On the way along the Vienna Alpine Arc

The long-distance hiking trail stretches for over 300 km along the Vienna Alpine Arc through southern Lower Austria.

Starting from Katzelsdorf, located at the foot of the Rosaliengebirge, you get an impression of the upcoming hiking experience along the first kilometers by the Burgenland-Lower Austria border. Just like the large Alpine Arc, you can see the path ahead of you here as if on a panoramic image.

From Bad Erlach, where a stop at the Linsberg Asia Thermal Spa is worthwhile, the trail continues through the gentle hills of the Bucklige Welt. The numerous castles and ruins testify to a turbulent past as a border area to the east. Quiet witnesses of this time are also the many fortified churches.

Passing Kirchschlag in the Bucklige Welt, you reach Bad Schönau, a well-known spa town. It is worth pausing at one of the many hotels to get fit for the further journey. Just after Bad Schönau, the ascent to the Wechsel area awaits. From the Hutwisch viewing platform in Hochneukirchen-Gschaidt, you can once again trace the path behind you.

Now it goes through the Schwaigenland, an alpine pasture area along the Wechsel, further east to the enchanting landscape of the UNESCO World Heritage "Semmering Railway and its landscape." Here, you walk in the footsteps of artists and writers from the 19th to the 21st century. To this day, the Semmering is a center of Austria's theater world.

From here, you leave the tranquil landscape of the Belle Époque and enter high alpine terrain around Rax and Schneeberg. Accompanied by rugged mountain massifs paired with idyllic valleys, the path leads past the Raxalpe through the Höllental. Now awaits the highest mountain in Lower Austria, the Schneeberg, which watches over the landscape like a ruler. The experience of reaching Hochschneeberg compensates for many hardships during the ascent.

Afterwards, the trail continues on gentler paths from the Schneeberg massif into the Gutenstein Alps, which form the northern end of the Vienna Alps in Lower Austria.

The last section of the path runs along the southern side of the Piesting Valley, a landscape whose charms have already been enjoyed by painters and writers of the 19th century. The endpoint of the route is Bad Fischau-Brunn with the Fischau thermal baths. Upon arrival, you can enjoy the amenities of the spa and look back proudly on a hike through the diversity of the large Alpine Arc, experienced in the small Alpine Arc.