Mountain lakes with Alpenrose in bloom, alluvial forests with kingfishers and herons, moors with carnivorous plants, bright meadows for picking flowers, gorges with surging mountain streams, Alpine meadows full of orchids, dripstone caves with stalactites and stalagmites and a 1000-year-old oak - could this be your countryside holiday?
Their great natural wealth, breathtaking beauty and fact that they have been almost untouched by people make these areas the hidden natural jewels of Styria and Northeastern Slovenia.
In the eastern Hochschwab area are the Aflenzer Staritzen. From the Seebergsattel the trail first leads over mountain pastures, then through a forest of spruce, firs and beech into...
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Between Schöder and Krakaudorf the Günstner Waterfall plunges over the prehistoric boulders of the Schladminger Tauern into the Künstenbach. At 65 metres, it is Styria's highest waterfall....
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The wet meadows of the Ennstal are one of the last sanctuaries in Styria for the Siberian iris. You can rely on them blooming: at the beginning of June every year they appear in the meadows...
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The Boč is worth visiting for both its unspoilt beech forests and its dry grasslands.
The beech forests are characterised by the wild...
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From Austria, the alluvial forest continues on Slovenian soil. At Mota, the "BioMura" Information Centre has been established for the extremely rare...
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South of the Dravinja Valley lies the forested ridge of the Donatiberg. At first glance it appears rather inconspicuous, but it is home...
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Right in the southwest of the Hochschwab Massif is the Trenchtlingstock. It is best to approach it from the "Hiaslegg" saddle, next to the inn of the same name. The trail leads...
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The Heiliggeistklamm, south of Leutschach, ends directly on the Slovenian border at the little church of Sveti Duh (Holy Ghost). Until this point the trail is difficult - it leads...
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The Pohorje holds so many natural jewels: the Črno jezero is one of them.
From the Osankarica-Hütte (Osankarica Hut) the trail leads...
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The Hörfeld Moor south of Mühlen, directly on the state border with Carinthia, is the most significant low moor area in Styria. It is an Austrian, Ramsar and European nature conservation...
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In the northeastern-most part of Slovenia, just before the Hungarian border, is Hodoko jezero. It was constructed as an artificial lake...
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To the west of the town of Leibnitz, at the foot of Seggau Castle, the Laßnitz and Sulm rivers converge. With the merging of the remaining floodplains with alluvial forests and meadows with...
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Since 2002 Styria has had its own national park, the Gesäuse. And justifiably so, as this unspoilt mountain landscape proves every day. The Buchstein is a chalk mountain, whose Alpine...
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The Southeastern Styrian Hills have a unique wealth of unspoilt habitats. Species-rich deciduous forests with woodruff and wood-rush, oak-hornbeam forests and alluvial forests with Black...
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North of Bad Aussee at just under 900 metres above sea level is the Blaa-Alm. Right next to the inn lies the Narzissenwiese, which transforms from a wet meadow into a sea of white flowers...
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The Teufelstein lies between Schanzschattel and Alpl in the Fischbach Alps. The ascent is from Fischbach in the district of Gmoa via the Zellerkreuz through thick spruce forest. At the...
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The Peca (German: Petzen) is a border mountain shared by Slovenia and Austria. At 2126 metres above sea level it is not particularly...
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Two special mountain lakes lie in the southern Schladminger Tauern. From the Katschbach stream's U-shaped valley between the Dorferhütte (Dorfer Hut) and Kreuzerhütte (Kreuzer Hut) the...
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The waters can still thunder between the Donnersbachwald and Donnersbach: the Donnersbach ("
Donner" is "thunder" in German) forces its way through the prehistoric...
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A geological peculiarity lies hidden in the foothills of the Koralm between Wernersdorf and Wiel: the Hohlfelsen.
A narrow path leads from the starting point through wild scrub into the...
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On the edge of the town of Deutschlandsberg, under the mountain, is the access to the Deutschlandsberger Klause, an unspoilt and comfortably traversable forest...
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At around one thousand years old the Bierbaum Oak is the oldest in Europe! When the young tree forced out its first leaves from an acorn, Austria had just been documented as...
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Travelling from Judenburg via the Schmelz you can comfortably reach the Winterleitenhütte (Winterleiten Hut) at just under 1800 metres above sea level. It lies on...
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From St. Nikolai im Sölktal it's off to the southeast via the Bräualmtal (Bräualm Valley) on Hohensee lake. And the trail is worth it for nature-lovers from the start: The Bräualmbach winds...
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Man has let nature take its course along the former Iron Curtain. Today the border can be crossed and the European Green Belt connects...
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The Sölktäler Nature Park has plenty of water, something that becomes clear to you on the hike to the hidden Lemparkarsee: From the Breitlahnhütte (Breitlahn Hut)...
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At almost 50 kilometres long, the floodplains between Spielfeld and Bad Radkersburg are the largest in Styria - the Murauen. No power stations prevent the free flow of the Mur. Although it...
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Fragrant colourful herbs, various orchids and grasses, butterflies, grasshoppers, bugs and other animals in almost endless numbers; buzzing, humming and chirping from all directions - a...
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From the Leopoldsteiner See lake the trail leads east via the Seeau to the forester's houses. From here the trail turns west to then stray in a northerly direction and cross the stream to...
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Several lakes, a remnant of the ice age, lie nestling in the soft hills of the Neumarkter Passlandschaft. The most famous of these is the Furtner Teich at 870 m above sea level. Boat trips,...
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For many hundreds of years the River Lafnitz was the border between Austria and Hungary; the border only strayed eastwards in 1921 and Burgenland became part of Austria.
This is without...
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The Katerloch, near the better-known Grasslhöhle, above the Raabklamm (Raab Gorge) northwest of Weiz, has the greatest wealth of...
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The Stoderzinken is very popular as a scenic peak and is regularly visited as an excursion destination. The fact that a natural jewel lies dormant on its northwestern slope, however, is...
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The Styrian Eisenwurzen Nature Park is rich with unique geological phenomena. The Kraus Cave is without doubt one of them.
Entrance...
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The 70-hectare wetlands, directly on the southern border of the town of Hartberg have a varied history. Centuries ago, before it was declared an Austrian and European... [more]
The hike begins following Hiking Trail No. 1 towards the west from the ski-lift valley station in the Rogla ski resort on the Pohorje...
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From the Ribnica-Hütte (Ribnica Hut) in the western part of the Pohorje Mountains the trail leads via the Jezerski Gipfel to Ribniko...
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During its course, the River Feistritz channels its way between Anger and Kaibling though a narrow valley, in which the Herberstein Gorge lies. The starting point is Herberstein...
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The Fischbach streams through a large continuous area of forest between Burgau im Lafnitztal and Blumau in der Steiermark. It flows in the direction of Lafnitz. The stream has been...
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Those who are looking for seclusion and adventure will find it in the Roßloch Gorge north of Mürzsteg in the Mürzer Oberland Nature Park. What is special is partly the gorge itself, which...
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The Pohorje Mountains south of the Drau Valley are the largest low mountain range in Slovenia. Črni vrh, which means the "Black Peak", is the highest peak at... [more]
The Raab, whose source is the Osser, has struck its way through the mountains between Arzberg, Gutenberg and Mortantsch for thousands of years. At over 15 km, this is today the site of the...
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