Krottendorf Bei Ligist: Hiking and Landscapes at Wartenstein

For your trip to Krottendorf Bei Ligist, you can plan your hikes, landscapes and history around specific places. Wartenstein offers several different perspectives: a marked hiking trail, a scenic route, a distinctive summit formation and a prehistoric hilltop settlement. Another nature feature is Krottendorfer Kainachinsel in the municipality of Krottendorf-Gaisfeld.

Hiking at Wartenstein

Marked hiking trail No. 20 runs from Krottendorf via Wartenstein to its junction with trail No. 568. The route is 6.5 km long. The trail numbers and endpoint provide specific guidance on its course; the distance indicates the length of this route.

The scenic “Up and Around Wartenstein” tour offers views over the middle and lower Kainach Valley and can be hiked in either direction. These views and the choice of direction are defining features of the tour.

You can weigh the details differently when choosing a route: for trail No. 20, the course and distance are the main considerations; for “Up and Around Wartenstein,” the views and direction of travel take precedence. This lets you decide whether a measured route or the views and choice of direction matter more to your plans.

Landscapes at Wartenstein

Wartenstein is 803 m high and is a spur of the Reinischkogel area, and thus of the Koralpe, that extends far to the northeast. Its summit rock is a distinctive rock formation. The landscape includes long, deeply incised valleys such as the Teigitschgraben, as well as numerous alpine-style meadows.

If you are interested in the landscape, you can consider these different features together: Wartenstein’s elevation, the striking rock formation at its summit, the deeply incised valleys and the alpine-style meadows.

Prehistory and heritage protection

A prehistoric hilltop settlement is located at Wartenstein in the cadastral area of Krottendorf. The monument register dated June 30, 2025, lists the settlement as a protected monument.

This gives the historical connection a specific location: as well as being a landscape feature, Wartenstein is associated with a prehistoric settlement and its designated protected status.

Krottendorfer Kainachinsel Nature Reserve

The Krottendorfer Kainachinsel Nature Reserve is located in the municipality of Krottendorf-Gaisfeld. The headland along a diversion channel of the Kainach was formed by the construction of a STEWEAG facility; the protected area covers 6.5 ha. Part of the area is an orchard with around 10 apple trees, some of them old standards.

Kainachinsel offers a different nature experience from Wartenstein’s mountain and valley landscape: here, the formation of the headland and the orchard are the defining features of the protected area.

Getting here by train and bus

Krottendorf-Ligist station is served by the S7 line between Graz, Lieboch, Voitsberg and Köflach. Krottendorf is also connected by RegioBus line 720 on the route Graz–Lieboch–Krottendorf (–Ligist)–Voitsberg. If you plan to use one of these connections on a specific travel date, check the timetable in advance.

Discover more destinations: Hirschegg-Piber-Sonnseite, Dietenberg, Edelschrott, Salla, Söding, Bärnbach, Köflach, Mooskirchen

For the broader travel overview: Voitsberg.