Getting there by train - In Austria, Germany and Slovakia you can jump on regional trains with your bike and between Vienna and Passau there is a good train service that runs there and back daily, May to Oct. It costs €24 inc bike and a coffee. It is called the Elebnisbahn and goes from the Franz Joseph Bahnhof.
Vienna to Bratislava
About 70kms, and apart from being able to visit 2 capital cities by bike in the same day the ride is also a good one. From the city centre head to the Prater (a big park with a fun fare at one end) before crossing over the new and old Danube and the DonauInsel (a long thin island between the two rivers) by bridge. Turn right and follow the river. The scenery soon changes and takes a few twists and turns, as the cycle path first passes through a FKK section (nudist area), before heading through an oil refinary then into the Lobau nature reserve. On the path you don't often see the river, but there are plenty of lakes and loads of trees. The town of Hainburg has an old castle up on the hill, which is quicker to pass through than go round and soon after this you cross the border into Slovakia. A passport isn't needed as the path goes round the side of the border control, but I'm not sure if it is in use anymore as no ones seems to be manning it. Bratislava looms up on the left side of the river and you think great we are there, but it never seems to get any nearer. Before going under a motorway bridge look out for an old second world war bunker on the left just after a left bend. A mate and I found a way into it and had a good look round. After going over the bridge you have arrived in Bratislava. The beer is cheap, about €1 a 1/2 litre and I once stayed in a great Hostel with it's own basement pub (I can't rember the name) in January after taking part in Piratislava, a bike race between gangs of pirates competing to find Mamarowdies treasure, with plenty of sabotage, and drinking etc (google it on youtube for a video). Bratislava seems a nice place, but the last time I went it was dark and I was drunk for most of the time and all I can remember was the hostel bar and a strange bunker nightclub deep in the ground under the castle that played some really full on hardcore music.
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