Styria

Styria runs from mountains in the north to hill country, vineyards and thermal-spring districts in the centre and south, with Graz, Austria’s second-largest city, centrally located. Graz’s historic centre was added to the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1999, with the Baroque Schloss Eggenberg added in 2010; the Schlossberg, a 123-metre rock in the centre of the city, carries at its southern end the Uhrturm, a clock tower that took its present form in 1569 and is the symbol of Graz.

North: mountains and gorges

The Hoher Dachstein (2,995 m) is the highest point of Styria, on its border with Upper Austria, with parts of the massif in Salzburg. Just east of it, the Enns river cuts through the Gesäuse range of the Ennstal Alps in a steep water gap between Admont and Hieflau, protected since 2002 as Gesäuse National Park, the most recently established of Austria’s national parks. Further east again, the Hochschwab (2,277 m) is the highest summit of a karst plateau massif of about 400 square kilometres, crossed by walking routes and a via ferrata.

South: hills, wine and springs

South Styria is a different landscape entirely: hill country with vineyards, and the traditional growing area of the oil pumpkin, where the taverns called Buschenschanken let growers serve their own wine at home. Styrian pumpkin seed oil, pressed from the roasted seeds of a local hull-less pumpkin variety, carries the protected designation Steirisches Kürbiskernöl g.g.A. and is an export commodity. Thermal springs around Bad Gleichenberg, a Kurort in the south-eastern hill country, and Bad Radkersburg, a Kurort with a thermal spring of 80 degrees, add a spa tradition alongside both.

Season and getting there

Graz Hauptbahnhof has Railjet services to Vienna by way of Bruck an der Mur and south by way of Leibnitz. The Gesäuse National Park says the Kronprinz-Rudolf-Bahn runs straight through the park, that Liezen can be reached from Graz and that bus routes 910 and 912 link Altenmarkt, St. Gallen, Admont and Liezen through it.