Stage 20 From Glacier to Wine North Route Karl Ludwig Haus - Mürzzuschlag

This tour takes us from a beautiful natural area, the Rax Massif in the Mürzer Oberland Nature Park, to the cozy little town of Mürzzuschlag, whose development has also been influenced by the Semmering Railway. The Semmering Railway is now over 150 years old. But what distinguishes the 41-kilometer-long railroad line from Gloggnitz to Mürzzuschlag is not only its proud age: in 1854, it was the first mountain railroad in the world and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998. In the Südbahnmuseum (Southern Railway Museum) directly on the station grounds in Mürzzuschlag, you will find a cultural-historical railroad experience that will delight young and old alike. The range of other cultural sites in Mürzzuschlag that should be visited extends from the FIS Winter Sports Museum with the largest collection of winter sports equipment in the world to the Kunsthaus and the Brahms Museum, which is housed in the former home of the world-famous composer, musician and conductor Johannes Brahms. He spent summer holidays in Mürzzuschlag in 1884 and 1885 and composed his IV. Symphony as well as more than 30 songs and choral works.

We also move here on a stage of the circular tour BergZeitReise, which leads through the wildly romantic mountain landscape of Hochsteiermark.

From the Karl Ludwig Haus (Tel. +43 699 11888972) on our today's stage of the hiking route "From glacier to wine", we immediately go downhill over the snake path to the Waxriegelhaus (Tel. +43 2665 237) and further on the Preiner Gscheid with the (Tel. +43 676 7554881), a pass crossing between Styria and Lower Austria.The Preiner Gscheid is also a popular starting point for hikes and tours in the mountain world of the Rax and the Kampalp train towards Spital am Semmering and Mürzzuschlag.

Crossing the pass, we continue on the 01 path along the border between Styria and Lower Austria, passing the Tattermannkreuz to a crossroads west of the Tratenkogel. Here we keep to the right in order to continue hiking slightly downhill in the direction of Große Scheibe / Beeralplkopf. At the crossroads near the Große Scheibe with the Scheibenhütte (Tel. +43 664 3640940), open from Easter to the end of October on Sundays and public holidays, we have to decide whether to take the short climb to the hut or descend directly to Mürzzuschlag.

Passing the Franzlbauerwand and through the Bürgerwald, we now head downhill to the beautiful small town of Mürzzuschlag with its numerous museums (Tourist Information Tel. +43 3852 3399) at the foot of the Semmering and the Fischbacher Alps, which we visit on our next stage up the Pretul, which takes us along the Semmeringbahn and over the summit of the Stuhleck.