This 3 hours hike starts at the west end of Dürnstein in Wachau valley, Lower Austria.
From there you cross the rails of the Wachaubahn and continue walking up the mountain.
Quite soon the Vogelbergsteig, a steep pathway up the mountain starts.
After some hundred meters through the woodland, the path becomes rocky.
Soon you will reach the first of many lookout points. Here you can look down to the ruins of Dürnstein castle, to the monastery and the church of Dürnstein and to the Danube river.
Later the path becomes narrower and is secured with iron ropes.
Finally you come to woodland again and reach a crossing.
Then it's only something like a quarter of an hour to get to the "Kanzel". "Kanzel" is the German word for "pulpit", but this "Kanzel" is not in a church but a rock ledge from that you have an astonishing view down to wachau valley.
From the Kanzel you walk back to the crossing and continue in Eastern direction. In another five minutes you reach the Fesslhütte, a nice "mountain restaurant".
From the Fesslhütte you walk another five to ten minutes to the Starhembergwarte, a lookout tower built in 1885. Unfortunately, the view from the tower is disappointing - obviously the trees have not been that high when the tower was built.
Then I went back to the Fesslhütte. For the way down to Dürnstein I chose the Talgraben. The way was also quite steep but not rocky as the Vogelbergsteig. More images and a map can be found on Weinbergwandern.at!GPS data can be downloaded here!
