World Heritage Trail Wachau Stage 6 from Maria Laach to Aggsbach Markt

The relay hall building of the pilgrimage church Maria Laach with the miraculous image “Maria Sechsfinger”, the Gothic double-winged altar and the tomb of the Kuefsteiner dates from the 15th century and is one of the best preserved late Gothic buildings in Austria. 

In the 17th century Maria Laach developed into an important place of pilgrimage to Mary, because after 1680 was the third great plague year of the 17th century, the inhabitants of the southern Waldviertel vowed to make a pilgrimage to Maria Laach every year. The miraculous healing of a blind child in 1719 caused a further increase in the flow of pilgrims to Maria Laach. 

Contemplation is a tradition in places of pilgrimage. In the heyday of pilgrimage, pilgrimage sites had many inns. In Maria Laach am Jauerling there are still 3 inns to stop off after visiting the pilgrimage church before you start the short, 2-hour hike to Aggsbach on the Danube, past many Christmas trees.

We start our tour in Maria Laach on the market square in the center of the village. From there we turn in an easterly direction towards the pilgrimage church of Maria Laach. We pass the church on the left and go around the cemetery. We continue our way out of the village in a north-easterly direction until it goes right down into the Klafterbachgraben. For the first time we pass a Christmas tree culture, which we will see more often during our hike on the Jauernling. On the other side of the Klafterbachgraben we climb to the L 7141 state road, cross it and continue our way uphill in the forest to Litzendorfer Kreuzstöckl at 597 m, the highest point of our hike, from where it only goes downhill, one time more another time less gently, until the end of the stage in Aggsbach Markt an der Donau. 

After the Litzendorfer Kreuzstöckl we come through the village of Litzendorf. Here we change our hiking direction at a right angle from southeast to northeast. After we have left the houses of Litzendorf behind us, we go on an asphalt road past meadows and fields to Schleinkhof, where there is a stamping point. From there we continue through the Neustift Forest, which is a little uphill before we walk down the Eichberg in large bends on an extremely wide forest road in the direction of Aggsbach Markt. 

In Aggsbach Markt we pass the parish church before we get through the market to the bus stop on the main road on the danube.

From the Westautobahn A1 in Melk take the Melker Straße B3a and drive north over the Danube to Emmersdorf. On the left bank of the Danube, go downstream on the Danube federal road B3 to Schallemmersdorf.

In Schallemmersdorf turn left in a northerly direction onto the L7145 in the direction of Maria Laach and drive on the L7145 to Maria Laach am Jauerling. Click here for the route >