Maria Schmolln: Pilgrimage Church, Monastery Garden and Mountain Biking Experiences

Maria Schmolln combines pilgrimage history, a diverse monastery garden, rural everyday culture and mountain biking experiences in the Kobernaußerwald. This gives the town various points of interest for a trip: you can visit cultural attractions, discover plants and landscapes, or plan a longer bike tour with significant elevation gain. When looking for a holiday apartment or other accommodation, it is therefore particularly interesting to consider which focus should shape your holiday days.

Pilgrimage Church, Picture Trail and Monastery Garden

The Maria Schmolln Pilgrimage Church was built between 1860 and 1863. The Chapel of Grace was added to the pilgrimage church in 1880. Both buildings give the town a clear cultural focus. The Pilgrim’s Fountain beside the Maria Schmolln Pilgrimage Church is recommended as the starting point for the picture trail. Anyone interested in religious architecture and a circular walk featuring pictures can include this stop in their travel plans.

The Maria Schmolln Monastery Garden in the former Franciscan monastery is a special place for more peaceful discoveries. Designed as a display garden, it invites visitors to linger and provides information about herbs and medicinal plants. More than 100 plants can be seen here, including medicinal and culinary herbs, roses, various types of mint and berries. The grounds also include a meditation garden and poisonous plants. This composition makes the garden varied: alongside familiar plants, you will also find areas that invite you to look more closely and make comparisons.

Experience Rural History at First Hand

The Sollingerhof Farmers’ Museum complements the cultural side of Maria Schmolln with insights into rural work, craftsmanship and everyday life. Agricultural equipment, historic means of transport, household items and numerous historical tools are on display. The museum is housed in a newly built Innviertel-style timber barn. Anyone who wants to discover not only the landscape but also regional working and living environments during their holiday will find an engaging thematic introduction here.

Mountain Biking Trails with Varying Levels of Difficulty

For active days on holiday, there is the KTM Kobernaußerwald Mountain Bike Arena. It comprises a total of 80 kilometres of uniformly signposted mountain biking trails. In the Maria Schmolln and St. Johann am Walde area, the arena offers flowing descents, challenging climbs and technical challenges. This combination allows you to choose your route according to the type of riding you want, without every outing having to feel the same.

One specific example is the 55.5-kilometre circular route of the KTM Kobernaußerwald Mountain Bike Arena. It is signposted as a one-way system, leads through the Kobernaußerwald and the municipal areas of Maria Schmolln, Höhnhart, St. Johann am Walde and Treubach, and includes approximately 1,400 metres of elevation gain. The route’s length and elevation gain should therefore be taken into account when planning your day. Anyone looking for an extended mountain biking tour can make this circular route a focus in its own right.

Views and Suitable Travel Planning

The landscape can also be explored mindfully away from the bike. The “GEMMA SCHMOLLN SCHAUEN – langer Weg” trail offers views of the mountains and across the Kobernaußerwald. Together with the monastery garden, this creates an interesting choice between botanical impressions, panoramic views and active exercise. For families or travel groups with different interests, it may make sense not to devote the holiday days exclusively to one activity, but to combine culture, a garden visit, the landscape and mountain biking.

A holiday apartment in Maria Schmolln can therefore serve as a base for a holiday whose focus you determine yourself: a culture-oriented day with the pilgrimage church, picture trail and farmers’ museum, a peaceful visit to the monastery garden or a more challenging mountain biking circuit.

If you would like to compare other places besides Maria Schmolln, you can find additional destinations here: Sankt Pantaleon, Ostermiething, Pischelsdorf Am Engelbach, Pfaffstätt, Wimpassing, Moosbach, Hochburg and Mining.

To the higher-level travel overview: Braunau Am Inn.