BergeSeen Trail Stage 1

From Gmunden to Altmünster (1 ¼ hours)

From the beautiful town hall square (Rathausplatz) in the centre of Gmunden, hikers go along the lakeshore on the Esplanade, enjoying views of the Traunstein Mountain and Seeschloss Orth (lake castle) for approximately one kilometre until reaching an intersection. To the left, the path leads to Seeschloss Orth, but our path goes right, crossing the street and then immediately heading left through the Pensionatsstraße. The route then keeps to the left on the narrow Mitterweg for approximately 300 metres and heads right along the Johann-Nepomuk-David-Weg, which then leads back to the Pensionatsstraße.

The bypass street is crossed via a bridge and then keeping right, the trail follows the Würtembergstraße to Hotel Wildschütz. Soon afterward, the trail goes right through the forest to an intersection and then onward to the SOS-Kinderdorf. In the Kinderdorfstraße, the path continues to the administration building, which is circumvented by going right, then leads to a small gravel path which heads into a forest.
The route continues left in the direction of Altmünster along a rolling lawn to the Themenweg (themed trail) ‘Altmünster’ and via the Harstubenweg, Lindenstraße and then Münsterstraße to the parish church of Altmünster.

From Altmünster to Neukirchen (2 ¼ hours)

From the church, the trail continues upward via the Marktstraße. After 400 metres, the path forks to the left and then after an additional 100 metres, turns to the right. It continues along the Stücklbachstraße in the direction of Grasberg. Soon after, the trail follows a footpath between houses and forest and then goes under the railway bridge to arrive at the beginning of the beautiful forest ravine of Stücklbachgraben.

The trail ascends past waterfalls to a junction. It continues to the left and across a wooden bridge by which the other side of the valley is reached. The trail arrives at an asphalt street where signage indicates the direction of ‘Grasberg’.
At the next intersection, the trail keeps right and then goes left again. Going along the street, the path continues past Miedlhof, then subsequently to Grasberg and finally onward to Gasthaus Reschenwirt, which is located on a meadow with gorgeous views.
After descending a short distance along the street, the trail continues left over the meadow to a road next to high-voltage power lines. It then heads west along paths and farm lanes and crosses the southern slopes of the Grasberg. The trail goes along a steep, narrow descent to the first houses of Neukirchen and keeping right, arrives at the parish church.

From Neukirchen to Gasthaus ‘In der Kreh’ (2 ½ hours)

From the church square (Kirchenplatz), the trail follows signage toward the ‘Viechtauer Heimathaus, Windlegernweg’ to the next fork in the path. From there, the trail goes right and upward to the Kalvarienberg (Mount Calvary). The trail continues the climb along a gravel road, which later becomes a forest path, until reaching a forest road. The route descends along this road for one kilometre where the path turns off to the left and continues until arriving at the beautiful location of the inn Gasthof Windlegern (overnight accommodation, closed on Tuesdays and Wednesday).

The trail continues along a street heading south to a chapel and then to the edge of a forest. It ascends to the left and reaches a forest road. The trail turns left and continues along the forest road until reaching a trail marker after one kilometre.
Going straight on the street leads to the Hochsteinalm inn (25 minutes, overnight accommodation, closed Mondays and Tuesdays). The trail continues along Wanderweg Nr. 839 (hiking path no. 839) which forks to the right. This section of the trail begins flat, then heads uphill to a saddle and finally descends relatively steeply through terrain that is sometimes slippery into the Langbath Valley. The path finally arrives at the destination of the first trail stage: the inn ‘Landgasthaus in der Kreh’.