Description
A walk to the medieval monastery in the heart of Austria's oldest nature park and a hike to the fabulous panoramic view from Scheiterberg make the route an experience for everyone. From lush deciduous forests to the steppe-like vegetation on the rugged rocks of the disused quarries, there is a varied landscape offering much to discover for nature lovers.
With the free mobile app "Hiking Trails Römerland Carnuntum", hikers can listen to entertaining stories - history, legends, traditions, and more - about the region. Download the app to your smartphone, either online as a WebApp or as a native app, which requires no internet connection on site. Your position is displayed on a map while hiking - so you stay on the right path! Google Play Store or App Store
Starting point of the tour
Mannersdorf am Leithagebirge, Arbachmühle parking lot
Destination point of the tour
Mannersdorf am Leithagebirge, Arbachmühle parking lot
Route description VIA.SILENTIUM. - Maria Theresia Circular Trail
Start Arbachmühle – St. Anna Monastery
The hike begins at the parking lot of the Arbachmühle inn. At the start, the walk is easy along a wide access road through the wooded Arbach valley. After a few meters, you reach the forest chapel and pass through the well-preserved monastery wall that encloses the entire nature park. From here, the ruins of the Leopold Chapel can already be seen, where you can learn everything about the Mannersdorf desert and get to know the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius more closely. About halfway to the monastery, you should also take a short detour to the Desert Spring at Arbesbach, where you can listen to the bubbling healing water while resting on lounge benches. At the next junction, turn right, cross a small bridge, and exit the forest to reach the monastery avenue. Among the gnarled old lindens lining the avenue stand two statues of Saint Nepomuk and your very own personal monument with a selfie station. At the end of the avenue, in the middle of the large meadow clearing, the St. Anna Monastery towers.
St. Anna Monastery
The first highlight of the hike is the historic St. Anna Monastery - a small world of experience in itself. Besides the petting zoo with goats, sheep, and pigs, the horse paddock, and the cattle pasture, the large playground and hedge maze are probably the highlights of the trip, especially for children.
The restored monastery complex is surrounded by a well-preserved monastery wall, with the main building located in the center.
Numerous shady resting places and benches invite you to linger here longer.
St. Anna Monastery – Scheiterberg
You leave the monastery clearing via the access road heading north and follow it for a few meters to a junction, then turn right, deeper into the valley. After a short stretch along a sunny clearing lined with some ancient fruit trees, you reach again the monastery wall enclosing the nature park. Here the path splits at the so-called “Fox Arch” – a wall passage for the Fuchsenbach stream – a secret tip for photographers.
Following the road to the left, it winds slightly uphill into the cool shady ravine. The road slowly turns into a forest road and finally a narrower forest track, which after several forks and a gentle ascent through open deciduous forests, reaches the saddle of Scheiterberg. Here you turn left onto a wide forest path and leave it after a few meters to the right via a narrow footpath. The path winds a little steeper through the forest, passing the Waldesruh viewpoint bench. Through gaps in the canopy, you can see the blue sky, recognizing that the summit is not far. Indeed, the dense branches soon give way to a free summit plateau and a breathtaking 360-degree view.
Scheiterberg
The mountain’s special location offers a fabulous view over the entire Vienna Basin - from the Bucklige Welt to the south up to the Weinviertel hills to the north.
The well-maintained meadow and resting benches provide plenty of opportunities to get comfortable at the summit and enjoy the distant view extensively.
Scheiterberg – Arbachmühle
After signing the summit logbook, the next goal is the Hochfilzer hut, which can already be seen from the summit at the end of the ski slope. The descent proceeds south of the summit plateau via a slightly steeper but well passable wide path. At the next junction, follow a narrow path, first leading through a lush blackberry thicket, then quickly winding downhill through the forest. After a few minutes, the path ends at a small ski slope and the Hochfilzer hut.
From here, the route continues gently over a wide gravel road, flat through the forest until you reach the first houses of Mannersdorf. On the quiet side streets of the village, it goes leisurely downhill. After crossing under the gravel conveyors of the quarry, you soon reach the fountain of the “Brunnbergl,” from where the route climbs again slightly towards the edge of town. Eventually, the road ends on a narrow forest path, which leads with varied ups and downs along the back of the settlement gardens before meeting a wide road again.
After a slight ascent through the forest and the junction to the Baxa stone oven, you reach a section where both sides of the road drop steeply. Here, to the left, the view opens on the climbing valley – a disused quarry only accessible to climbers via a tunnel beneath the road. To the right, you see the deeply dug Baxa quarry. Between the rocky landscape and the steppe-like meadows of the formerly cultivated quarries, you soon reach the forest edge of the nature park again. Here, a narrow shortcut diverges from the forest road, which after a few minutes on foot leads to the monastery access road, where you have already walked at the beginning of the hike. Turning right, you return to the starting point, where the hiking day can be ideally rounded off by stopping at the Arbachmühle inn.
