2024 IWA National Holiday Hike

October 26th is the day Austria celebrates its neutrality – or the signing of the neutrality pact after the occupation of Austria ended in 1955. It is an Austrian tradition to take a hike on this holiday.

Member Margit K. will lead our group on a sporty hike through the Semmering area.

Meeting date and time: Saturday, 26 October 2024, promptly at 10:00 a.m.
Meeting point: Parking lot at the Semmering Bahnhof, Google map link

Duration: 3.5 hours, lowest elevation: 860 m, highest elevation: 1260 m

Sign up by October 15

We will stroll through peaceful pine forests, surrounded by light-colored limestone rock and beautiful colored leaves in between. On our way, we will encounter many viewpoints allowing a peek at the aqueducts, tracks and tunnels of the old Semmeringbahn, the first normal-track mountain train route in Europe. This route is part of the UNESCO cultural heritage sites and has been operating since 1856.

We will also pass by old villas and luxury hotels, some of them lost places, abandoned today, but still bearing witness to a once-prosperous time and the high society mountain retreat of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These relicts of old times in the middle of mountainous scenery combine the grandeur of the past with the tranquility of the presence and the promise of serene revival in the future.

Read more about the area

Please consider carpooling with other people!

Young, sporty children with hiking experience or children over 6 years can manage the hike with help, but the hike is not accessible for strollers/buggies.