Stage 03 From Glacier to Wine North Route Bad Gleichenberg - Klöch

Immediately after the start in Bad Gleichenberg in the beautifully landscaped spa park with the attached Kurhaus, we go through a wooded section up to the Albrechtshöhe, which offers us a beautiful view of the surrounding landscape. Via the Parapluieweg past the Erzherzog Johann memorial, the 786 path now leads us slightly downhill to Kapfensteiner Straße, which we follow on the right for a few hundred meters and then branch off to the left. Now we continue along the 786 path in the direction of Stradner Kogel, which we bypass to the west. The dense forest that accompanies us here, we learn to appreciate especially in summer as a source of shade. In front of a quarry in the middle of the forest, the path makes a sharp left turn and then turns right again.

After about 2 km we leave the forest and arrive at the Frutten-Gießelsdorf lookout, which offers us a beautiful panorama of the surrounding vineyards. Here we also meet the Wine Trail of the Senses, which leads to St. Anna am Aigen with its Gesamtsteirische Vinothek. However, we continue straight ahead and enjoy the path and the panoramic views in the idyllically situated vineyards on the Rosenberg, which we now hike through.

We continue along the ridge above the vineyards and then take the path through the vineyards to the settlement of Größing, where we turn sharply left. After about 500 meters the path turns right again and takes us directly to Tieschen, a small wine-growing village in the middle of the Thermenland. In Tieschen, the trail leads us past the parish church to the Kolleritsch winegrowers' hotel, where we branch off to the left to circle the Königsberg to the north. Here you will also find a basalt fissure, which was uncovered during quarry work in the 19th century. This window into the earth's history shows us the intrusion of molten rock in the late phase of volcanic history.

The next section of our tour - before heading to Bad Radkersburg for the finale - to Klöch is lined with smaller and larger lookout towers, with the largest and most imposing certainly being the one at the Klöch castle ruins at the end of the hike. The lookout tower of the Klöch castle ruins offers a beautiful view of the hilly wine country in southeastern Styria and the bordering Hungary and Slovenia. The castle ruin was renovated in 1998 and is also used for cultural events such as theater performances, concerts or readings. The castle ruin on the left hand side of our path can also be seen as the entrance gate to Klöch. It is now only a few meters to the beautiful village square, where we also find the vinotheque and the wine museum on the right hand side past the parish office.

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

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.

Gratis Pocket Card Wanderroute "Vom Gletscher zum Wein" finden Sie auf www.steiermark.com

Kompass WK225 Steirisches Hügel-, Vulkan- und Thermenland, Mureck, Bad Radkersburg, Murska Sobota www.kompass.at

Freytag & Berndt WK423 Steirisches Thermenland · Südliches Burgenland · Steirisches Vulkanland www.freytagberndt.at

Rother Wanderführer "Vom Gletscher zum Wein": auf 160 Seiten mit 80 Farbabbildungen 60 Höhenprofile, 60 Wanderkärtchen im Maßstab 1:75.000, zwei Übersichtskarten, GPS-Tracks zum Download, Format 11,5 x 16,5 cm, kartoniert mit Polytex-Laminierung, ISBN 978-3-7633-4550-2, www.rother.de