Travel diary

The ninth stage of EuroVelo 6 runs from Vienna to Budapest, two famous capitals with very different faces. Leaving behind the sweet melancholy of Vienna, with its Prater and its magnificent fine arts museum, EuroVelo 6 heads east out of Austria through the forests and prairies that lead to Hainburg. Just across the border in Slovakia lies Bratislava, famous for its clock-making skills and appreciated by the Viennese of the Austro-Hungarian Empire for its excellent white wines. After Bratislava, the river has been canalised as it runs through the industrial area around Medvedov, home to numerous dams and power stations built during the Stalinist period. This development was an ecological disaster that destroyed an entire ecosystem between Dunakitili in Hungary and Palkovicovo in Slovakia. On the section to Komarno, EuroVelo 6 alternates between the tarmacked trail beside the canal and quiet country roads. The route then crosses the border to start the Hungarian leg of the journey, leaving the banks of the river to head towards the magnificent, wine-producing town of Tata, at the foot of the Geresce Mountains. The itinerary rejoins the Danube to pass through Estzergom, which has been dubbed the Rome of Hungary, and then continues past the architectural treasures of the Baroque towns of Visegrad, Vac and Szentendre. The stage finishes in the impressive and fascinating city of Budapest, a city of two halves, Buda on one bank of the Danube, Pest on the other.