Published on: 3 January 2017 | Last updated: 13 January 2020
Cyclists on the Via Claudia near the Forggensee in Germany
At a glance
Distance
326 kilometres (in Austria and Germany)
Difficulty/terrain
Fairly easy. If you are heading north-south there are some short climbs to the main passes but there are shuttles if you’d rather avoid these.
Traffic
Mainly on traffic-free cycleways (although these may be roads that are restricted to agricultural vehicles so in summer expect to see tractors trundling round with trailers of freshly-mown hay).
Surfaces
Mainly on surfaced roads or cycleways. But note that there are some stretches on unsurfaced cycleways and forest roads.
Signs
Very well signposted. The route is signposted in both directions. See note on signposting below.
When to go
May to September or October is probably the best time. The highest point on the route is 1512 metres so snow shouldn’t be a problem. Bear in mind that even in summer, the weather in the mountains can be unsettled.
Introduction
The Via Claudia is an international cycle route that runs through southern Germany, Austria and Italy (with a brief section in Switzerland).
The route takes its name from the road build by the Roman emperor Claudius Augustus. The road became, and remained, one of the major routes for trade and travel across the Alps. The road linked the Donau (Danube) with the river Po and with the Adriatic coast near Venezia passing via Augusta Vindelicorum (modern-day Augsburg), Feltria (modern-day Feltre), Tridentum (Trento), Verona, and the river port of Hostiliae (Ostiglia) on the Po.
There are surprisingly few visible remains of the old Roman road - there are a couple of short stretches of the old road that you can see in southern Germany. A couple of milestones have been discovered: one near Tezze near Bassano del Grappa and the other at Cesiomaggiore near Feltre. You can see the remains of the old roman bridge at Algund.
The route is about much more than the Roman remains - the route remains an important artery of commerce and cultural exchange for almost two millennia after it was built. In Austria you can visit the Ehrenberger Klause near Reutte and the Altfinstermünz near Pfunds which were both fortifications built to control, and tax, trade along the route.
The route through Germany and Austria follows the course of two major rivers:
- the Lech takes you south from the Donau (Danube) through Augsburg and southern Bavaria and on into Austria via Füssen
- in Austria the route follows the Inntal (valley of the Inn river) from Imst to Martina in Switzerland
From Martina you climb to the source of the third major river on the route: the Etsch/Adige which heads south through the Südtirol towards Verona.
The Via Claudia near Burggen
Highlights
In Germany probably the main must-sees are the cities of Augsburg (the former Roman city of Augusta) and Landsberg am Lech. As you get further south, there are the beautiful lakes of the Lechsee and Forggensee. Füssen at the end of the German section is an interesting city in its own right, but close to the iconic Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles which are some of the region’s major tourist attractions.
In Austria the natural scenery of the Alps is the star of the show, but along the route there are the attractive towns of Imst and Reutte and the villages of the Inntal.
The Schloss Neuschwanstein near Schwangau. Photo by Thomas Wolf via Wikimedia Commons
Options and connections
There are a huge number of connections with other cycleways along the route. At Donauwörth (pronounced “Donau-vurt’ by the way) it connects with the Donau Radweg (Danube cycleway) which from Donaueschingen in Germany to Budapest (and beyond).
The other major connection in Germany is with the D9 Romantische Straße (Romantic Road) cycle route which runs from Würtzburg to Füssen. In its southern part the Romantic Road goes through Donauwörth, Augsburg etc and at points the two routes coincide, but at others it offers an alternative option. The D9 takes you through both Augsburg and Landsberg am Lech while the VCA skirts round them - although it’s easy to make a side trip to visit them. You could of course use the Romantische Straße to reach Donauwörth - or to head north from there.
In Austria the major connection is with the Inn Radweg follows the Inn river from its source in the Engadine valley in Switzerland near Sankt Moritz to Passau on the Danube passing through Innsbruck and Rosenheim on the way. The Inn Radweg connects in turn with the München-Venezia cycle route, and so offers an alternative route into Italy or an alternative route to München.
Reutte: the Grüne Haus. Frescoes by Johann Jakob Zeiller
Map and altitude profile
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tips for using the map
Run your cursor over the graph to show the elevation, and distance from the start, for any given point on the route. (Note: the altitude graph is not shown where the route is flat).
Click the little icon in the right-hand corner to see the map fullscreen
| Distances | |
|---|---|
| Donauwörth - Augsburg | 48 kms |
| Augsburg - Landsberg am Lech | 49 kms |
| Landsberg am Lech - Füssen | 74 kms |
| Füssen - Imst | 72 kms |
| Imst - Pfunds | 54 kms |
| Pfunds - Nauders | 21 kms |
The Innradweg/Via Claudia near Pfunds
Signs and signposting.
In Germany there are small panels with the VCA symbol to indicate the route. The only problem is that the same method is used for other cycling and walking routes, and the wealth of connections means that at points there’s a bit of a risk of information overload. This is particularly true around Donauwörth and Füssen.
Things are more straightforward in Austria, but there are a couple of points where you need to watch out: coming out of Füssen the Via Claudia initially coincides with another route which then crosses the river while the Via Claudia continues on towards Reutte; at Imst the route joins with the Innradweg. If you are following the Via Claudia you need to follow the Innradweg towards Landeck.
Click the photo below for a small slideshow of examples of signs from the German, Austrian and Italian sections of the route.
Too much information
The shuttles
The Via Claudia Augusta is unusual in that there are 6 shuttle bus services provided to support the route. Two of these are in the Austrian section:
- Fernpass (Biberwier - Nassereith)
- Reschenpass (Landeck - Pfunds - Nauders)
If you are travelling on a full-loaded touring bike or say with a child trailer, my advice would be to seriously consider taking the Fernpass shuttle. The route over the pass is signed as a mountain bike route, the road is fairly nasty and there are stretches where bikes are banned (I’m not to sure about exactly where - I think bikes are banned from the tunnels). I saw people doing it on trekking-type bikes but whether they did it thinking ‘I should have got the shuttle’ I don’t know.
Bikes are also banned from the road to the Reschenpass, however there is a pretty good road alternative via Martina in Switzerland. Take the shuttle if you feel like it, but if you’d rather carry on under your own steam then there’s no reason not to. The VCA shuttle from Pfunds also means missing out on the Finstermünz {internal link} which for me was one of the highlights. You can however have the best of both worlds and see the Finstermünz and then take the public bus from Martina which is equipped to carry bikes.
The SAD bus from Martina to Nauders and Mals in Italy
Getting there
The official start of the route is a short ride from Donauwörth station. There seem to be frequent trains from München Hauptbahnnhof station, and trains from there to/from the airport.
Downloads
Maps to print out or view offline
GPS files
More information
Places to stay
Transport and services
Resources
Tour operators
Via Claudia mural between Tosens and Ried im Oberinntal
Articles in this series
- The Via Claudia in Germany and Austria: Overview
- Via Claudia Part 1: Donauwörth to Landsberg Am Lech
- Via Claudia Part 2: Landsberg am Lech to Füssen
- Via Claudia Part 3: Füssen to Imst
- Via Claudia Part 4: Along the valley of the Inn
- The Via Claudia in Italy: Overview
- Via Claudia Part 5: The Vinschgau
- Via Claudia Part 6: Algund to Trento
- Via Claudia Part 7: Trento to the Lago di Caldonazzo
- Via Claudia 8: San Cristoforo al Lago to Feltre via the Valsugana
- Via Claudia Part 9: the Valsugana cycleway to Bassano del Grappa
- Via Claudia Part 10: San Cristoforo al Lago to Feltre via the Passo Croce d’Aune
- Via Claudia Part 11: Feltre to Treviso
- Via Claudia Part 12: Treviso to Altino (and Venezia)
- Via Claudia Part 13: Trento to Verona and Ostiglia
Get in touch
Please get in touch if you find any errors in the information, or if there’s anything, good or bad, that you’d want other cyclists to know.
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