Styria 2023

In Graz, you will be awaited by the pleasant Hotel Weitzer****, in the midst of the historic centre, directly at the Mur. We will meet up in the hotel lobby at 6:30pm, where your travel guides will welcome you with an appetiser. You will have the rest of the evening to your own disposal. Numerous restaurants in the old city of Graz invite you to relax.

In the morning, we will explore Graz by bike. During a tour with an expert guide, you will learn about the city’s many facets, having world heritage status. From the Schlossberg, we can view the clock tower and the characteristic roof landscape of the old city up to modern architectural ventures such as the Grazer Kunsthaus and the island in the Mur. A city of music- and literature, a lively student city and a time-honoured residence in baroque splendour - Graz has many faces. In the late morning, we will leave the Styrian capital, and will follow the glistening Mur up to Fernitz, where we will invite you to lunch. We will then overcome a few less pleasant kilometres by taking a transfer, before we cycle through the quiet Sulm valley to the southern Styrian wine road. Almost at the most southern point of Styria, we will be welcomed by the Lang-Gasthof Tscheppe****. We can then review the events of our first cycling day during an enjoyable dinner.

Today we will travel a short route by bus up onto a hill, and on a clear day, we will be able to enjoy an impressive panorama. Our route is somewhat hilly today, and leads along the southern Styrian wine road, one of the loveliest wine growing regions in Europe. Accompanied by the rhythmical flapping of the Klapotetz, a kind of windmill-scarecrow, we will approach the Mur valley. The afternoon route is a pleasant one, which runs on flat terrain on the Mur-cycle path up to Bad Radkersburg. We are awaited by the Hotel Kaiser von Österreich****, pleasantly located in the historic centre of the border city. There will be enough time before dinner to enjoy the wellness complex of the hotel or to stroll through the exemplarily restored old city. We will meet up for dinner in an excellent restaurant.

Today’s cycling day will be spent in remote nature along the Austrian-Slovenian border. Imposing fortification complexes such as the Kapfenstein castle come into view time and again. These date back to a time when fire and sword dominated eastern Styria. A dense belt of bastions covered the countryside as protection against the Ottomans and the armies from the Hungarian lowlands. We will travel on the tracks of the Styrian black gold, the famous pumpkin seed oil. The Berghofer family have been enticing the pumpkin seed’s best qualities in their oil mill for over 100 years and will gladly provide us with an insight into this noble art. We will not have to travel far to the Genusshotel Riegersburg****, which will welcome us today (swimming pool). The hotel which is harmoniously integrated into the landscape offers all amenities, including a lovely wellness area. In the evening, we will enjoy a meal in the hotel’s excellent restaurant.

Not far from our hotel, the mighty Riegersburg proudly glances onto the surrounding area. The fortress sits majestically enthroned on a rugged volcanic rock and has been described as the strongest fortress of Christianity. A modern lift at the rock face allows for an easier access to the view. We can thoroughly enjoy the panorama and the medieval backdrop, before we travel to Fürstenfeld on small streets. The former fortress city is extremely charming, and there will still be enough time to stroll through the alleys before we cycle into the spa region of south-eastern Styria. We will be welcomed by the Wellnesshotel Rogner Bad Blumau Hotel & Spa****, an architectural masterpiece of the known Austrian artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Here the numerous healing springs with thermal water from a depth of up to 3.000 metres invite one to relax. We will meet up for dinner in the superb hotel restaurant.

Wellness, sense of well-being, relaxation. In the spa region of south-eastern Styria, the earth is bubbling and boiling underneath. Hot thermal water flows through volcanic rock, takes on a healing effect and emerges. There will be enough time in the morning to enjoy the wellness oasis of the hotel. One can also take part in a guided round tour through the entire artwork if one wishes. We will only leave the spa complex around midday. Back on our bikes, and as we travel along the Römerweinstraße (wine road), we can enjoy lovely views of the vineyard scenery, now becoming sparse. After our lunch break, a refreshing descent awaits us, before we are welcomed into the historical walls of the Hotel Alter Gerichtshof*** in Hartberg. As Sunday’s lunch is included in the travel price, you will have the evening to your own disposal.

Entirely new landscape impressions await us today, we will be approaching the foothills of the Alps. After a 30-minute bus drive, we will visit the Augustinian monastery Vorau in the morning. Embedded in the densely wooded landscape of the Jogl country, the monastery houses a world-renowned library with unique manuscripts. We will then travel further by bus onto the Alpl, a pass in the Fischbacher Alps. Enjoying the pleasant mountain air, we will cycle into the valley of the Feistritz. Here we will follow the pleasant cycle path, which will then lead us to the Stubenbergsee bathing lake. We will then bid our bicycles farewell, and will travel by bus back to Graz, where the Hotel Weitzer**** awaits us once again. We will enjoy dinner in an excellent restaurant.

After a hearty breakfast, and in accordance with your return journey plans, you will still have the time for an individual walk through the city. It takes 5 minutes by taxi from the hotel to the main train station or approx. 20 minutes to the airport. You can reach Munich and other German cities by train on the same day, there are direct aeroplane connections to several German cities.

All prices are on request. We would like to point out that it might be cheaper if you book directly with the hotel due to daily rates.