Puch bei Weiz

There is a special climate at the foot of the Kulm, the most beautiful panoramic mountain in Eastern Styria. The warm days and cool nights are perfect for growing fruit. Only here do the apples get their intense aroma. That's why there are more apple trees around Puch than anywhere else; three out of four Styrian apples come from here. The fruit farmers refine many of them into juices, must and schnapps. The innkeepers on Apple Street conjure up special specialties from the fruit. For example, all vintages of the “Abakus” are walled into the church wall; this noble brand is only opened after 100 years.

It is particularly beautiful here in spring, when the trees are blossoming, when the place is enveloped in a cloud of white and soft pink flowers and on the 4th Sunday in April the traditional apple blossom festival is celebrated again at the Hochgartl in Puch. In autumn at harvest time, when the countless apples of various varieties are harvested, there is another celebration in Puch and the surrounding area. The traditional Apple Street adventure trip in September is one of the highlights of the year.

In Elz there is the largest apple in the world as an archway, in Harl there is the “Cathedral of the Apple”, the large fruit warehouse. In the “House of the Apple” the history of fruit growing is presented; here you can taste the fruit in liquid form and as a juicy pastry. The rich history of fruit growing begins around the Church of St. Oswald with the “Norian girl” holding an apple. The gravestone of Ignaz Weberhofer, the forest schoolmaster Peter Rosegger, is right next door. When the great poet visited him, it was “a journey to paradise” for him.