The Ybbsuferweg is a walking path right at the banks of the river Ybbs in Waidhofen an der Ybbs in Lower Austria.
Please note that you are allowed to walk this path only from May to October.
The L6188 Ybbsitzer Straße is the main road between Waidhofen and Ybbsitz. When you come from Ybbsitz you will see a hospital, a residential care home and a lot of car dealers alongside the road. You won't imagine that only 10-20 meters from you everything looks completely different. So let's dive into this completely different world.
Between the houses Ybbsitzer Straße No. 37 and 35 you walk down a small way.
Behind the houses you have to turn left. Then, after some meters, the Ybbsuferweg starts right to the paved street.
The Ybbsuferweg is an idyllic path alongside the river Ybbs. Unfortunately it rained the days before I walked it so the water was a muddy.
Soon you will see the spectacular sides of this path, especially the backsieds of the houses which were built on the roughly 5 meter high "cliffs".
Someone built this crazy small staircase - I guess for his cat.
There is a small footbridge that serves as a lookout and information point.
Also some balconies are "hanging" alongside the path.
Some houses also have private staircases (for people, not for cats). I guess that hundred years ago these staircases were used to get down to the river to wash the clothes.
There are also some semi-caves alongside the path.
At the middle of the Ybbsuferweg you can walk up to the "Zeller Hochbrücke".
From there you can see how the houses were built on the rocks.
But now back down to the river Ybbs. You can now continue your walk in the street "Unter der Leithen". This street respectively the houses in this street were built 5-10 meters below the level of the main street.
Here are the old houses of a cooperage. The history of the cooperage goes back to the year 1628. Some years ago the Schneckenleitner family who owns the cooperage since 1880 moved to a more modern building.
There's another small way up to the Ybbsitzer Straße.
On the other side of the river you can see Zell an der Ybbs. Since 1971 Zell used to be an independent market town. 1972 it became a catastral community of Waidhofen.
Finally the street "Unter der Leithen" leads up to the Ybbstor (also called "Ybbsturm"), the last remaining city gate of Waidhofen.
But before you go to the city center, you can turn right…
and walk to the hydroelectric power station "Stadtwehr". Before, there has been a weir called "Winterwehr" at that place. Since 2012 the modern hydroelectric power station generates electricity for more than the half of Waidhofen's citizens.
So, enough of the rather unknown parts of Waidhofen. Now you can walk through the Ybbstor to the beautiful old town of Waidhofen, maybe for shopping or maybe for drinking some coffee or for a cake in one of the three (!) pastry shops in this small town.
GPS data can be downloaded here