Payerbach-Stojerhöhe-Semmering

From Payerbach station, we take the staircase to the right of the cemetery and cross the main road at Payerbacherhof. Passing the park and the Gothic church, we walk uphill along Payerbach for a good kilometer on Kreuzberger Straße, but then on a beautiful forest path well marked in the direction of Speckbacher Hütte. At Stojerhöhe (km 3.6) we have earned our first rest, including a bench and a view of the Rax and Schneeberg.

Continue along the forest path up to the Kreuzberg, past the Josefskapelle chapel with its remarkable stained glass windows. We approach the Speckbacherhütte from the rear, past the small forest devotion with its anachronistic-looking traditional costume couple's deckchair. The old, huge rhododendron blooms in May. Depending on the weather, we enjoy excellent local or Nepalese dishes on the sun terrace with a view of the children's playground or in the rustic interior.

We walk 500 meters eastwards along the meadow (Rax view!), then our path branches off southwards to Breitenstein, where it briefly meets the Semmeringbahn railroad hiking trail. After a few meters, our path branches off to the left quite steeply uphill towards Semmering. The long loop via the Kalte Rinne and the Ghega Museum would be an additional 4.5 km, which is well described in"tour/von-payerbach-auf-den-breitenstein-speckbacherhuette/"!

At the top, you can't miss the signposts to the 20 Schilling Blick, where you can enjoy the view for longer if you still have time for the next train: the remaining 2.5 km are fairly flat.