Biking from Melk to Krems

We stayed in Dürnstein (early May 2023). We stayed on the north side to E-Bike to Spitz. We did do a nice loop from Dürnstein to Krems over the bridge to the southern side to the motorless ferry at Weißenkirchen and back to Dürnstein. If you stay south there is this bridge to Krems. Was raining for our day to Melk and we took the bus. Overall I think the north side is where you want to be (at least from Spitz to Krems), but with the ferries (small to big) you have options. We liked Café/Konditorei Elisabeth in Weißenkirchen, bought Wein at Weingut Pomaßl. Pulker`s Heuriger (north side) looked good, but we were too early. Caught the last of the Apricot/Marillen blooms near Rossatz (Marillenmeile). Still a lot of woods (Waldviertel). So many great Winzer and places to stop. Hard to go wrong.

Edit: Pulker`s Heuriger is on the south side near Rührsdorf.

You might want to check out some journals on crazyguyonabike.com

Thank you for this information!

Thank you for posting this. I'm looking at the exact same bike trip. But now I'm confusing myself with the terminology. When people say "south side" and "north side"...does south side mean riding on the right side of the river, while north side means the left side of the river? Or is south side really just the southern part starting from Melk and ending in, say, Spitz. And the north side is more like from Durnstein to Krems...regardless of which side of the river you are riding on? When I map the route with bikes on Google maps, it only shows riding on the left side of the river, so maybe it's the latter and that's the only side you ride bikes on. Thanks.

I put Melk on the south side and Krems on the north side. I rode both sides, at least between Weißenkirchen/St. Lorenz and Mauterner Brücke/Krems. We did ride from Dürnstein to Spitz on the north side.

You can ride on either side of the river Danube.

South side = right side
North side = left side (more scenic, IMHO)

MorganMurphy—

I do the exact same thing. I can’t picture it in my mind and the blogs I have read refer to each area differently.🤦🏻‍♀️ I’m glad I’m not the only one!

1. No, the north side is where the scenic villages of Spitz, Weissenkirchen and Duernstein are located.

2. Switch from the south to the north side at Weissenkirchen on the bike/people ferry.

3. No idea

4. Yes

And as there seems to be some confusion on north vs south - the Danube essentially runs west to east in this stretch. The north side is literally the north side and the south side is literally the south side.

Thanks, Emily! Like I said, bike path for dummies😁