Discover Loich: Churches, Mills and Hiking Trails

Loich can be explored through several distinct themes: medieval church architecture, local milling history, hiking trails with varied scenery, a stage of the Pielachtal Pilgrimage Trail and regional products. If you are looking for hotels in Loich, you can first decide which of these themes you want to shape your stay. Culture, a particular hiking perspective and regional produce each offer a different focus, without requiring you to follow a fixed itinerary.

Museum and planning your visit

The Loich open-air and local history museum includes various objects and a working mill, where you can see grain being turned into flour. When planning your visit, it helps to distinguish between viewing the museum from outside and taking a guided tour: the museum can be viewed from outside at any time, while guided visits can be arranged by prior registration. This lets you consider the exterior independently of whether you plan to take a guided tour.

Parish church and milling history

The Loich parish church is a small medieval building with a single-nave main body and a late Gothic choir that was given Baroque features. The high altar was erected in 1691. The church’s architectural form and a precisely dated feature of its furnishings thus provide two concrete points of reference for understanding its cultural history.

Pichl Mill is the only one of the nine grain mills originally in Loich that has survived; it began operating in 1899. The number nine places the surviving mill in the context of the former group, while the year dates the start of its operation. Together, these details tell different aspects of local milling history: the former scale of the industry and the specific opening date of a surviving building.

Hiking trails and stages

Two hikes offer contrasting scenery. The Loich Panorama Circular Trail provides views of the Pielachtal, the Soistal, Loich and the surrounding mountains, including the Ötscher. The Rehgraben-Schwarzgraben circular hike passes through narrow stretches of valley and offers scenic views, as well as views across Loich and Kirchberg an der Pielach. The scenery described ranges from panoramic views over valleys to narrow valley passages and views of localities, giving you a concrete basis for choosing routes according to the landscapes that interest you.

Loich is also clearly identified as a stage destination: Stage 2/4 of the Pielachtal Pilgrimage Trail ends here; Loich is the second destination on the pilgrimage. If you are planning your hike in stages, the stage number helps you place Loich in the order of destinations.

Regional products

The Pielachtaler Moststube run by the Schweiger family is located by Loich station on the Himmelstreppe railway and directly on the Pielachtal Cycle Path. It offers homemade and regional products, as well as a range of Dirndl products. Its specific location and named selection give you another point of reference if regional produce is one of the interests you take into account when choosing where to stay.

Discover more destinations: Traismauer, Warth, Kasten bei Böheimkirchen, Grünsbach, Altlengbach, Municipality of Markersdorf-Haindorf, Wilhelmsburg, Lauterbach

For the higher-level travel overview: Sankt Pölten.