Hohe Wand Nature Park

The Hohe Wand is the last outlier of the northern limestone Alps before the plain, a plateau that ends abruptly in vertical cliffs up to about two hundred and thirty metres high facing south-east over the Vienna basin - which is why it has been one of the main climbing areas for Viennese since the nineteenth century, with hundreds of routes on the wall and a long history of alpine club activity. On top the plateau is meadow and pine with a toll road up, walking trails along the rim, a wildlife enclosure with deer, ibex and marmots, a via ferrata network, and a steel skywalk cantilevered out over the drop. Paragliders launch from the edge. On a clear day the view runs across the plain to the Slovak border, and the drive up is part of the outing.

The landscape

• A wall of limestone cliffs - hundreds of metres above the plain, dense with climbing routes.
• A skywalk over the edge - steel platform cantilevered out from the rim.
• A plateau of meadow and pine - trails, huts and a wildlife enclosure on top.
• A view over the basin - the plain running east towards Slovakia.

When to go

April to October; the toll road can close in snow. A day.

What to expect

The road up costs a toll and is narrow with hairpins. The rim is unfenced in places and drops are lethal. Haze often cuts the view. Weekend crowds fill the parking on top.

Nearby

Myrafalle and Muggendorf are north-west; Wiener Neustadt is east.

Key facts