Hiking route Stage 23 From Glacier to Wine South Route Leutschach - Ratsch an der Weinstraße - Touren-Impression #1 | © (c) Steiermark Tourismus/Harry Schiffer Hiking route Stage 23 From Glacier to Wine South Route Leutschach - Ratsch an der Weinstraße - Touren-Impression #1 | © (c) Steiermark Tourismus/Harry Schiffer

Stage 23 From Glacier to Wine South Route Leutschach - Ratsch an der Weinstraße

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A beautiful, romantic tour right into the heart of the South Styrian wine country. From Leutschach, the center of the largest wine-growing community in Styria, the trail leads us to one of the most famous and beautiful vantage points in the Südsteiermark Nature Park, the large grape cluster on the Eory-Kogel. Through the typically hilly landscape with its vineyards and in between shady forests we reach on this stage of the hiking route "From glacier to wine" via Sulztal an der Weinstraße in sections along the Styrian-Slovenian border to Ratsch an der Weinstraße.
Parts of this stage of the hiking route "From Glacier to Wine" are also identical with the Glanzer Hoftour, one of the most popular hiking tours in the South Styrian Nature Park. In addition to the grape on the Eory-Kogel, which has been in existence for many years, other art projects were also launched in 2015 to mark the anniversary of 60 years of the South Styrian Wine Route. The 5-meter high grape, made of stainless steel and glass, which has existed for many years, symbolizes the days and weeks in the cycle of the year with its 365 beads (and a 366th for the leap year) and the 52 parts (leaves, trunk and grape). In turn, the new gallery on the Wine Road, in which renowned artists such as Bodo Hell, Werner Reiterer, Konrad Adam, or Gerald Brettschuh have participated, together with young artists such as Verena Rotky or Michaela Sattler, deals with the theme of 60 years of the South Styrian Wine Road. The works created can be admired on the one hand as art prints on glass in an outdoor gallery in the region, and on the other hand 15 art print posters - signed and numbered - can be purchased online for each motif. The net proceeds were donated to charitable causes in southern Styria.

Characteristics

Skill
Fitness
Experience
Scenery

Best season

January
February
March
November
December

The tour in numbers

medium
Level of difficulty
16,0 km
Route
6:00 h
Time
720 hm
Uphill
720 hm
Downhill
470 m
Highest point
327 m
Lowest point

Map & downloads

More information

Detaillierte Informationen zur Anreise finden Sie hier.

From Leutschach, where in addition to viticulture, hop cultivation also plays an important role, which can truly be experienced at the Leutschach Brewery, the route first takes us along the Glanzer Hoftour slightly uphill to the Eory-Kogel with the largest grape in the world. Excellent wine taverns and wineries invite us to make a stop and also give us an insight into the art and craft of the winegrowers on what is probably Austria's most famous wine route, because here it is still possible to look behind the scenes in many places. At the Eory-Kogel we keep to the left and hike in the direction of Sabathihof, where we keep to the right and continue hiking along the Glanzer Hoftour. Soon we arrive over the Roßberg to the Germuth winery in the heart of the wine route near Glanz.

Directly along the border with Slovenia, identical with the Southern Alpine Trail 03, we continue hiking on this stage of the hiking route "From Glacier to Wine" to visit another beautiful spot directly south of Sulz an der Weinstraße in the area of the Dreisiebner Winery. The border table is a table surrounded with seats directly at the border between the two countries and was built for "border talks". The border table is intended to create a meeting place for cultural exchange. In addition, the border table offers itself as a communication hub for art, culture and politics, but also especially for private persons, especially the local population and vacation guests as a place to stay. After a last leisurely climb, the route continues to one of the most popular photo motifs in the Südsteiermark Nature Park, the Herzerlstraße - a street section in the shape of a heart. Passing more wineries and wine taverns, we soon arrive at our stage town Ratsch an der Weinstraße, hiking slightly downhill, before continuing along the border to Slovenia to Ehrenhausen the next day.

In the Thermen- & Vulkanland region of Styria, Eastern Styria and Southern and Western Styria, the GenussCard opens the door to over 200 excursion destinations when you stay overnight in one of the approximately 100 GenussCard partner establishments. Countless of these GenussCard excursion destinations, ranging from culinary manufactories to bathing lakes and museums, are located directly on the hiking route "From Glacier to Wine".

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

There are numerous parking spaces available in Leutschach.

Steiermark Tourismus

Tel. +43 316 4003

info@steiermark.com

www.steiermark.com/en

If you would like to hire a  tour operator, simply book with Steiermark Touristik, the official travel agency of Steiermark Tourismus:

Tel. +43 316 4003 450, 

www.steiermark-touristik.com

The Steiermark Touren app, available free of charge on Google Play and the App Store  (Android, iOS), offers detailed first-hand information: brief facts (length, duration, difficulty, ascent and descent/elevation gain, ratings), map, route descriptions, altimeter, compass, peak finder, navigation along the tour. You can also create your own personal lists of favourite tours and sites, store tours and destinations offline, use social media channels, and much more.

Gallery

What the weather will be like

Leutschach an der Weinstraße (351m)

Morning
sunny
7°C
5%
5 km/h
Noon
weather.icon.04
17°C
0%
20 km/h
Night
slightly cloudy
15°C
5%
15 km/h
Sunny and cloudy periods will alternate throughout the day.
Morning
sunny
10°C
0%
5 km/h
Noon
very sunny
22°C
0%
15 km/h
Night
sunny
18°C
5%
10 km/h
Rather sunny weather during the day with clouds mainly in the morning and towards the evening
31.03.2024
sunny
9°C 22°C
01.04.2024
cloudy
9°C 24°C
02.04.2024
sunny
6°C 17°C

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