Germany's territory is crossed by many cycling routes
We present to your attention the top ten most popular cycling routes in Germany, published in March 2017. The second and fourth places are shared by two routes each, so there are twelve in the list. As Deutsche Welle notes, the leader of the ranking has held first place for the thirteenth consecutive year.
1. Elbe Route
Elbe Route – Elberadweg. Length: 1220 km. Starts at the resort of Špindlerův Mlýn in the Czech Republic. Ends in the German city of Cuxhaven, where the Elbe flows into the North Sea. Sights and cities: Saxon Switzerland; Dresden, Meissen, Torgau, Wittenberg, Dessau, Magdeburg, Hamburg.
2. Weser Route
Weser Route – Weserradweg. Length: 515 km. Starts in Lower Saxony in the city of Hannoversch Münden at the confluence of the rivers Werra and Fulda, which form the Weser. Leads to the mouth into the North Sea near Bremerhaven and then reaches Cuxhaven. Sights and cities: architectural monuments of the Weser Renaissance; Hamelin, Bad Oeynhausen, Porta Westfalica, Minden, Bremen.
2. Ruhr Route
Ruhr Route – RuhrtalRadweg. Length: 230 km. Starts near the source of the Ruhr River in the city of Winterberg, passes through the Ruhr region in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and ends in Duisburg, where the Ruhr flows into the Rhine. Sights and cities: industrial monuments – the Zollverein mine in Essen and others; Iserlohn, Dortmund, Witten, Bochum, Mülheim an der Ruhr, Oberhausen.
3. Rhine Route
Rhine Route – Rheinradweg. Length: about 1230 km, of which in Germany – about 980 km. Passes through five countries – from the source in the Swiss Alps to the mouth in the Netherlands. Sights and cities in Germany: castles on the Middle Rhine, the Lorelei rock, cathedrals in Speyer, Worms and Cologne; Mainz, Bingen, Karlsruhe, Oberwesel, Koblenz, Bonn, Düsseldorf, Xanten.
4. Danube Route
Danube Route – Donauradweg. Length: 2850 km, of which in Germany – about 600 km. Starts in the German city of Donaueschingen in the state of Baden-Württemberg, also passes through Bavaria, ends in the Danube Delta in Romania. Sights and cities in Germany: Sigmaringen Castle, the Swabian Alb biosphere reserve; Donauwörth, Ingolstadt, Regensburg, Passau.
4. Baltic Sea Route
Baltic Sea Route – Ostseeküsten-Radweg (also known as the Hanseatic Route). Length: 7980 km through nine countries on the Baltic Sea, in Germany – 1095 km. In Germany, the route starts in Flensburg on the Danish border and leads to the Polish border – the resort of Ahlbeck on Usedom. Sights and cities: World Heritage sites in Wismar and Stralsund, Rügen; Kiel, Travemünde, Greifswald.
5. Main Route
Main Route – MainRadweg. Length: about 600 km. Starts in the Bavarian town of Bischofsgrün near the source of the White Main – the right tributary of the Main. Ends in Mainz, where this river flows into the Rhine. Sights and cities: World Heritage sites in Bayreuth, Bamberg and Würzburg; Aschaffenburg, Hanau, Frankfurt am Main.
6. Moselle Route
Moselle Route – Mosel-Radweg. Length: 239 km. Part of the international route Velo Tour Moselle. Starts on the French border in the commune of Perl. Ends in Koblenz at the confluence of the Moselle and the Rhine. Sights and cities: World Heritage sites in Trier, wine-growing villages, Cochem Castle; Bernkastel-Kues – birthplace of philosopher Nicholas of Cusa, Traben-Trarbach.
7. Lake Constance Route
Lake Constance Route – Bodensee-Radweg. Length: about 260 kilometers. Laid around Lake Constance through Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Starts and ends in Konstanz. Sights and cities in Germany: World Heritage sites in Unteruhldingen and on the island of Reichenau, the flower island of Mainau, numerous Baroque monuments; Lindau, Friedrichshafen, Meersburg.
8. Altmühl Route
Altmühl Route – Altmühltal-Radweg. Length: about 250 km. Starts in the Bavarian half-timbered town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Ends in Kelheim, where the Altmühl River flows into the Danube. Sights and cities: Altmühl Valley Nature Park, Karlsgraben – remains of a canal between the Rhine and Danube systems from the time of Charlemagne, the "12 Apostles" rocks; Treuchtlingen, Eichstätt.
9. Bavarian Lake Route
Bavarian Lake Route – Bodensee-Königssee Radweg. Length: 418 km. Starts in Lindau on Lake Constance. Ends in Berchtesgaden on Lake Königssee. Passes by lakes along the foothills of the Alps. Sights, cities and communities: Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles, St. Bartholomew's Church on Königssee, the Kandinsky and Münter house museum in Murnau; Füssen, Bernau am Chiemsee, Traunstein.
10. Oder-Neisse Route
Oder-Neisse Route – Oder-Neiße-Radweg. Length: 630 km. Starts near the source of the Lusatian Neisse River in the Czech Republic. Ends in Ahlbeck on the island of Usedom. Runs along the Neisse, then along the Oder along the Polish border. Sights and cities: World Heritage site – Bad Muskau Park, Old Town in Görlitz; Zittau, Frankfurt an der Oder.
Popular regions
According to the survey results, the most popular regions in Germany for cycling trips were also named. The top five included Bavaria, Münsterland, Lake Constance, the Baltic Sea coast, Baden-Württemberg, the Ruhr region and North Rhine-Westphalia.