Discover Sankt Marienkirchen am Hausruck

Sankt Marienkirchen am Hausruck combines a distinctive hiking landscape with a diverse history of churches and pilgrimages. Those who want to combine nature experiences, historic sites and regional features during their holiday will find various reasons here to plan a trip. A holiday apartment or holiday home in Sankt Marienkirchen am Hausruck can serve as a starting point for your search if you would like to get to know the village and its hiking trails more closely.

Hiking on the Marien Trail

The Marien Trail offers an opportunity for active days on holiday. Founded in 2014, this cross-border trail connects noteworthy Marian sites from Sankt Marienkirchen am Hausruck in Upper Austria via Burghausen to Altötting in Bavaria. The entire route is 130 kilometres long. You can view the trail as a long-distance hiking route or include individual sections as day hikes in your travel plans. This allows you to organise your stay in different ways without having to commit to just one form of hiking.

The trail gets its special character from the combination of landscape and religious history. It connects the historic pilgrimage sites of Sankt Marienkirchen am Hausruck and Altötting, creating a themed route in which not only the walking but also the places along the way play a role. For families with different interests, this can be an appealing combination: while the trail provides the active part of the day, the historic stops offer topics for conversation and specific destinations for discovering together.

Hausruck hiking with several route options

Another option is the Hausruck hike. It leads from the Hohes-Kreuz car park near Haag am Hausruck via Symbrunn, or alternatively via the Luisenhöhe and the observation tower, to the boundary stone. The hike then continues to the Feuerwehrkreuz and along the Stations of the Cross to Sankt Marienkirchen am Hausruck. The two options mentioned allow you to take the route into account when planning your day.

The A8 motorway, with the Haag am Hausruck exit, is relevant for travelling to the Hausruck hike. The starting point can be reached both from the direction of Passau and from the direction of Linz. If you are looking for accommodation, it is therefore worth considering your planned hiking day and preferred journey together. This will help you decide whether your stay should focus mainly on a single hike, several stages, or a combination of nature and local history.

Nature trails and unusual landscape formations

The Marien Trail runs mostly along natural paths through a distinctive natural landscape. Small, quiet streams, impressive ravines carved by torrents, and ponds or kettle holes are among the described landscape features, as are steep walls with unusual breaks. This combination makes the hike varied without requiring any additional assumptions about the trail. If you value nature-focused days on holiday when choosing your accommodation, these landscape details may be an important reason to include Sankt Marienkirchen am Hausruck on your shortlist.

Church, rectory and pilgrimage history

The local history also offers several themes for a stay. The Catholic parish church of the Assumption of Mary in Sankt Marienkirchen am Hausruck is a listed monument and was probably built around 1450. The present rectory was built between 1862 and 1864 and, together with the farm buildings, is also a listed monument. Both buildings point to the village’s long-standing ecclesiastical character.

Sankt Marienkirchen am Hausruck became an independent parish in 1785. Until then, the community was served by clergy from the parish of Eberschwang. Until the 18th century, the village was a flourishing place of pilgrimage. From 1783 to 1785, pilgrimages were banned under Emperor Joseph; afterwards, the parish community did not develop into a pilgrimage site again. This chronology is important if you explore the village’s religious past: pilgrimage is part of Sankt Marienkirchen’s history, not an unsupported current classification.

In Pilgersham, the Nikolaus Chapel also commemorates the former Nikolaus Church. The chapel was built in 1985 on the site of the former Nikolaus Church. Together with the parish church and rectory, it forms a cultural focal point that you can combine with a hike or a stay in the village.

Sport and regional features

For an additional activity away from the hiking trails, there is the FunCourt, opened in 2009 opposite the municipal works depot in Sankt Marienkirchen am Hausruck. The sports court is available to children and adults for various sports such as basketball, football and badminton. This allows you to add a sporting item to your programme if a hike is not to be the focus of the entire day.

The Biohof Wellinger farm shop offers a regional shopping opportunity. It sells products from its own farm. If you value regional produce on holiday, this farm shop can be a suitable addition to nature and cultural experiences when planning your stay. This means the trip is not limited to sights and trails, but also includes an insight into local agriculture.

Further places for your search

If you would like to expand your accommodation search to other places, you can also view Hohenzell, Lohnsburg Am Kobernaußerwald, Geiersberg, Tumeltsham, Peterskirchen, Sankt Georgen Bei Obernberg Am Inn, Schildorn and Moosham.

For the higher-level travel overview: Ried Im Innkreis.