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Long Distance Hiking
· Lower Austria
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ST1 Sultans Trail Section 1: Vienna – Bratislava
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Beaver gnawing, Leitha riverPhoto: Max Smits, Sultans Trail - a European Cultural Route
Medieval towns, Roman remains, wind turbines, vineyards, and beaver mark this section.
The Vienna Basin is a geologically young tectonic burial and sedimentary basin at the junction between the Eastern Alps, the Western Carpathians, and the Pannonian Plain. The Vienna Basin fault system remains seismically active. Significant earthquakes include the Neulengbach earthquake of 1590 and the strong earthquake that hit Carnuntum in the mid-4th century.
In the north, it extends to the Marchfeld Plateau beyond the Danube River. The Leitha Mountains separate it from the Little Hungarian Plain in the southeast. In the west, it borders the Gutenstein Alps and Vienna Woods. The Danube enters the basin at the Vienna Gate near Mt. Leopoldsberg and leaves at Devín Gate in the Little Carpathians east of Hainburg.
Climate
The climate of the Vienna Basin is moderately continental, with cold winters and warm summers. Winter is cold and grey. It snows frequently but not abundantly. On average, 53 cm (21 in) of snow falls annually. Sometimes, temperatures can drop to -15 °C (5 °F) or even below in cold spells. The summer lends itself to outdoor activities, though you may encounter rain and thunderstorms. However, there are also very hot and sultry periods, with highs up to 35 °C (95 °F). The highest temperature of 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) was recorded in July 2007 and August 2013.
The best time to visit the Vienna Basin is spring and autumn, particularly in May, June, and September when daytime temperatures are pleasant. However, it's better to bring a sweater and a jacket for the evening. The temperature is usually agreeable in July and August, as well as in the second half of June and the first half of September, but some days may be scorching.
Historical highlights
After the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in the late 9th century, the Magyar horsemen further invaded the adjacent West Frankish lands until they were finally defeated by King Otto I in the 955 Battle of Lechfeld. The Bavarian duke Henry the Wrangler gradually re-conquered the lands beyond the Vienna Woods up to the Leitha River. In about 976, the March of Austria was established under the Babenberg margrave Leopold I. From 1156 onwards, the Leitha formed the Hungarian frontier (Gyepű) with the Duchy of Austria. The fortified towns Wiener Neustadt, Bruck and Hainburg were built. In 1246, the last Babenberg duke, Frederick II of Austria, was killed in the Battle of the Leitha River against King Béla IV of Hungary.
The course of the border was confirmed in a 1411 deed issued by King Sigismund, when his daughter, Elizabeth, married the Habsburg duke Albert II of Austria. After the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, which created the Dual Monarchy. The Austrians would call the Hungarian side Transleithanien ("beyond the Leitha") and the Austrian side Cisleithanien ("on this side of the Leitha").
After World War I, the Treaty of Trianon (1920) designated the West Hungarian territory (Burgenland) to Austria, rendering the Leitha River an internal Austrian border.
The area was ravaged twice, in 1529 and 1683, by Ottoman troops marching on Vienna.
Cultural highlights
The viticulture east of Vienna produces some of Austria’s most outstanding red wines, like Zweigelt and Blaufränkisch, and some typical white wines, such as Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, and Grüner Veltliner. The white varieties Zierfandler and Rotgipfler are indigenous to this area and are found almost exclusively here. Local wineries organise, in turn, ‘Buschenschrank’ or ‘Heuriger’ events, during which they serve their new wines.
Author’s recommendation
With proper preparation, the trail can be walked all year round, but the best season is from April-October. Bearing in mind that the rainy season is in spring. In early April and the end of October, occasional colder days , even some hail or snow, can be expected. In July and August, it may get hot.
Derived from the technical difficulty and the stamina requirements.
Track types
Safety information
Be aware that water levels in the Danube and its tributaries may vary considerably. At high water, the shoreline passage (“Treppelweg”) in the Danube bend is blocked.Tips and suggestions
Allow time to visit some landmarks, like the medieval towns “Bruck an der Leitha” and Hainburg, Haydn's birthplace in Rohrau and Roman Carnuntum.The wineries in Rauchenwart organise Heuriger, serving a meal and wine in the late afternoon/early evening.
The Sultans Trail Digital Information Package contains a list of landmarks, selected accommodations, and public transport connections. Check the list here.
Download the pdf here.
Purchase the Digital Information Package from the Sultans Trail Webshop here.
Roadbook
This relatively short 110 km section can be walked in 4 -5 days. The section is partitioned into four stages, each with accommodation at its destination for the ones who rely on local overnight facilities. Campers will find a place to pitch the tent in Vienna, Bratislava and somewhat halfway, at Petronell-Carnuntum.
An additional stage preludes the trail and starts at the Kahlenberg, in the Vienna Woods, an important location during the second Ottoman siege of Vienna.
This section is partitioned into four stages, preluded by a prologue.
The prologue starts at the Kahlenberg, in the Vienna Woods, an important location during the second Ottoman siege in 1683.
Leaving Vienna, the trail runs on the right bank of the Danube, where the International Airport is located, through the Vienna basin, between the Danube and the Leitha mountains. During the first two stages, arriving planes can be seen curving to line up with the runway. The trail partially follows the Leitha river, once the border between Austria and Hungary, passing small villages like Trautmansdorf and Sarasdorf, the medieval town Bruck/Leitha with medieval walls and wall towers, Prugg Castle and arboretum.
The Leitha is rich in fish and beaver. The beaver leaves plenty of gnawing marks on trees along the river. Before the river turns south towards Hungary, we find more small villages, such as Pachfurth, Gerhaus and Rohrau, where the Haydn brothers were born, and the Harrach family owes Rohrau Castle, where it cherishes one of the world’s most prestigious private painting collections.
The land is flat and fertile. Agriculture includes regular crops and viticulture.
Where the valley narrows, the prevailing western wind is funnelled and drives the hundreds of wind turbines harvesting its energy.
When the Leitha turns away, the trail moves towards the Danube to Petronell-Carnuntum, located on the site of a significant Roman military base Carnuntum at the junction of the Limes road and the Amber route, capital of the Roman province Pannonia Superior and headquarters of the Pannonian fleet. Debris from the Roman settlement can still be found on the embankments of the Danube river. The Carnuntum museum is located in Bad Deutsch-Altenburg, a Spa-centre with a medieval church on the cliff above a Roman stone quarry.
When the Danube cuts through the Little Carpathians, the valley narrows, and the trail meets the Hundsheimerberg (480m) and the Braunsberg (346m). In the river bend, the Morava (March), a left tributary, enters the Danube. On the Slovakian side is Devin Castle, strategically located. Here the Danube becomes the border between Austria and Slovakia. The Hundsheimerberg has been a stone quarry for centuries, and much of the mountain has already disappeared. On the Braunsberg, a Celtic settlement was found, and Hainburg, at its base, is a well-preserved medieval town with impressive walls, towers, and a castle.
Virgilkapelle
Roman Museum
Saint Stephen's Cathedral
Wien Museum Karlsplatz
Karlskirche Wien
Gardekirche
Lower Belvedere
Schloss Belvedere und Galerie
Belvedere 21
Museum of Military History
Zur Heiligen Auferstehung
Schloss Neugebäude
Albern
Schwechat (Fluss)
Schloss Altkettenhof
Schloss Trautmannsdorf
Schloss Königshof
Natural Reserve "Batthyanyfeld"
Sandberg
A bridge builder became the namesake of the first reinforced concrete bridge in Slovakia
Public transport
Public-transport-friendly
Two local railway lines run parallel to the trail.One railway line follows the Leitha river. An international train connects Vienna Central Station to Bratislava Petržalská. It stops in Bruck/Leitha. A local train on the same line stops at the villages in between.
Another local line stays close to the Danube, leaving from Rennweg station via the Airport to Petronell-Carnuntum, Bad-Deutsch Altenburg and Hainburg until its end station Wolfsthal.
Directions
Getting to and from Vienna can be done in various ways:- by air to Vienna International Airport (VIE)
- by international train to Vienna Main Station (Hauptbahnhof)
- by international long-range bus lines from Flixbus
Bratislava can be reached in various ways, too:
- by air to Bratislava International Airport Letisko M. R. Štefánika (BTS)
- by international train to Bratislava Main Station (Bratislava Hlavna)
- by International long-range bus lines from Flixbus
- by fast bus shuttle from Vienna and Airport
Parking
Vienna and Bratislava both have countless options to park the car, as well for longer periods of time.
Coordinates
Book recommendation by the author
Finkel, Caroline. Osman's Dream. (New York: Basic Books, ISBN13: 9780465023974). “The Ottoman Empire was one of the world's largest and most influential empires. Its reach extended to three continents, and it survived for more than six centuries, but its history is too often coloured by the memory of its bloody final throes on the battlefields of World War I. In this magisterial work-the first definitive account written for the general reader-renowned scholar and journalist Caroline Finkel lucidly recounts the epic story of the Ottoman Empire from its origins in the thirteenth century through its destruction in the twentieth century.
Martin Zinggl. Das ist kein Spaziergang. Auf dem Sultans Trail zu Fuß von Wien nach Istanbul. (München: Knesebeck Verlag, ISBN 978-3-95728-857-8).
"Schneller als der Sultan – zu Fuß von Wien nach Istanbul. Martin Zinggl sucht einen Ausweg aus der Krise – und macht sich zu Fuß auf den Weg von Wien nach Istanbul. 2400 Kilometer, acht Länder, alte Pfade, neue Begegnungen. Der Balkan empfängt ihn mit berührender Gastfreundschaft und skeptischen Blicken; die Straßen erzählen Geschichten von Flucht. Hoffnung und Alltag. Eine Reiseerzählung mit Tempo und Tiefgang – über das Gehen, das Staunen und das Fremdsein."
Ivo Andrić. The Bridge over the River Drina, (originally published in 1945), ISBN 978-1-860-46058-6. A sweeping historical novel tracing four centuries of life in the Bosnian town of Višegrad, centred on the iconic Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge. The novel uses the bridge as a powerful symbol—of connection, division, endurance, and the passage of time—while portraying the intertwined destinies of Christians, Muslims, Jews, and others living in the region.
Robert Dankoff & Sooyong Kim. An Ottoman Traveller. Selections from the Book of Travels of Evliya Çelebi. (ISBN 978-1906-07758-1). An Ottoman Traveller is a curated English-language selection from the Seyahatname, the vast ten‑volume travel narrative of Evliya Çelebi (1611–c.1685), the most celebrated traveller of the Ottoman Empire. Dankoff and Kim’s edition distils thousands of pages of lively, humorous, and richly detailed observations into an accessible volume that captures the spirit of a man who spent over forty years journeying across the empire and beyond.
Patrick Leigh Fermor trilogy. A Time of Gifts (ISBN 1-59017-165-9), Between the Woods and the Waters. (ISBN 0-14-009430-X). The Broken Road. From the Iron Gates to Mount Athos (ISBN 978-1-84854-754-4). Patrick Leigh Fermor’s trilogy is one of the great achievements of 20th‑century travel literature—a luminous reconstruction of the 18‑year‑old author’s 1933–34 walk across Europe toward Constantinople. Each volume captures a different stretch of the journey, blending youthful immediacy with the older Fermor’s erudition, humour, and reflective depth.
Author’s map recommendations
Online Atlas Niederösterreich
https://atlas.noe.gv.at/atlas/portal/noe-atlas/map/Planung%20und%20Kataster/Grundst%C3%BCcke
Freizeitkarten, downloadable OSM maps for Garmin, PC, and Android:
https://www.freizeitkarte-osm.de/garmin/en/index.html
Maps, printed
Weinwandern Niederösterreich – Wien. Bergverlag Rother (2020), 208 pages, weight 366 g., language German, scale 1:75.000, 1:50.000.
Book recommendations for this region:
Equipment
Walking the Sultans Trail requires standard long-distance hiking equipment. Weather protection is essential, including rain and cold gear, depending on the season. In late spring and early summer, mosquito deterrents are strongly recommended, while during the hot season, sun protection and a sufficient water supply are essential. Reliable offline navigation tools should be carried at all times.Derived from the technical difficulty and the stamina requirements.
User Questions