The most beautiful hikes in the Vienna Woods
Hiking x Forest: It’s a match, in the Vienna Woods
The Vienna Woods. Add thick forests, rolling hills and breathtaking views, and you get a hiking area that couldn’t be any more inspiring - something which fascinates nature lovers and culture aficionados alike.
The Vienna Woods in Lower Austria is first and foremost an adventure for hiking enthusiasts - for Europe's only biosphere park on the outskirts of Vienna offers a variety of hiking tours. With its dense forests, gentle hills and Elysian landscapes, it literally attracts nature lovers. Along its hiking trails you can take in the beauty of nature, roam through forests, rest on flowering meadows and climb to vantage points that offer spectacular panoramic views of the surrounding region. The ErlebnisWienerWald (Experience in the Vienna Woods) tours are the perfect way to truly immerse yourself in Vienna's green lungs. While you can literally taste the culinary side of the biosphere reserve on the WienerWaldGenuss (Taste of the Vienna Woods) tour, you can get to know the most relaxing parts of the Vienna Woods on the WienerWaldSein (Forest Bathing in the Vienna Woods). And if you also want to leave your own traces, here are the most beautiful hikes of the region:
#1 Mauerbach-Tulbing circular hike
Duration: 3:00 h | Ascent: 276 egm | medium | tour details
If silence is golden, what is a whole monastery of silence? Correct! A hiking destination that urgently needs to be explored. Via Hirschengarten, it's also not too far from Mauerbach to Tulbinger Kogel. Especially when the path leads through one of the most beautiful landscapes. Be sure to follow in the footsteps of the Carthusian monks in the early Baroque monastery complex of the charterhouse Mauerbach. They lived there as hermits. And practised silence!
#2 Temple of the Hussars
Duration: 6:30 h | Ascent: 398 egm | medium | tour details
A path through lush forests and along idyllic landscapes leads to the magnificent Temple of the Hussars at the summit of the Kleiner Anninger. This was built in 1813 as the "Temple of the War Hussar". Take your time and marvel at the architectural design, the magnificent facade and the ornate decorations of the building. A majestic sight and view into the vast green forest landscape of the Vienna Woods.
#3 Helenental Cultural Hiking Route („G’schichten aus dem Wienerwald“)
Stage 1: Duration: 5:30 h | Ascent: 431 egm | medium | tour details
Stage 2: Duration: 7:30 h | Ascent: 566 egm | medium | tour details
A circular trail and lots of stories. A fitting name for the hike - Stories from the Vienna Woods („G’schichten aus dem Wienerwald“) - because there are several locations along the circular trail that all have more or less to tell. If you start the first stage in Baden and follow the Schwechat to Alland, you will also pass the "Wegerl im Helenental" (“Sweet footpaths in Helenvalley”) which is just as it sounds - simply lovely. A short detour then leads to the Rauheneck ruin, which towers over the Helenen valley tal with its unusual triangular tower. On the second part of the tour, back to Baden, you pass the Heiligenkreuz Abbey, Karmel Mayerling, Siegenfeld and the Theresienwarte lookout tower built in 1884. Both are worth a visit (or two)!
#4 Sparbach Nature Park
Duration: 3:00 h | Ascent: 221 egm | medium | tour details
If you’re in luck, you can probably go hiking in Austria's oldest nature park, the Sparbach Nature Park in the southern Vienna Woods. Because apart from several ruins and 200-year-old, majestic copper beech and oak trees, you might spot odd wild boars running free along the circular hiking trail. If you come in spring, there might even be young ones running after them. If you want to take a break, we recommend the Diana meadow, especially at the beginning of May. This is where orchids bloom!
#5 Peilstein Adventure Trail
Duration: 2:30 h | Ascent: 267 egm | easy | tour details
The Peilstein Adventure Trail in the southern Vienna Woods has just one goal - to retell the story of climbing! On different stages you get to know the sport (anew) and experience breathtaking nature. Due to its steep limestone walls and more than 800 routes, the Peilstein has been one of the most popular climbing areas for Viennese for more than 100 years. The Peilsteinhaus is located near the summit and offers a resting spot for all climbers. We would also like to give you a tip. It's not about performance, it's about the experience!
