Starting Point:
Maria Ellend, from Landstrasse (across from the sewage treatment plant) descending steeply to the National Park entrance. Note: there is limited parking near the entrance to the National Park!

The trail starts as a narrow path along a steep slope. Even in early summer, the trail leads through dense thickets of Stinging Nettle, impatiens and dewberry; in August the delicious berries are the walker's treat! The trail runs along a backwater where beaver feed and kingfishers flutter. At the traverse leading east, the backwater becomes wider. Herons, swans and in the winter, ducks, populate these waters. Shortly before the trail reaches the Danube, it crosses a trench which is almost always filled with water, and where deer and martens have left their tracks.
The trail continues on the towpath ("Treppelweg") along the Danube. In the winter it is usually very windy, but the site is excellent for bird watching. Waterfowl prefer the banks on the other side of the river. The White-tailed Eagle may be spotted flying high above. 
The path turns off from the immediate shores and continues on soft Danube sand until reaching the Haslau Traverse.

Starting point:
Haslau Hauptstrasse, then Berggasse (on foot); or the Donaustrasse (by car) down to the National Park entrance at the Haslau Traverse. There is limited parking near the National Park entrance, but parking spots may be found in the marked parking lot near the playing fields. 
Alternatively, enter via Regelsbrunn: take the Bauernzeile down towards the river, curving right on the Danube landing area until reaching the National Park entrance.

The Danube is reached across the Haslau Traverse. Downstream is a depression in the towpath ("Treppelweg"), then a bridge opening. This side arm was reconnected to the Danube in order to supply water to the wetlands in certain parts of the year. Shortly afterwards, the trail passes the landing for the passenger ferry to Orth.
Low willowy shrubs thrive on the shores which later flatten out into gravel banks. In order to protect the nesting grounds of birds such as the Little Ringed Plover – which build their nests in loose gravel banks – these areas should not be disturbed in any way. 
After approx. two kilometres, the trail passes the "1900 km" mark on the river, which measures the distance from the mouth of the Danube at Sulina, Romania. It continues along an old grove of poplars, and the woods become increasingly thick and mature. A side arm populated by grey herons, great white egrets, cormorants, swans and goosanders is crossed once more at the Regelsbrunn Traverse.