If you’ve stayed in Vienna the evening prior, the morning is free for wandering the city a bit more. Officially, we start or tour today as we assemble at 11:00 AM to gather our Nomads clan, get a proper bike fit, share a first lunch, head off for a short 25-mile ride into the countryside, then circle back with a certain amount of elbowing required as we make our way on semi-bike lanes through the busy city. With a mid-afternoon return to our hotel, you’ll have time to explore Vienna before we gather to share a dinner. Tonight, we begin to form bonds with our fellow Nomads; tomorrow, we start our journey in earnest.

We’ll gather after breakfast, toss our gear onto the van, and shuttle out of the city to Krems an der Donau, a few miles upstream from Vienna. We’ll re-group there, then hop onto our bikes for a 39-mile ride along the beautiful Danube River. Of all the great bicycle pathways in Europe, the Danube River trail may be the most popular—for a good reason. The natural beauty and serenity of the setting sets the tone for the day, as we match pace with boats filled with visitors sharing the experience from a different vantage point. We’ll feel no urgency to speed along; time slows on the Danube, as will we.

Our resting place for the evening will be the Donau Lodge in Ybbs an der Donau, on the banks of the Danube. A favorite of cyclists, we’re sure to find many kindred souls on the terrace located next the bike path. Dinner is on your own, or you can join the “Nomads Table,” a place where the Nomads team will welcome any who wish to join.

We’ll toss gear onto the van, hop onto bikes in the cool air of morning, and leave the Danube for a while as we head across the hillside. We’ll pass endless fields and meadows on small country roads, eyes wide with vistas of pastoral beauty. Our “shortcut,” bypassing a large bend in the Danube, is much different from the broad Danube valley floor. Continuous rolling hills and fields, puncuated by forests and towns, provide us a teaser of where we’ll be in a couple of days. But it won’t be too long before we drop back into the valley and onto the banks of the Danube, which we’ll follow again into Linz, our evening’s destination.

Our 54-mile ride is among our longest of the week, but the joy of the place will capture our attention and make miles to pass swiftly. We’ll arrive in the historic city of Linz late-afternoon and settle in for a rest before wandering out again. Linz is a modern city with a medieval core and a grand plaza that beckons us. Our lodging for the night is the historic Hotel Wolfinger, housed in a building that dates to the 15th century and located directly on the Innere Stadt square. Dinner will be on your own or you can join us at the Nomads table.

We take a bit of a break today, staying local to explore more of Linz and the surrounding area. Linz, a classic Austrian city with roots in centuries past, is now a modern, thriving city key to the region’s economy. The Innere Stadt of Linz, where we’re based, is a marvel of civic architecture, with most buildings dating back to the Renaissance. Fountains, churches, museums, opera halls, all within walking distance of our hotel, vie for our attention. The hardest part for you will be deciding. Of course, there is no wrong answer.

We’ll also squeeze in a short 24-mile ride today, climbing into the hills both north and south of Linz, staying mostly on rural lanes through fields and meadows above the Danube River valley. The scenery this day tends towards gentle pastoral, born of the transition between grand river and magnificent mountains. The mountains may seem a long way off, but for us, they’re only two days away by bike. And we’ll be heading that way tomorrow. Dinner will be on your own or you can join us at the Nomads table.

The Alps are to our south, so that’s where we’ll point our bikes today. Linz is a bustling city, so we may have to swing a few elbows as we work our way out of town. Once we clear the city, our 40-mile ride will once again find the rolling hills and farms that have marveled us over the past couple of days. We’ll cross the Traun River, a tributary to the Danube, then find and follow the Krems River, a tributary to the Traun. From here, we climb out of the valley, cross our first low mountain, then drop quickly onto the banks of the Steyr River, which will lead us towards its source high in the Alps. By day’s end, the Alps will be front and center and large in our view, but we’ll have to be content to leave them there this night. Though grand and all-encompassing, the big mountains are yet a half day’s ride away.

Our lodging for tonight will be the Landgasthof Klausner in the lovely village of Molln. Dinner will be on your own or you can join us at the Nomads table.

The big Alps beckon and today we’ll find them. After breakfast, we’ll load gear and jump onto bikes to continue following the Steyr River towards its source. The bikeway that follows the river will be our guide until the landscape changes and we begin to point upwards. From this point, we’re on roads where bikes are common, but lacking bike lanes or shoulders, we may choose to load into the van and hop forward. Here, we have choices to make. Our end point for the day, Fohnsdorf, is far beyond a day’s bike ride, so at some point we’ll have to load up and drive the rest of the way. There are amazing local rides near our lodging, so we may opt to jump all the way forward and finish our day on bikes there. Or we may want to ride something in between. Regardless of our choice, one thing will be clear: we’ll be riding in paradise, so any choice will be the right one.

Our lodging for the night in Fohnsdorf is the grand Hotel Schloss Gabelhofen, a centuries-old castle turned into an elegant, modern hotel. The spectacular grounds, complete with equestrian center and spa, are the perfect place to wind down at the end of the day. Dinner will be on your own or you can join us at the Nomads table.

Sometimes, the only way through mountains is to follow streams and rivers that cut through—and sometimes, you simply must go over. Today, we’ll be doing both. We leave the Muhr River valley and follow the gentle grade of a stream bed, then we make a left turn and the fun begins. We’ll climb, then drop down into another valley along another babbling stream. We follow that stream for a while, then it’s a right turn and a wall of granite looming ahead. A ribbon of asphalt winds up the mountainside, but we’ll probably pause and consider our options. With our destination just a bit farther than we may prefer to ride, a shuttle up this climb may be welcome. Once the summit is reached, however, it’s back on the bike for full-blast downhill fun all the way to our hotel. We may or may not complete the planned 55-mile ride, but whatever we accomplish will certainly be remembered as a quintessential—and very memorable—day in the Alps.

Our destination is the magnificent Hotel Dienstl Gut in Launsdorf. On this final night together, we’ll share stories and a fabulous meal and give thanks for the opportunity to have spent time exploring this amazing land as a Nomad clan.