Discover Murau: City History, Railway and Beer Culture

Murau combines historic townscapes with special experiences centered around its church, castle, Murtalbahn railway and beer culture. Those looking for a holiday apartment or holiday home for a varied stay can consciously combine culture, walks through the town and excursions here. The different options help you determine the focus of your trip: Would you like to learn about the town’s history, take a railway journey with a special experiential character or explore the creation of regional beer specialties?

The Old Town and Schlossberg as a Cultural Focus

Murau’s renovated old town displays house façades in different architectural styles around the main square and in the adjoining lanes. The Murau town tour offers a good opportunity to discover this history at your own pace. It begins at the information pavilion, follows yellow signs through the old town and passes historic town gates and buildings. The return route runs along the Mur promenade.

A striking building is the parish church of St. Matthew. Construction began in 1284 above the town, halfway up the southern slope of Schlossberg. The church is one of the earliest and most interesting Gothic ecclesiastical buildings in Styria. It stands on an artificially widened terrace halfway up the southern slope of Schlossberg and can be reached from the south via a masonry staircase. Numerous frescoes were uncovered during the interior restoration from 1939 to 1947. The exterior was renovated in 1971; in 1985, the restoration of the church interior was completed, during which the old Liechtenstein crypt beneath the northern transept was uncovered.

The castle museum at Murau Castle also focuses on past ways of life. The picture gallery, kitchen, knights’ hall, cat hall, dungeon and chapel provide an impression of life in the castle as well as the history of the family and the lordship. Important for your planning: Visits are possible exclusively as part of the guided tours offered. The Murau Crafts Museum preserves the cultural history of the town of Murau and the district and safeguards cultural assets for future generations.

Beer, Railway and River Landscape

You can discover another side of Murau on the brewery’s sensory experience tour. The tour lasts just under two hours and engages all five senses, including through audiovisual, scent and hearing stations. It conveys the production process of Murauer beer from beginning to end. At the end, a tasting of various Murauer beer specialties in the beer cellar is included. This experience is particularly interesting for your travel planning if you would like to discover regional culinary culture not only on the menu but as a continuous production process.

The Murtalbahn railway adds another highlight with its amateur locomotive-driving experience. One section runs from Murau to St. Lorenzen. During the locomotive experience “Next Stop: Childhood Dream”, participants can operate the controls, valves and steam whistle of a steam train under the supervision of experienced locomotive drivers. The focus is on the hands-on operating experience and the technology of the steam train.

The Mur River itself is also part of the region’s character. Between Murau and Triebendorf, it still features near-natural structures with a gravel island. This aspect of the landscape complements the historical and technical experiences with a view of the river environment.

The Right Accommodation for Your Travel Plans

When looking for a holiday apartment in Murau, you can first consider which experiences should shape your days. If the old town, parish church, castle museum and crafts museum are the focus, planning plenty of time for history and architecture is a good option. Anyone wishing to include the sensory brewery or the Murtalbahn railway can incorporate these activities into their choice of accommodation and daily schedule from the outset. This keeps the decision between a holiday home and a holiday apartment aligned with your interests, without requiring you to commit to just one style of holiday.

Discover More Places

If you would like to look at other places from the same selection in addition to Murau, you can continue your search here: Ranten, Oberwölz Stadt, Sankt Ruprecht Ob Murau, Winklern bei Oberwölz, Frojach-Katsch, Falkendorf, Sankt Lorenzen bei Scheifling and Kulm am Zirbitz.

To the higher-level travel overview: Murau.