Nature park Pöllauer Tal
Nature, art and culture display a unique appearance in the Pöllauer Tal Nature Park. Few places let you experience a natural and ancient cultivated landscape as vividly as this wide, sunny valley between Rabenwald and Masenberg.
Tourism advertising likes to talk about people who live in harmony with nature, where tradition and customs are expressed as a matter of course throughout the year. If such regions still exist, then the valley around the market town of Pöllau with the "Styrian St. Peter's Cathedral", the imposing baroque abbey, the well-kept historic house facades and the picturesque alleyways is certainly one of them. Relax on vacation in the nature park, enjoy the Hirschbirn delicacies and let your soul dangle in the garden of Austria.
Countless wooded hills characterize the landscape here, orchards glow golden in the autumn light. Old gnarled lime and beech trees still tower into the sky in elevated places, often at weather crossings. In the Pöllau Valley Nature Park, nature is still allowed to be nature. Simply because it has space. This is probably also the reason why the deer pear tree has not yet died out here and its fruit, the "Pöllauer Hirschbirne", is a protected designation of origin throughout Europe.
Pöllauer Hirschbirne PDO
The Pöllauer Hirschbirne is an old Styrian variety of pear. The name derives from the word „Herbst“ („Hiascht“), which means autumn, because the pear is harvested mid-October. It has a round shape. In May 2015 the geographical origin of Pöllau’s Hirschbirne was declared protected by the EU.
On a culinary round trip through the Genussregion (Austrian Region of Culinary Delights) you will be presented with a broad range of local delicacies. Products form local farmers, homegrown wine in a Buschenschank (wine tavern) as well as gourmet menus from Kulinarium Steiermark approved restaurants will tickle your taste buds.
A visit to the Nature Park Pöllauer Tal
Blooming meadow orchards and the delicate fragrance of the Hirschbirne pear trees welcome visitors to Eastern Styria’s Pöllauer Tal Nature Park in the spring. Enjoy the contents of your bursting picnic basket under the magnificent pear trees. In the autumn, the pears are traditionally harvested by hand with lots of manual labour. The region’s leading product is processed in many ways after the harvest. An extensive range of products, from fine brandies to juice, cider, dried fruit and the finest fruit spreads, is produced here year after year.
Scenic routes
A special attraction has been created with a love for detail in the community of Pöllauberg which, as a floral village, is also part of the Styrian Flower Road: Ten different, freely accessible themed gardens around the Pöllauberg pilgrimage church offer imaginative insights into the nature park’s culture and farming. With Pöllau Castle, “Styria’s St. Peter’s Cathedral”, the Pöllauer Tal is also part of the Castle Road. Numerous wine taverns belonging to Eastern Styria’s Roman Wine Road are distributed through the nature park as well.
CONTACT INFO OFFICE NATURE PARK PÖLLAUER TAL
Schloss 1
8225 Pöllau
naturpark-poellauertal@oststeiermark.com
+43 3335 4210
Monday to Friday: 09:00 to 16:00