Upper Austria Mariazeller Route: A: 2nd Stage: St. Florian - Steyr

An eventful pilgrimage in the footsteps of nobility, religion and tradition awaits us between St. Florian and Steyr. We pass the Maria Laah pilgrimage church, climb the Pfaffenstiege, admire the mausoleum of the Auersperg dynasty, hike through fairytale forests and finally see the Christkindl from afar - even though there is no snow yet.

The second stage of the classic Mariazell trail begins at the canons' monastery of St. Florian in the village of the same name. We walk through the village in a southerly direction and continue our pilgrimage towards Hofkirchen im Traunkreis. At the beginning, we pass several farms and enjoy the tranquillity and beauty of nature. Some time later, we reach the small pilgrimage site of Maria Laah, where pilgrims have been seeking healing for body and soul for 800 years. The reason for this is the healing fountain, which is just a few steps away from the church and whose spring rises directly under the altar of the church. From Maria Laah, this stage becomes particularly interesting. To the west of the church, we first reach the Maria Laah cemetery and then walk down to the Hagleitenbach stream, where we come across the Pfaffenstiege. The Pfaffenstiege was first mentioned in a document in 1733 and was used by the clergy living in Losensteinleiten Castle for their daily walk to mass in Maria Laah. Above the staircase, we come across the impressive mausoleum of the Auersperg dynasty, which was built in 1911 by Karl, Prince von Auersperg, the owner of Losensteinleiten Castle at the time. Although the castle is no longer owned by the Auersperg family, the mausoleum still serves as a princely burial place.

Immediately afterwards, we reach Losensteinleiten Castle, which today serves as a nursing home. The route continues across fields and through small villages to Oberwolfern and from there into the Enzengarn forest, where there is a lovely rest area with a stone sculpture on the Mariazeller Weg. A little later, we can already see the pilgrimage church "Christkindl" on the hills south of the Steyr. It was built between 1702 and 1725 by Giovanni Battista Carlone and Jakob Prandtauer. The emblem of the church is a wax Christ Child, only ten centimetres tall, holding a cross and crown of thorns in his hands and located above the tabernacle of the church. From the church, it is only a few minutes to the center of Steyr.

As early as Roman times, the so-called Innerberg iron from iron ore was brought here on the old iron road to Lauriacum, to the Roman shield factory. Metals were also transported through the Enns and Danube valleys in the early Middle Ages, creating one of the oldest industrial landscapes in Europe, the Eisenwurzen. The town of Steyr itself thus became the iron metropolis north of the Alps.

Mostviertel Tourismus GmbH

Töpper Schloss Neubruck, Neubruck 2/10, 3283 Scheibbs
T +43/7482/20 444
info@mostviertel.at , www.mostviertel.at

TVB Mariazeller Land

Hauptplatz 13, 8630 Mariazell

Tel.: +43 (0)3882/23 66

Upper Austria Tourism Information

Freistädter Straße 119, 4041 Linz

info@oberoesterreich.at

www.wandern.at

Useful maps:

ÖK 4319 Linz, ÖK 4320 Perg, ÖK 4326 Steyr,

ÖK 4202 Ternberg, ÖK 4203 Waidhofen,

ÖK 4203 Ybbsitz, ÖK 4204 Lunz, ÖK 4210 Mariazell

All at a scale of 1:50,000 (also available as enlargement 1:25,000)

F&B hiking maps 261 (1:50,000), 051 (1:50,000),

052 (1:50,000), 5031 (1:35,000)

Kompass 22 (Mariazell, Ötscher, Erlauftal, 1:25,000),

Kompass 212 (Hochschwab, Mariazell, Eisenwurzen, 1:50,000),

Kompass 202 (Around Linz, Mühlviertel, Wels, Steyr, 1:50,000)

Important phone numbers:

Alpine emergency call: 140, International emergency call: 112

Recommended literature:

Pilgrim routes to Mariazell – West + South volume, www.styriabooks.at

Hiking experience Mariazeller Land and Ötscher, www.kral-verlag.at

Pilgrim routes, www.kral-verlag.at

Letzte Änderung: 16 Mar 2026