In September/October 2002 my wife and I biked the Tauern Bicycle Path using an Untour apartment provided by Idyll Ltd. The untour included trans Alantic air fare from New York to Salzburg, a furnished and fully equipped apartment for two weeks, a fourteen day Austrian rail pass and much more. The total cost from New York was $ 1586.00 per person. Bike rental not included. Contact Idyll Toll-free at 1-888 868 6871. E-mail info@untours.com

There are several methods of biking long distance bicycle routes or paths in Europe. Bring your bike or rent one in Europe. Completely on your own, making your own hotel reservations and transporting your luggage. Self guided but have a travel company make your reservations and transport your luggage. Joining a guided tour with a group leader, a sag wagon, etc. The web site www.BicycleGermany.com has a large section dedicated to the pros and cons of these options as well as much more information on biking in Europe. My wife and I chose a different method of biking The Tauern Bicycle Path (TBP) called the home based approach.

Our trip started with a trans Atlantic flight to Salzburg where we were met by the local Idyll rep. and were transported by bus to our apartment in Kuchl. The following day we picked up our rented bikes, attended an orientation meeting with the Idyll staff and took our bikes for five or six Kilometer (km) test ride. We were now ready to tackle The Tauern Bicycle Path (T B P). We awoke early next morning to a driving very cold rain storm which lasted for several days. We therefore postponed our assault on the (TBP). While we waited for the weather to clear, we took a trip by train to Hallstatt without bikes, attended the thanksgiving celebration and procession in Kuchl and went to the Bluntau-valley to see the farmers bring their cows down from the high mountain pastures into the valley for the winter. One evening our landlady told us that the storm was over and the next day would be clear. We awake in the morning to bright sunshine and blue skies.

We were now ready for day one of our bike adventure. We had breakfast, dressed quickly, loaded up our bikes, biked the five Km. to Golling and loaded our bikes on the train to Zell a See. Here the TBP splits into two parallel routes to Salzburg, one follows the Saalach River and the other the Salzach. As we plan to follow the Salzach, we decided to spend our day exploring part of the the Saalach route. So on Day #1 we biked North from Zell a See through Malshofen, Maria Alm to Saalfelden where were we had lunch. In the afternoon we biked to Warzon and back to Zell a See. We then locked our bikes at the train station and took the train back to Kuchl . As it was still early, we took a short walk, had dinner at the Gasthof Muhlthaler before going to bed early. Day #2 of our bike trip started with a train ride back to Zell a See. We unlocked our bikes and loaded them on to the narrow gauge railroad for the very slow trip to Krimml. From there we biked back towards Kuchl passing through Wald, Bramberg, Mittersill, Plesendorf and finally to Bruck where we again locked are bikes at the train station and took the train back to Kuchl. We repeated this biking one segment of the TBP each day and returning to our apartment each night. Day #3, Buch to Bischofshogen. Day #4, Bischofshogen to Kuchl. Day#5 Kuchl to Oberndorf. At that point we decided to end our tour of the TBP due to some poor weather but mostly due to poor rail connections. On the #6 day, we biked to Tittmoning and back to Oberndorf, loaded our bikes on the train and returned to Kuchl.

As we had several days left on our two week Austrian vacation, we spent them biking close to home. We biked the Tennengau Bike Path from Kuchl to Golling, Vigaun, Puch and back to Kuchl. As well as much of the Salt Lake tour. On our next to last evening in Austria we had farewell dinner with our untour group and the Idyll staff. Good food and drink and a lot of fun. On last full day we biked to Salzburg, did a self guided walking tour of the old city and biked back to Kuchl, returned our bikes and packed for the trip home.

Next year we plan to bike the Danube Bike Trail from Passau, Germany to Vienna and perhaps to Bratislava.

Some helpfull information:

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For tourist information contact Ingrid Seiwald at Fremdenverkehrsverband A 5431 Kuchl. On the web at www.salzburgerland.com. or e-mail info.kuchl@salzberg.co

For bike rental contact Horst Panzenberger, Market 233 A 5431 Kuchl. Ingrid at the tourist office can help with arranging rentals.

There many excellent places to eat in Kuchl. Our favorite is the Gasthof Jadorferwirt located a few Km. outside of Kuchl. Great food. Very popular with local people. Open for lunch and dinner but closed mid afternoon. Also closed Monday and Tuesday.

A very good book about biking in Europe is Germany by Bike by Nadine Salvinski published by The Mountainer in Seattle, Washington.

The web site www.BicycleGermany.com contains much valuable information, Also, they were very helpful to us in planning our trip.

This is our seventh Untour by Idyll in the past few years. Highly recommended for bikers and non bikers.

One final observation. When we picked up our rental bikes at Mr. Panzenberger's shop, we attempted to pay by credit card. He apologized that he did not take credit cards only cash. As we did not have that much cash with us we told him that we would go the bank and be right back. We started to walk back to the bank in town. Mr. Panzenberger said "take the bikes". I tried to give him a credit card or my driver’s license as a deposit. He said "No that OK just take the bikes". We got on the bikes and pedaled off with five or six hundred dollars worth of his bikes. He knew I was an American and he knew my last name. I don't think he knew my first name nor did he know my address in Austria or in America. On our way back to pay for the bikes, we passed a small store with ten or twelve cases of beer left unattended and unwatched on the sidewalk outside the store. I thought to myself how long would that beer last in my home town.

Later that night we had dinner in a local Gasthof. We ordered two meals and one glass of wine and one glass of beer from the waitress. During the meal, I asked a young man who worked at the restaurant for another glass of beer. When we finished our meal, we asked for the check. The girl asked us what we had to eat. We told her then she said "and one glass of wine and one glass of beer". I said no, TWO glasses of beer. Apparently it is the customers’ responsibility to remember what we had to eat and drink. I don't think it ever occurred to the waitress or Mr. Pansenberger that someone would take advantage of their honor system of doing business.

As our 14 day stay (without TV, radio or newspapers) in Kuchl ended, we took a very long flight back to America. Back to the every day cares of living in America. It doesn't seem possible that Kuchl is on the same planet.