If you’re looking for a weekend break that offers stunning natural beauty, a cultural riverside city and a short journey from the UK, you’ve come to the right blog post.
Thanks to new twice weekly Ryanair flights connecting Linz Airport to London Stansted, it’s now easier than ever to explore Linz and the Donau Region of Upper Austria.
Just 40 minutes from the airport, the Donau is a scenic, untouched landscape that’s perfect for hiking and cycling adventures along the Danube River. A stay here is perfectly balanced with a visit to Linz, a vibrant, cultural city with a pastel-coloured Old Town and futuristic art museum. It’s like a weekend break of 2 halves that makes one memorable trip.
Based on my recent trip to Upper Austria, here’s the itinerary I recommend you follow for a long weekend in Linz & the Donau Region.
Disclaimer: I travelled in partnership with Linz Tourism and Upper Austria Tourism as part of a campaign by Captivate. All opinions are my own.
Weekend Guide to Linz & Donau Region
At a glance
Fly to: RyanAir flies from London Stansted to Linz twice per week. Flight time approx 2 hours.
Stay at: Riverresort Donauschlinge or Hotel Wesenufer.
Getting around: The easiest way to explore the Donau region is by car and bike. E-bikes are available to hire at both hotels mentioned above.
Top tip: Buy a Linz Card to enjoy free travel on Linz buses & trams, free admission to Linz Museums, plus many more discounts.
Day 1 – Sunset at Schlögener Blick
RyanAir flies from London Stansted to Linz on Thursdays and Sundays and if you arrive on a Thursday in the summer you have ample time to start your trip on an absolute high by hiking to Schlögener Blick for sunset.
Schlögener Schlinge is an iconic bend in the Danube where the river forms almost a complete circle. It’s a pretty popular spot to see on a boat trip but trust me when I say the impact is so much more impressive when you get a bird’s eye view from the viewpoint at Schlögener Blick.
Schlögener Blick is a short hike from Riverresort Donauschlinge Hotel, a traditional wellness resort directly on the river that is the ideal base for a holiday in Donau.
After checking in here and having a light meal next to the water, I began the short hike to Schlögener Blick to catch sunset. The trail starts from the hotel’s car park and is well signposted. It takes about 35 minutes to reach the viewing point, depending on your pace. It is a fairly steep climb to begin with but nothing this novice hiker couldn’t handle!
For the most impressive views I recommend arriving approximately 30-45 minutes before sunset, which is when you get the most wonderful golden lighting and can see the sun making the Danube shimmer.
Day 2 – Cycling the Danube Limes World Heritage Circuit
The Riverresort Donauschlinge Hotel is also the perfect starting point for a day cycling the Danube Limes World Heritage Circuit.
After picking up an e-bike from the hotel I absolutely loved riding a 30km loop from the hotel to Engelhartszell and back again, crossing the Danube on little wooden ferries and stopping at various historical and cultural sites along the way.
Watch a slideshow of my day here:
Some of the highlights I recommend hopping out of the saddle for are:
- Roman Fort Oberranna – a UNESCO World Heritage Site that is approximately 1700 years old and is the best-preserved antique building in Upper Austria. Look out for the model of this ancient border fort to understand how impressive it would have been during the Roman era.
- The unexpected Sculpture Park dotted around the hills just outside the pretty little village of Wesenufer.
- Schutz Art Museum – the world’s first zero energy arts museum with a sculpture terrace overlooking the Danube. The focus of the collection is classical modern art from Austria so it’s really unique to the local area. They also have an artist in residence programme so you can see the creative of process of the likes of Christian Schmidt who was sculpting during my visit.
Don’t miss the chance to stop for a delicious coffee at the SCHÜTZ Art Café before leaving.
- Engelszell Abbey – Austria´s only Trappist Monastery & brewery is famed for its beer & liquor produce as & well as its unique baroque architecture.
- Boat Builder Witti – Visit a boat builder’s workshop to discover the traditional methods used to make wooden zillen that sail the Danube. If you have time you can also hire one for a self-drive experience!
The perfect place to stop for lunch part way through is Gasthof Luger. This family-run hotel and restaurant is famed for serving Danube fish that they catch fresh in front of the restaurant and prepare using a traditional method known as cupping.
I was lucky enough to be invited into the kitchen to see the cupping in practise. Essentially it’s an almost forgotten technique of fish preparation in which fine, parallel incisions are made in the skin of the fish, allowing spices, marinades or other flavours to penetrate deep into the fish flesh.
The restaurant is also renown for using local ingredients from the restaurant’s own farm and nearby producers and I have to say that the schnitzel I ordered turned out to be one of the best I’ve ever tasted.
I really enjoyed my day cycling part of the Danube Limes World Heritage Route. It’s the perfect circuit for novice (or infrequent!) cyclists like myself as it’s mostly flat and on clearly marked cycle paths separated from the traffic.
It was wonderful to go at my own pace, which was sometimes quite speedy thanks to the e-bike, and other times slow and leisurely so I could soak up the scenery.
There’s just the perfect amount to see and do along the trail so that you’re not constantly on the move but don’t have to rush the sightseeing either.
I’ve shared just my personal highlights above but there’s lots more information on the full tour here.
Day 3 – Exploring Linz
With my country experiences completed it was time to head to the city.
Linz is Austria’s third largest city but feels like a hidden gem as it still flies a little under-the-radar from a tourism perspective. (Until now, anyway!) With its pastel-coloured Old Town, restaurants lining the Danube and a tram network to take you to knock out views such as Pöstlingberg, it’s very easy to explore Linz in a day without feeling hurried.
After being named the European Capital of Culture in 2009, Linz has continued to build on this foundation, most notably with the Ars Electronica Center. Known as the “Museum of the Future,” the Ars Electronica Center uses pioneering technology to explore the intersection of art, technology, and AI. You can watch artificial intelligence thinking, train self-driving cars, program robots, print in 3D or even process your own DNA with the gene scissors.
Tip: Linz-Card holders receive free admission to the Ars Electronica Center and many other discounts.
Modern art enthusiasts will appreciate the Lentos Art Museum. I can also recommend stopping by its riverside café for a tasty lunch; the salads and pastas were particularly wonderful.
If street art is more your thing then a river cruise to Linz’s mural harbour should definitely be on your agenda.
Personally, I loved the architecture of the Old Town and just wandering around admiring the details on each building and discovering the independent cafes and boutiques that inhabited them was my highlight.
Note: Some shops and cafes are closed in Linz on a Sunday so you may want to take this into consider when planning your itinerary. I found it wonderfully peaceful and perfect for walking around but double check opening hours on Google if there is somewhere you definitely want to shop/eat.
One place where business was booming during my visit was Eis Greissler, an Austrian ice cream parlour where I couldn’t resist trying the Zotter chocolate flavour. Zotter is considered one of the best chocolate producers in the world and is one of the most sustainable businesses in Austria. It also tastes really good as ice cream!
To get a picture-perfect view of Linz before leaving you have a couple of fantastic options. One of the best views of Linz Old Town van be found via the terrace at the Linz Castle Museum (Schlossmuseum Linz). A fun way to get there is to take the Schlosslift, a free elevator hidden in a 70-metre-long tunnel, that connects the Old Town to the museum foyer.
If you have a bit more time then one of the most popular things to do in Linz is hop on a tram to Pöstlingberg, the highest point in the city, which has a historic church and viewing platform. I have it on good authority from Wanderlust Chloe that this is also a great place to try the iconic Linzer Torte, a delicious tart with redcurrants and almonds, that is considered the oldest known cake named after a city.
I hope this has given you a little taste of what you can expect to enjoy on a long weekend in Upper Austria. Keep your eyes peeled for my next post on the best places to visit in Upper Austria with kids.
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