Trofaiach: Hiking, Nature and Culture

Trofaiach offers a range of themes to help you plan your stay: nature and outdoor activities sit alongside museums and historical points of interest. You can choose your focus depending on whether you are interested in trails and nature or archaeological finds and local history. The following examples highlight these differences.

Hiking, Nature and Outdoor Activities

Trofaiach lies directly on the Styrian Iron Trail circular hiking route. Within the town, nature trails add clearly defined topics to the hiking experience. In Kehrwald, the bird trail uses 15 information panels to describe two bird species found there on each panel. This means that, alongside walking, you can also learn about specific bird species.

The forest nature trail offers a different focus: its seven stations present the forest as a habitat and place for recreation. It is 1.5 kilometres from Trofaiach town centre and is considered easy to reach. The difference in subject matter can help you choose between the trails: one focuses on bird species, the other on the importance of the forest as a habitat and place for recreation. There is also a Kneipp facility on the Panorama Trail.

Naturfreunde Trofaiach offers guided hikes in the Styrian mountains. Mountain biking excursions on the routes around Trofaiach take place in summer and during the shoulder seasons. The two activities differ in their form of exercise, and the mountain biking excursions are specifically limited to certain seasons. When planning, you can therefore take both the type of activity and the time of year into account.

Trofaiach also has numerous signposted bridleways through idyllic forests. Reiting Trofaiach Golf Club is an 18-hole golf club. Free parking is available right by the car park at the start of the Krumpen cross-country ski trail.

Museum and Local History

The Trofaiach Museum is located in Stibichhofen Castle in the town centre. Its archaeological section houses remarkable artefacts from prehistory and early history. These include finds from the hilltop settlement on the Kulm near Trofaiach dating to around 800 BC, as well as finds from the Trofaiach municipal area. The collection thus brings together two specific find locations: the Kulm near Trofaiach and the municipal area.

The churches also offer different historical points of reference. The town parish church of St Rupert was first mentioned in a document in 1195. The Curate Benefice of the Holy Trinity has been documented as the Church of the Saviour since 1195. Both details refer to the same year, but concern different things: the town parish church’s first documentary mention, and the Curate Benefice’s designation as the Church of the Saviour. The Trinity Church also has an organ that is among the oldest in Austria.

The historic “Simon Mühle” building is located in the heart of Trofaiach. For many centuries, it played a central role in the lives of the people of Trofaiach as an important food supplier. This adds the history of everyday provisions to the histories of the churches and museum.

In the upper part of the “Kost´n,” visitors can experience everyday school life in the early 20th century through school desks and a teacher’s desk, along with numerous teaching materials and various teaching aids. Trofaiach’s archaeological finds from prehistory and early history thus sit alongside a glimpse of everyday school life in the early 20th century: two different periods in the town’s history.

Discover more destinations: Sankt Michael in Obersteiermark, Gai, Hieflau, Radmer, Leoben, Präbichl, Eisenerz, Niklasdorf.

Go to the main travel overview: Leoben.