The Waldviertel is a part of Austria close to the Czech boarder. It is known for deep, lush forests, great landscape and awesome food and beer.
Along the Waldviertel is a 230 km long hiking trail called the
Hiking Trail Along The Lainsitz
The river Lainsitz starts in the Austrian town Karlstift, flowing along the Waldviertel to the Czech boarder in Chlum.
The 230 km long trail is divided into 4 daily stages.
From Weitra to Gmünd
We hiked along the second stage from Weitra, the oldest brewery town in Austria to Gmünd.
Unfortunately the second part of the trail did not show us a glimpse of the Lainsitz but we didn´t miss the river. The landscape was fascinating enough (I think I took at least 30 pictures of different toadstools).
In the morning we met the local night watchmen and author Ernest Zederbauer. He was our guide for today. Before we started we went to the Brauhaus and picked up our lunch for the 20 km long walk. Cheese sandwiches, apple juice, water, an apple and not to forget: beer chocolate. 🙂
It is a good idea to take some food and drinks with you because there are hardly any settlements along the way.
Because we already had a tour in the brewery and up the castle Weitra we started our hike immediately…
…stopping again 2 minutes later for a chat with locals.
While we left the town of Weitra we passed fields full of grain and flowers.
This part of the Trail Along The Lainsitz is a long, but easy walk. There are no steep passages and after about half of the trail we arrived in Dietmanns. In the village we stopped for a lunch break.
We saw tiny frogs, ate blackberries, gazed at dilapidated houses and walked through enchanted woods.
The weather turned out to be better than the last days, where we hiked up through rain and fog to the highest mountain in this region.
After almost 20 km we arrived at the Hotel Sole-Felsen-Bad in Gmünd. Yay!
A great place to relax at the spa and the pool area after a long hike.
But this was not enough for us. We wanted to see the famous and strange Blockheide, a place with huge rock formations and a heavy stone (it weighs a couple of tons) you are able to move – if you know how it works. 😉
Click on the picture below to read more about the Waldviertel ⤵
Thanks to Waldviertel Tourism for the invitation. The opinions are ours.
zuletzt aktualisiert am March 15, 2021
Die Frösche sind ja herzig! Ich wandere gern, mache das aber eigentlich nur im Urlaub, obschon es hier vor der Haustür auch perfekt wäre. Und wie hat die Bierschokolade geschmeckt?
Wir wandern auch lieber im Urlaub, obwohl wir von Bergen und Wanderwegen umgeben sind. Die Bierschokolade – handgeschöpft – schmeckt gut, wenn man gerne Zartbitter mag. Ich bevorzuge ja lieber Vollmilchschokolade…
Ich bin auch eher der vollmilchig-sahnige Typ, aber für lokale Spezialitäten mache ich natürlich eine Ausnahme : )
Haha. Das kenne ich. Vielleicht ist es ja dann doch besser als gedacht. 😉
Austria is so underrated! Every time I see pics I tell myself: ok, you really have to get there soon! But then some other destination pops up 🙂
Austria is really underrated. Hope you get the chance to visit our home country soon even if other destinations pop up. 😉
I’d never thought about Austria as a place for walking, but this trail looks great.
Really, Karen. Austria is THE place for walking and hiking. Especially the western part of Austria.
Uhhh…. How have I never heard of this before!!! I am researching it right now to add to my itinerary in November (hopefully it can be passed during that time). The sights seem just beautiful and I’m wondering about the beer chocolate. As in chocolate that tastes like beer? Or beer with chocolate tones. I’m sold, either way!
Great you add it to your itinerary. The chocolate tastes like chocolate. I didn´t taste a beer flavour to be honest but there is definitely beer in it.
What a beautiful place. I haven’t been to Austria yet. If I do, this would be a nice side diversion.
Absolutely. 🙂
Austria seems like an amazing country for hiking, Christina! Great post!
It is. Definitely. 🙂 Hiking in the Alps and even in the Waldviertel, which is in the lower regions of Austria, is fun.