Wels via the A8 motorway via Rosenheim and Salzburg, via the A94 motorway via Altötting and via the A3 motorway via Passau. The distance from Munich is around 230 kilometres. You can find further information at: www.wels.at/tourismusregion

Railway

By Eurocity to Salzburg, then by Railjet to Wels; from Frankfurt/Main in seven hours. Tip The Deutschland-Ticket is also valid to Salzburg! An International Bicycle Card is required for cross-border bicycle transport. In Germany it costs 10 euros, includes a parking space reservation and is valid to the destination station.

Best time to travel

May to October. In Upper Austria, a changeable Atlantic climate mixes with a dry continental climate in summer. Clouds can accumulate in the Alps and thunderstorms can unleash (put some rain protection in your jersey pocket!), but the Föhn wind sometimes brings warm, dry weather to the edge of the Alps. The warmest region of Upper Austria lies between the cities of Linz, Wels and Steyr, towards the mountains it can get significantly cooler; the driest cycling months in the foothills of the Alps are September and October.

Literature & Maps

Travel guide: "Oberösterreich: Natur und Kultur zwischen Böhmerwald und Alpen", 380 pages, Trescher-Verlag 2018; 17 euros.

Map: Car map "Upper Austria", 1:150:000, Freytag & Berndt 2017; 10.90 euros

Events

City centre criterion 24.7.2024

The Wednesday in Wels, three days after the Tour de France, is a fixed date in the international cycling calendar: around 10,000 spectators make their way along the challenging course through the centre of Wels to cheer on the absolute top stars of cycling. The Wels city centre criterium is the sporting and social highlight of the season.

Cherry blossom race April 2025

Professional teams from numerous countries compete for UCI world ranking points in this traditional spring classic. Ambitious women, amateurs and U17 cyclists also have the opportunity to take on the challenging laps. The Kid's Race is organised for the very youngest.

Food & Drink

Upper Austria's cuisine is famous for dumpling dishes, sausage and meat and Linzer Torte. The dumplings are baked, boiled, filled, eaten sweet or sour, as a main course, in soup or as a side dish and are then called, for example, grammelknödel, Krautknödel or Semmelknödel. Fish is on the menu at the lakes of the Salzkammergut. Upper Austria is also known as the land of beer and cider. More than 50 breweries brew beers ranging from the popular Märzen to Lager. Cider, a fermented juice with an alcohol content of five to eight per cent, is made from pears or apples and used to be a farmer's drink that was served while working in the fields.

Restaurant tips in Wels

Olivi, Hafergasse 3, www.oliviwels.at
Enjoy traditional homemade pasta, delicious wood-fired pizza, crispy salads and dolci - accompanied by Italian and local wines and a smile.

GösserbräuKaiser-Josef-Platz 27, www.goesserbraeu.at
The Gösserbräu is particularly well known for its selected beers and the loving preparation of the beers. Guests at the Gösserbräu are also spoilt with a variety of home-style and regional dishes for both large and small appetites - in fine weather also in the large beer garden.

The entire catering offer at: www.wels.at/gastronomie

Accommodation

with the extra for racing cyclists

• Bike info corner with overview map and tour information
• Lockable, partly video-monitored bicycle room
• Workshop corner
• Laundry service, drying facilities for bike clothing
• Return service
• Après-bike snack
• Road bike tour on the day of departure (shower facilities available)

Racing bike and triathlon boutique hotel Hauser, Bäckergasse 7, www.hotelhauser.com

Bayrischer Hof*** & Hotel Alexandra****, Dr Schauer-Straße 21-23, www.bayrischerhof.at

Hotel**** & Gasthof*** Maxlhaid, Maxlheid 9, www.maxlhaid.at

Hotel Ploberger****, Kaiser-Josef-Platz 21, www.hotel-ploberger.at

Don't miss it!

Catfish

Urban lifestyle in Wels city centre - be sure to plan time for shopping, culture and culinary delights!

Kremsmünster Abbey (approx. 1 hour by bike from Wels)

Benedictine monks have been living, praying and working here since 777! The marvellous ambience and tranquillity of the church and chapels invite you to reflect. Sights from the Tassilo chalice to the observatory can be visited. The extensive green areas, the monastery pub and the monastery shop are ideal for a longer cycle break and refreshments. Telephone, www.stift-kremsmuenster.at

Bike service

Catfish

bikes&wheels, Dragonerstraße 67, phone 0043/(0)7242/77703, www.bikesandwheels.com

Kematen (15 km west of Wels)

CFK sporting goods trade, Innbachtalstraße 17, phone (mobile), 0043/(0)43664/2148373, www.cfk.cc

Go where the locals go

Wels locals are out and about on their road bikes several days a week and are happy to take guests with them! They offer all racing cyclists the opportunity to ride together, whereby the pace is always chosen so that everyone arrives together in the group.

Discover the training routes of the pros!

Welcome to the racing bike region of Wels, the training ground of the renowned Felt Felbermayr cycling team. Wolfgang Fasching, one of Austria's most successful extreme athletes, also lives and trains here. As a three-time Race-Across-America winner and trained coach, he knows from his own experience what is possible when the dormant potential in people is awakened. Come along and ride like the pros!

Four road bike tours around Wels - info & GPX data

Tour character

Upper Austria borders Bavaria and the province of Salzburg to the east. It is the fourth largest federal state in Austria in terms of area and the third largest with 1.5 million inhabitants; the state capital is Linz. The highest point in the country is the Hohe Dachstein (2,995 metres) on the border with Styria. Our base in Wels is located pretty much in the centre of Upper Austria; around 61,000 inhabitants make the city the second largest in the state and it is an important trade fair and industrial location. From there, our tours lead south into the Upper Austrian Alpine foothills, a partly flat, partly hilly, intensively farmed forest and meadow landscape, and north into the Mühlviertel, where a steep climb awaits north of the Danube in the Rodltal valley. There is also a tour to the south-west of the country, to the marvellous lakes of the Salzkammergut.

The altitude profiles of our tours could be taken from a low mountain range: Starting just over 300 metres above sea level, the highest passages reach 700 to just over 800 metres. This is also reflected in the fact that the 90 to 120 kilometre-long laps cover between 1,000 and almost 1,800 metres in altitude. Climbs several kilometres long, such as those from Attersee towards Mondsee and from Attersee to the Krahbergtaferl saddle (around 300 and 420 metres in altitude respectively, Tour 1), or the one from Nußbach to Weiß am Sattel (310 metres in altitude, Tour 3) are the exception rather than the rule. Visually, however, the character of the tours is completely different, as you almost always have the Alps in front of your eyes without having to climb too much. The climbs are more the salt in the soup. And on most roads (with a few exceptions), neither heavy traffic nor poor surfaces spoil the flavour.

Tour 1: To the Salzkammergut

• 160 kilometres
• 1,400 metres altitude

The Upper Austrian lakes are the destination of this cycle tour. After around 50 flat kilometres, you reach Lake Attersee. This is followed by a climb to Mondsee via Oberaschau up to an altitude of 722 metres, a scenic descent and a fine cycle path on the northern shore. Back at the Attersee, the toughest climb of the day, up to 13 per cent steep, awaits on the eastern shore, up into the Höllengebirge and to the Krahbergtaferl saddle (829 metres). Back to the start through rural Alpine foothills.

Tour 2: Along the beautiful Danube

• 116 kilometres
• 749 metres altitude

On the first 45 kilometres of the tour into the Mühlviertel, which are still relaxed, we enjoy the panorama and the varied landscape. In the idyllic Rodltal valley, a tough climb awaits us with an uphill finish in Herzogsdorf (591 metres). On the way back, we cross the Danube at the Schaunberg castle ruins in Aschach. We cycle the last few kilometres back towards Wels without any significant climbs.

Tour 3: At the foot of the Limestone Alps

• 109 kilometres
• 1760 metres altitude

The panorama of the Alps will accompany us for a long time on this tour, most beautifully on a high-level trail between Steinbach and Steyr. Ahead of this is the almost four-kilometre climb to Weiß am Sattel, which also offers great mountain views and covers 310 metres in altitude. Steyr, with its pretty old town centre, is the perfect place for a break. Your stomach shouldn't be too full, as the route then climbs almost 200 metres in altitude. After that, the hills ebb away to Wels.

Tour 4: Into the Almtal

• 91 kilometres
• 815 metres altitude

The Magdalenaberg is the first summit on our tour from Wels into the Almtal valley. The climb stretches for around 30 kilometres before we roll along the serpentine road towards Michldorf for a leisurely coffee break. After about 15 kilometres, we start the second climb up the Ziehberg (680 metres) refreshed. The route climbs steeply for 200 metres. The ride back to Wels is a leisurely one.

You can find the GPS data for the four tours in our tour portal