Straß im Straßertale: Culture and Hiking Trails

Straß im Straßertale combines an engaging local history with hiking trails through vineyards and over the hills to Falkenberg Castle ruins. Anyone wishing to combine culture and exercise on holiday will find a variety of opportunities here for active days, museum visits and historical discoveries. A holiday apartment in Straß im Straßertale can serve as a starting point for planning a trip that you can tailor entirely to your interests, combining short walks, longer tours and regional history.

Firefighting, Winegrowing and Germanic History

The Straß Fire Brigade Museum presents the historical development of the local fire brigade, which was founded in 1874. The collection includes equipment, flags, sheet music from the fire brigade band and records from three former fire stations in the local area. Particularly vivid exhibits include a 1897 hydrophore, a 1930 fire engine and an early dry-powder extinguisher from a local carpenter's workshop. The museum visit is therefore aimed not only at those interested in firefighting, but also at anyone wishing to understand the changes in everyday life and local associations.

At the Cooperage and Winegrowing Museum, visitors can follow wine from the vine through to its processing. The former workshop of the Schmid cooper family presents the production of barrels step by step. During guided tours, visitors can also watch the saw and a Venetian frame saw in operation. At Weinkontraste, wine tastings were also offered without prior registration; in addition, a tasting with a personal wine adviser could be booked.

Another aspect of contemporary history awaits you at the open-air museum Germanic Farmstead Elsarn. It presents a reconstruction of a Germanic farmstead from the 2nd and 3rd centuries based on archaeological findings. The site includes a large residential and livestock building, a granary, craftsmen's houses, a smoking facility, a Germanic show garden and a nature trail. The Straßertal app provides interactive information about the Straßertal, the open-air museum and the origins and way of life of the Germanic peoples.

Churches, Chapels and Historical Landmarks

The parish church of the Assumption of Mary is an early Baroque hall church with a transept, built between 1638 and 1646. A Loreto chapel was added to the west in 1666. The former parish church, known as the All Saints' Church, and its archaeological surroundings are protected monuments in Straß. Falkenberg Castle ruins, the St. John Nepomuk Chapel, the Marienbrücke bridge – also known as Kaisersteg – and the Maria Immaculata wayside shrine are also protected monuments. The Baroque St. John Nepomuk Chapel at the intersection of the museum circular hiking trail was built in 1722.

The local wine cellar lane is also home to the Sword Cross dating from 1489, described as the oldest datable field cross in Lower Austria.

Hiking Trails for Different Day Plans

In the centre of Straßertal, a large sign points to five hikes; the trails are well signposted. The three shorter hikes include the family loop in Straß, the Germanic Peoples Loop and the Hiatarunde in Elsarn. There is also the longer Erste Lagen Loop and a longer mountain bike route. This selection makes planning easier if you would like to alternate between a shorter tour and a more extensive route on different days of your holiday.

The Ruins Hiking Trail leads from the church in Straß im Straßertal over the hills and up to Falkenberg Castle ruins. The Wayside Shrine Trail is around 6 km long and leads from the parish church through the town centre and the surrounding vineyards to statues of saints, crosses and wayside shrines. The Museum Circular Hiking Trail begins at the Straß im Straßertale – Marktplatz bus stop and ends at Obernholz – Landesstraße. For cycling excursions, e-bikes are available for hire from the Weinkontraste wine shop from 1 April to 31 October by prior arrangement.

The Obernholz Fossil Exhibition also expands the range of excursions with a natural history theme. It features a multimedia exhibition about fossilised snails and mussels from the time of the Paratethys Sea. This allows you to plan your trip in Straß im Straßertale around historical, winegrowing, archaeological and natural history themes. When choosing your accommodation, it is worth first establishing your preferred daily rhythm: short hikes, guided museum tours, a longer route or several different discoveries in the Straßertal each require a different personal plan.

You can find more travel destinations under Mitterarnsdorf, Albrechtsberg an der Großen Krems, Dürnstein, Willendorf In Der Wachau, Krems An Der Donau, Grafenegg, Spitz and Mühldorf.

To the higher-level travel overview: Krems-Land.