Kahlenberg Hike

Kahlenberg Hike

This may honestly been my best day so far in Vienna. The entire previous day (the Saturday) and most of the night the snow fell, but the Sunday (3rd Dec) the sky cleared and the weather was wonderful. At the recommendation of a friend from church, I went out to hike up Kahlenberg, he told me that it was a particularly nice place to go when it snowed. I took the tram line D all the way to the northern edge of the city where there is a mountain peak called Kahlenberg.

I took this picture early, near the start of the hike. Everything was still freshly covered in snow and I was absolutely ecstatic to be walking out in the beautiful snow covered scenery. This early part of the walk wasn't even on the proper mountain yet, this was just the part with the last few houses before the mountain, and I was already excited. I kept stopping to take pictures, and this was only the start, the scenery and views would only get better.

While most of the pictures on this post will be of scenery and landscape, I did find this lovely close up that I wanted to share. I took this picture early as I was fascinated not only with the overall snow covered scenery but also the intricate details of how the snow rested on every item, and especially on leaves.

The first part of the pathway followed a little creek up the mountain. From this point, you can just barely see a church steeple on the horizon (along with a flat long building). That church is near the top of Kahlenberg.

The snow covered sign leading the way. When I was planning this walk last night I didn't know how easy it would be when covered in snow. I was worried about getting lost and so I used google street view to scout out the path; using it, I could see that most of the path was very well formed, often with bitumen. This gave me the confidence to attempt walking both up and down the mountain (there was a bus that can take one up to the top of the mountain and I was considering that option if the walk looked difficult in the snow).

And now I will share another close up of snow resting on twigs.

For about the first 1.5 kilometers the pathway was well marked out and there were even sections clear of snow. As I went higher, there was a cross roads and the path continuing up had deeper snow, winding its way through the forest, without as many fences or infrastructure. The above picture was taken shortly after this point.

The path continued steadily upwards, following a valley and would eventually reach a saddle. I would turn slightly before the saddle to follow the contour of the slope back towards the mountain peak. Not long after taking the above photo, someone on a snow board went past me going down the mountain. I was initially surprised, but when I thought about it, it made perfect sense, and seemed like a fun idea. Spend the morning hiking up a beautiful pathway and then ski or snow board back down to the bottom. Thankfully though there weren't too many people who took this option so I was never worried about being run over by snow sports enthusiasts.

This is one of my favourite photos form today. I loved how the sunlight lit the snow laden branches and filtered down to the snow covered path. I always thought that forests during winter in Europe wouldn't be beautiful as all the trees lost their leafy garments and were left bare. I, naturally, completely forgot about snow. As I hiked through this forest I realised that in winter the snow became the garments for the trees and gave them just as much beauty as they had in the other seasons when clothed with blossoms or leaves. In that moment I was thankful that God had created the snow in is such a way that it could so richly adorn the landscape.

This picture was taken just before the saddle, that tunnel in the background of the picture goes under the road to Kahlenberg. If I had taken the bus I would have been going on that road. Once I made it to the tunnel I would turn right. In this picture I loved how the tree was bent by the snow and almost made an arch over the path. For most of this part of the hike, the path, while covered in a decent amount of snow, was still wide and easy to follow.

The next part of the hike had the most snow and seemed to be the least traveled. There where places were I was ducking beneath overhanging branches and just hoping that the footsteps I followed would lead me the right way. I loved this part of the hike, the extra feeling of remoteness just made me enjoy it all the more. Every tree was outlined in a layer of snow and I could tell which side the wind had been blowing from all the snow piled up on one side of every trunk.

From certain angles, the trees were nothing but white spires in a white landscape.

This is another one of my favourites from today. As I walked past the sun was positioned perfectly to illuminate the snow that was delicately balanced upon every twig of this small tree.

The path widened again and by now I had walked up and out of any valleys where neighboring mountains could cast their shadow. The sun was nearing noon and with not a cloud in the sky the day was beautiful.

I knew I was nearing the top when I could see the church steeple showing between the trees.

And here I was at the church near the top of Kahlenberg. I must have gotten some snow on my lens as the above image is specked with white spots, but I think it kind of works.

There was a bus stop here, along with the church, and a few other buildings, including a cafe where I had an apple slice and a coffee.

And there was a lookout point with expansive views over much of Vienna. The above picture I believe is focused over the city core. I really liked how the the vineyards in the foreground give way to houses that then further give way to larger tenement buildings and even some skyscrapers and towers. This view was wonderful but I felt especially blessed to be able to see the entire landscape dusted with snow.

This full scale panorama shows the extent of the view I had from the lookout point. The panorama curved the snow in the fore ground to make it all fit into one picture.

I went down the mountain by a different way then I hiked up. Rather than walking through snow clad forests, my downward journey would take me through the vineyards. I had already had a wonderful day hiking up the mountain and would have been quite satisfied with my adventure so far, but the day kept giving! A good portion of my walk down was along a gentle spur of the mountain, with constant views in front of me and on either side. It was like the path was a continuous lookout, every step I took the view was still there before me.

And while I could constantly see into the distance, close by there were the vineyards covered in a beautiful layer of snow. I love how in this picture you can see the windswept snow being highlighted by the afternoon sun, with the vine poles casting long shadows across the snow.

Here is another picture of the pathway I was walking on a bit further down. It can't fully capture what it was like to be there but I hope it comes close. Everywhere was open ground around me and the path was slightly raised so I always had good views. This is actually looking back the way I had come and on the right, behind the two trees, is Kahlenberg, where I had been.

Again looking back, this is a close up of the mountain peak. You can see the church steeple rising behind the university buildings. I felt like this was a pretty good picture of the mountain, I liked how the image is partitioned into 3 sections: the vineyards, the forested mountain, and the sky.

This was a view looking out towards the east. In that direction the rolling hills continued onward, the near ones covered in the neat rows of vineyards that beautifully highlight the flow of the hill.

Here is one of my best pictures of the Danube, with a snow covered vineyard in the foreground

I took a little short cut through a vineyard to get to the tram station faster (I was hoping to quickly visit a Museum that was closing at 6:00 pm). This was one of the last pictures I took where I still had a view. Where the houses start is pretty much the bottom of the mountain. From there I would just need to make a short walk along the streets to the tram station.

And here is the tram station. I took this picture while waiting and I was fascinated with how the tram could still operate even with snow on the tracks.

This was a hard post to write up because there were so many good pictures. I took over 250 photos and my initial selection included 70 pictures from the hike. I struggled to narrow it down to just the 25 or so above, deciding to focus more on the journey of the hike rather than trying to pick my favourite pictures. I had no idea how else to structure this post. However, there were still many pictures I wanted to share that just didn't make the cut, so I have uploaded them to a page dedicated to the Kahlenberg hike.

As I said at the start, this may have been one of my best days in Vienna. I felt so blessed to have been able to explore such a beautiful scenery. I would highly recommend the walk if you ever visit. I hope that through this post and the photos you can share a little bit of the joy I had on this day.

Thanks for reading – Edward

Written 20th of January 2024


Please comment below if you have any questions or thoughts on any pictures.