Carinthia amidst the lakes

Stroll through the nice old town and enjoy the atmosphere of the south with many terrace-cafés.

Past Villach’s thermal spa you leave the town and cycle at the foot of the Karawanken-mountains headed East to the last lake of your loop tour, the turquoise-blue Lake Faak. The lake’s backdrop is the Mittagskogel-peak, a genuine rock giant. Extensive, undeveloped meadows and green wooded areas surround the lake and in the middle of the lake you find a wooded island. After a relaxing break at the lakeside and/or a lunch break you start your journey back. You tackle a small ridge on your bikes and hence reach the glistening river Drau with grey-green milky waters. The Drau-cycle path – on flat terrain and very well-developed – leads you along a leisurely route back to Villach. 

In the morning you will use the train to get to Spittal. The city was an important junction for pilgrims in the middle ages and is therefore very wealthy. Very easily you will cycle on the Alpe-Adria Cycle Path along river Drau mostly smoothly downhill. You should plan a stop in Paternion with worth-seeing churches and palaces. You just have to pedal a couple of times more until you reach Villach again.

You start the tour by cycling a few kilometres along the Drau-cycle path headed East. The route continues through unspoilt Carinthian farmland. Your next destination is the bussling town of Velden on Lake Wörthersee. The clear, turquoise-blue water of Lake Wörthersees and the hussle and bussle invite you to a break in the ”celebrity”-town. Through a charming scenery with rolling hills you reach the ”Keutschach Seental”. Sometimes it is a languorous wayside cross, sometimes it is a farmhouse decorated with flowers that catches your eye. The wide valley, the soft rolling hills and wooded mountains, four lovely lakes and in the distance: mountains. Even the close-by sunny South can be felt. Lake Hafnersee, Lake Keutschach, Lake Baßgeigensee and Lake Rauschelesee are grouped around the resort Keutschach. The ”Lend”-canal, situated at the eastern shores of Lake Wörthersee, leads you into the state capital of Carinthia, to Klagenfurt.

You leave Villach along the Seebach-stream and enjoy the view onto the castle ruin Landskron. On a clear day the castle ruin is visible above Villach and far beyond. The knights from long ago knew exactly where they took up residence. It is no surprise since the picturesque backdrop has not changed over time: in the forefront the green colour of the Gerlitzen Alpe, in the background the blue of Lake Ossiach. Lake Ossiach, the so called ”bath tube”, with a total length of eleven kilometres features (just like nearly all of Carinthia’s lakes) drinking water quality. In Ossiach the mountains and the crystal-clear water of the lake with a water temperature of up to 27 degrees in summer delight on the one hand and on the other hand the monastery dating back to the 11th century with its spectacular, late baroque church. Next the pretty resort of Steindorf on Lake Ossiach beckons. Then a short stop in Bodensdorf before today’s tour has finished the full circle in Villach.

In the morning the train will bring you to Italy. „Servus Österreich – Ciao Italia“ they will say at the border. In Tarvisio you will be welcomed in even three languages. Austrians, Slovenians and Italians are living here next to each other since centuries, so all three big European families of languages – Germans, Romans and Slavs – are meeting up here. Enjoy a creamy Cappuccino before Alpe-Adria Cycle Path will lead you along the wild river Gail, accompanied from beautiful mountain views, back to Austria.