We are happy to announce the launch of the new EuroVelo 6 Detours section on danube.travel – a resource created for cyclists who want to see more of the Danube region than the route itself.

The idea behind it is simple. Thousands of cyclists ride the EuroVelo 6 route along the Danube every year, but many of the region’s most interesting places – castles, national parks, historic towns, wine regions – lie just off the main route. Reaching them by bike alone would mean long extra kilometres. But what if you could hop on a train or a bus, take your bike with you, and be there in under an hour?

That is exactly what we set out to explore. Over the past months, our team researched the entire EuroVelo 6 corridor and identified almost 70 attractions that cyclists can reach with a short detour using public transport – with bicycles allowed on board. We visited these places, filmed and photographed them, and tested the connections ourselves to make sure the information really works in practice.

The result is a completely upgraded EuroVelo 6 section on danube.travel. It now brings together everything a cyclist needs to plan a detour: dedicated pages for each attraction, an interactive map of the route and its surroundings, and practical country-by-country guides explaining how to take your bicycle on trains and buses in each Danube country. Travel times, connections and bikes-on-board rules – information that used to be scattered across dozens of national websites, often incomplete or hard to find – is now gathered in one place.

To spread the word, we ran an online campaign across social media and Google, reaching millions of travellers interested in cycling, nature and slow travel. The response confirmed what we hoped: most cyclists simply didn’t know these options existed. In our survey, the majority of respondents said the information was useful for planning their trip, that they would now consider a short detour by public transport, and that they would recommend the resource to fellow cyclists.

The launch was also celebrated offline. Together with Ulice za bicikliste, a well-established cycling association, a smaller-scale promotional event was organized in cooperation with the DCC. EuroVelo maps were handed out to catch the attention of passing cyclists, while a branded info desk offered a QR code linking directly to the new website and put the spotlight on one of the attractions featured in the campaign – giving visitors an immediate taste of what they could explore along the route. The desk provided extra visibility, shared practical information, and engaged directly with participants.

This pilot action was carried out by the Danube Competence Center as part of the A2PT (Active to Public Transport) project, supported by the Interreg Danube Region Programme co-funded by the European Union, which works to better connect cycling with public transport along the Danube. By making intermodal travel easier to plan, the new section supports sustainable, active mobility across the region – and shows that the Danube has much more to offer than what you can see from the saddle.

Explore the new EuroVelo 6 Detours section at danube.travel and plan your next adventure along the Danube.

Photos: Bogdan Spasojević