Püchersreuth: Churches, Castles and the Wurz Summer Concerts

Püchersreuth offers several distinct points of interest for a culture-focused trip: the Wurz Summer Concerts, churches in various architectural styles, two castles and a listed mill complex. These attractions are spread across Püchersreuth and the villages of Wurz and Ilsenbach. When planning your stay, you can focus on a concert, sacred architecture or historic buildings.

Concerts and architectural history in Wurz

The Wurz Summer Concerts take place every year at the Historic Wurz Rectory and promote international understanding and encounters between peoples. In bad weather, the rectory’s Marstall, which has been converted into a concert hall, serves as an alternative venue. The Historic Rectory was built between 1776 and 1778 to plans by Philipp Muttone. If you are planning your trip around the summer concerts, check the dates for the relevant year’s edition.

Churches, castles and a mill

Ilsenbach features a range of architectural styles side by side: the Catholic branch church of St. John the Baptist is a Romanesque hall church with a choir tower. Ilsenbach Castle is a former estate of the landed gentry, with a substantial three-storey hipped-roof building, profiled window surrounds and a single-storey building with a steep roof on the east side. The building dates from the 17th century.

The listed Rotzenmühle adds a mill complex to the local landscape. A door frame on the mill building is dated 1786, while the building itself has an older core. The listed Catholic parish church of St. Matthew is an asymmetrical, two-aisled hall church dating from 1933; its flanking tower dates from 1683. The listed castle at Hauptstraße 16 is a two-storey hipped-roof building on an angled floor plan, with lugged window surrounds and courtyard arcades. It is dated 1721.

For cyclists, St. Peter and Paul’s Church in Püchersreuth is a point of interest on the Simultaneous Churches Cycle Route: it lies along Route 8.

More things to do in the wider destination of Neustadt An Der Waldnaab

The district is part of the Upper Palatinate Forest destination, within the wider destination of Neustadt An Der Waldnaab. Regional activities include hiking, cycling, museum visits and swimming in numerous bathing waters.

One specific longer cycling route is the Bockl: it follows a historic railway line for 52 km from Neustadt an der Waldnaab to Eslarn and can be used on foot, by bicycle or on inline skates. Most of the route is paved and traffic-free, and gradients rarely exceed 3 percent. The Bockl’s starting point in Neustadt an der Waldnaab is directly accessible by train; trains run hourly to the terminus of the Nuremberg–Neustadt an der Waldnaab line, where you can transfer directly to a bicycle. Check the timetable before setting off.

The Speinshart Monastery Church, in the wider destination of Neustadt An Der Waldnaab, offers another architectural highlight. It is one of the most significant Baroque buildings in southern Germany and is distinguished by its Italian High Baroque furnishings. Public church tours take place at 3 p.m. every Sunday and public holiday. Check tour times before your visit.

A nature destination in the same wider area is the Doost Nature Reserve: there, an approximately 750 m stretch of the Girnitz stream flows through a boulder field of massive, rounded granite blocks. Several hiking trails lead there from Neustadt/WN, Weiden and Floß.

View the wider travel guide: Neustadt An Der Waldnaab.