hiking austria – But first let's travel

After almost a month in Italy and having consumed our body weights in pizza, pasta and wine, it was time for something new. So without a lot of thought, we booked a week hiking in the Wachau Valley, Austria.

About an hour from Vienna is the town of Krems on the Danube river, the first of many cute towns we would visit on this hike. Rather than carrying our packs (call us lazy if you will), we opted for the glamping route, joining the Eurohike self-guided “Walking in Wachau” tour. They organised the accommodation and transported our bags from location to location and provided detailed maps of where we were to walk.

5 surprises of hiking in Austria

Now when I think of Austria, I picture cute little towns (normally covered by snow) and a peaceful, safe place. So there were a few surprises on our trip.

It can get to 36C in Austria and this will make your hike ever so slightly more difficult. Spending most of our lives in cities where 36C does nothappen, and humidity isn’t an issue either, to say we were unprepared for how much harder this makes hiking is an understatement. The heat wave we’d felt in Italy continued for our week in the Wachau, with temperatures reaching 36C or higher every day. A lot of water was needed, plenty of ‘photo breaks’ and the cold beer at the end of each day never tasted so good!
Heat waves will allow normally small and manageable wasp colonies to nest for longer, causing an unprecedented outbreak. I’ve never been stung by a wasp or a bee and that’s something I’d like to continue throughout my life if possible. Put simply, wasps freak me out. A lot. Whilst the Austrians might be able to sit outside and enjoy a glass of beer and a meal whilst a million wasps swarm around them, I can not. And when a wasp decides to take a drink in my half full beer I am officially done and it is time to go inside and firmly shut all doors and windows.
One tree looks much like another. Now I’m not blaming Eurohike entirely (I’ll admit following directions isn’t exactly a strong suit) but it appears trees can grow and change very quickly, and that on a small black and white photo, one tree is not always completely distinguishable from another. This may have led us (ok me) to miss a turn off and as a result a few hours of bush whacking through the Austrian hillside.
Austria has snakes. On our first day as we hiked a forest road we saw some interesting roadkill. “That looks like a snake”…. “Surely Austria doesn’t have snakes, maybe it’s a lizard and you just can’t see the feet as they are underneath?” (said hopefully). That night a quick Google search delivered the bad news. Not just any snakes, but a plethora of different snakes including one of the most poisonous inhabit this little bit of paradise. Still, it’s unlikely we’ll see a live one right? On the last day of walking (thankfully after that incident of bush-whacking) I was off in my own little dreamword, meandering down a track when less than a metre away sat a coiled snake. I’d like to say I was calm and collected, but no. I screamed, the snake left quickly, and I spent the rest of the day following carefully in Scott’s footprints. Thankfully no more snakes seen.
The Wachau is beautiful. From the quaint little towns we stopped at each night, to the green vineyards we strolled through, the deer spotted along the way, and even the seriously steep hills we climbed, this area is gorgeous. And at each town we found friendly hotel staff, great meals and a pint to refresh us – perfect.

Looking refreshed and ready to start, on our first day in Krems