The southern route leads in 25 daily stages from the Dachstein Glacier over the Schladminger Tauern, the Murtal 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 Krakow, 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 natural park Zirbitzkogel-Grebenzen 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.