Pho­to : Egerer

Zur deutsch­spra­chi­gen Ver­si­on die­ses Artikels

One thing before­hand: This tour does not impress with gre­at natu­re and views, but becau­se of its exem­pla­ry mar­king. We cho­se the two-hour tour start­ing in Eben (clo­se to Hoch­egg) – as that way also child­ren will enjoy the hike becau­se one does not have to cover big dif­fe­ren­ces in altitude.

This tour’s only defi­ci­en­cy is the limi­t­ed par­king opti­on in Eben, a sett­le­ment with scat­te­red buil­dings, which you reach from Hoch­egg. Alter­na­tively, one could also take the public bus going from Grim­men­stein to Hoch­egg.
When tra­ver­sing the sett­le­ment in Eben, one alre­a­dy spots the yel­low sign­posts indi­ca­ting the direc­tion towards Grim­men­stein Fort­ress. We hike into a light forest, first on a coun­try lane, later on a nice alley. On wide paths, we walk uphill and downhill, until we arri­ve at a branch-off direc­tion Kulm­rie­gel. Here, a short stee­per rise is chal­len­ging us. As one is going to return on the same path to con­ti­nue wal­king to the fort­ress, one does not have to take this detour to Kulm­rie­gel – yet this short rise is wort­hwhile, as the­re is a cozy place wai­ting for the hikers. A small bench and a table are invi­ting us to stay and have a snack.

Grim­men­stein Fortress

At weekends and on holi­days, the fort­ress opens at 10 am. As it is loca­ted in the midd­le of the track, it is the per­fect place to stop and have a bite to eat. The oppor­tu­ni­ty to visit a fort­ress does not occur every day anyway.

Recent­ly invi­go­ra­ted, we hike on direc­tion May­er­hö­fen. First, we cir­cle Kulm­rie­gel, later we walk downhill until we reach a light traf­fic asphalt road. Again, a small bench is invi­ting us to take a rest – magni­fi­cent views of beau­tiful and idyl­lic natu­re included. At a sharp right hand bend, we turn into a forest path again. Here, the only dif­fe­rence in alti­tu­de is wai­ting for us – howe­ver, it is not even a pro­blem for pro­me­naders. Bes­i­des, a litt­le self-ser­vice bevera­ge cel­lar with a small bench is awai­ting thirsty hikers at the end of the “rise”. Soon after­wards, we reach May­er­hö­fen and turn left into the asphalt road. Yet, after a short stage, a sign­board sends us to the left, back to Eben, ano­ther sple­ndid alley, offe­ring a view towards Schnee­berg and Rax. Just for the very last part, we walk on a nar­row street, after a small brow we are alre­a­dy able to look down towards Eben.

For adults, one has to cal­cu­la­te two and a half hours, inclu­ding the detour to Kulm­rie­gel, in case you take kids with you even more. This tour is acces­si­ble in spring and autumn as well as in mild win­ters; it is not ever­y­whe­re acces­si­ble with a baby pram.

Alter­na­ti­ve

Of cour­se, one can also hike up to the fort­ress from Grim­men­stein. Howe­ver, one has to cover more dif­fe­rence in alti­tu­de and one always hikes through the forest on wide forest paths.


I per­so­nal­ly also enjoy­ed the tour becau­se of its nice views; bes­i­des, during the week you will pro­ba­b­ly encoun­ter no one else.

Portrait Eerwin Jung

Tip from the Moun­tain Secu­ri­ty Service

Lie­be Frei­zeit­sport­le­rin­nen, lie­be Freizeitsportler,

Dear lei­su­re time sports­men and sports­wo­men,
The hike from Eben to Grim­men­stein fort­ress is defi­ni­te­ly not a big alpi­ne chall­enge. Howe­ver, it pro­vi­des the oppor­tu­ni­ty to high­light the posi­ti­ve effects of hiking. Sci­ence has pro­ven that regu­lar exer­cise boosts our health and lowers the risk of get­ting ill. Our car­dio­vas­cu­lar sys­tem gets more powerful, the mus­cu­los­ke­le­tal sys­tem gets stron­ger and the immu­ne defen­se impro­ves. Par­ti­cu­lar­ly in deman­ding times like now, regu­lar exer­cise also sup­ports emo­tio­nal inte­gri­ty. In this spi­rit, I wish you and your loved ones many eventful moments. Get back home safe­ly and in healt­hy con­di­ti­on. I am loo­king for­ward to a nice encoun­ter in our beau­tiful region.

Erwin Jung / Pho­to: Moun­tain Secu­ri­ty Service

Pho­tos: Ege­rer Gra­phic: Scherz-Kogel­bau­er GmbH