From Glacier to Wine - South Route

Accessible by public transport

Characteristics

Skill

Fitness

The tour in numbers

Level of difficulty medium

Route 369,5 km

Time 99:30 h

Uphill 17083 hm

Downhill 19498 hm

Highest point 2684 m

The southern route of the long-distance hiking trail "From the Glacier to the Wine" leads from the Dachstein over the Schladminger Tauern, the mountaineering village of Krakow, the historic town of Murau, the Zirbitzkogel-Grebenzen Nature Park and the Pack and Koralm to Southern Styria with its end point in Leibnitz. This tour from the alpine north to the charming Southern Styria Natute Park is a journey of discovery of a special kind.

This tour with 25 daily stages is neither about top athletic performance nor about getting from A to B as quickly as possible. The focus is on the scenic, cultural and culinary specialities along the way, which are presented to the hiker from unusual perspectives, partly by local guides. If you don't want to do it all at once, you can get on or off the trail at almost every stage.

The route is therefore more than just a long-distance hiking trail. Along the way, numerous guides such as natural park guides or winegrowers offer guests the opportunity to gain insights into everyday life or to take look behind the scenes. The impressive landscapes of Styria, such as the impressive Schladminger Tauern with the Klafferkessel, a tundra-like landscape in the heart of Europe, will take your breath away. You get to know the country and its people through encounters - the guides are to be understood in this sense. Cabin owners, restaurateurs and winegrowers, natural park mediators and monastery patrons invite you to get involved in the details along the way.

Best season

January

February

March

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December

More information

Your way to the Dachstein-Gletscherseilbahn.

The southern route leads in 25 daily stages from the Dachstein Glacier over the Schladminger Tauern, the Murau holiday region, the Graz region and into Southern Styria.

The route first crosses the Schladminger Tauern mountains, where the term "level" is a foreign word until you reach the mountaineering village of Krakau, because it is either steeply uphill or steeply downhill. And in between: the most beautiful and highest peaks of the Schladminger Tauern.

Murau is one of the highlights of the southern route. After eleven days, you can experience another cultural highlight: the Benedictine Abbey of St. Lambrecht in the Zirbitzkogel-Grebenzen Nature Park is home to almost a thousand years of Styrian history, which we can relive with the help of an art history and folklore collection.

Before we reach the idyllic village of Obdach in Zirbenland and the Koralm, a long ridge between the two provinces of Styria and Carinthia, you first have to climb the 2,396-metre-high Zirbitzkogel in the Seetal Alps. After the Packsattel and the Koralm, you finally dive into the wine country. Or rather, into Schilcherland, whose "capital" is Deutschlandsberg. Via Eibiswald, the route then follows the border to Slovenia, past vineyards and wine taverns.

Good to know: The southern route as well as the northern route can also be hiked in sections, because thanks to public transportation, there are also so-called hiking and valley buses as well as hiking taxis - it is possible to return to the starting point from almost every final destination.

Depending on the season, different sections of the trail can be hiked. In spring, for example, the section starting from the stage destination of Anger in Oststeiermark is often already free of snow and invites hiking enthusiasts to enjoy some of the first tours of the year.

It is recommended to arrive a few days earlier and stay for at least two nights at an accommodation in the Schladming-Dachstein region that is also a Schladming-Dachstein Card partner property. By staying overnight and getting into the spirit of the hiking tour, guests receive the Schladming-Dachstein Card, which includes free use of all hiking buses as well as the ascent with the Dachstein Panorama Gondola. Please note: Due to high demand, the gondola ride can only be guaranteed with a fixed-seat reservation. The booking fee is € 2.90 per person.

Please note that some mountain huts may also have closing days. Careful planning is therefore essential, as certain sections of the trail may only be accessible on specific days of the week due to hut closing days.

Accessible by train and bus: detailed information about arriving by ÖBB (Austrian Federal Railways) can be found at www.oebb.at or on the Verbundlinie Steiermark website www.busbahnbim.at

With Verbundlinie’s BusBahnBim route planner app, planning your journey has never been easier: simply enter towns and/or addresses, stop names or points of interest to check all bus, train and tram connections in Austria. The app is available free of charge for smartphones – on Google Play and in the App Store

Sufficient parking is available at the central hiking starting point near the Event Center in Ramsau am Dachstein.

Steiermark Tourismus, Tel. +43 316 4003
www.steiermark.com