City Forest and Hiking Trails
Mödling City Forest covers around 350 hectares and lies entirely within the Vienna Woods Protected Landscape and Föhrenberge Nature Park. Designated forest bathing spots with loungers offer another way to enjoy the forest; one is located by the forest classroom above Meiereiwiese. As facilities may change, check the condition of the spots before your visit.
For hikes, Mödling’s “Tut gut!” hiking network offers three routes, all starting at Föhrenhof. The short route is accessible and passes the Mödling forest classroom and the salamander biotope. Check the signposting and accessibility on site. At the other end of the range is the longest and most strenuous option: it takes in most of Prince Liechtenstein’s ornamental structures, including the Black Tower, Augengläser and Johannessteig. This distinguishes the short, accessible route from a hike explicitly described as particularly long and strenuous.
Another destination in Föhrenberge Nature Park is the Husarentempel, at an elevation of 496 metres. Joseph Kornhäusel built the present temple in 1813 as the “Temple of Military Glory.” It is one of eight towers on the themed hike “The Towers of the Vienna Woods.” One stage leads from Meiereiwiese in Mödling, via the Husarentempel, to Gumpoldskirchen. Mödling Circular Hiking Trail 448 reaches Mödling at the end of the hike via the Golden Stairway.
History and Music
The city’s history can also be traced through specific places. From 1177, a branch of the Babenberg dynasty lived at Mödling Castle. The castle burned down in 1529 during the first Ottoman siege of Vienna. Churches have stood on the site of St Othmar’s Parish Church for more than 1,000 years; the present building is the seventh church in an uninterrupted succession at this location. The castle and the church thus represent different chapters in Mödling’s history.
Ludwig van Beethoven worked on the Hammerklavier Sonata in B-flat major, Op. 106, the Diabelli Variations, Op. 120, the Mödling Dances and the “Missa solemnis,” Op. 123, at the Mödling Hafnerhaus. Beethoven spent the summer months of 1819 there; a stay in 1818 has not been conclusively established. Advance notice or an appointment is required to visit the Beethoven memorial site. Be sure to arrange your visit in advance.
The Schönberg House tells a different musical story: Arnold Schönberg lived in the house in Mödling from 1918 to 1925. Because of the compositional method developed there, it is often called the “birthplace of twelve-tone music.” The permanent exhibition includes original furniture and instruments. Here, both a specific place of residence and the origins of a compositional method are central.
Museums and Bauhaus Architecture
The Museum of Folk Culture, with its house garden, brings together everyday and regional history. Its collection has been on display since 1984 in a winegrower’s house dating from the 16th to 17th century. The permanent exhibition covers forestry and agriculture, crafts and winegrowing; it also includes a reconstructed 19th-century kitchen with a “savings stove.” The permanent exhibition at the Mödling Urban Transport Museum focuses on the Mödling–Hinterbrühl Electric Railway. The Mödling Museum explores, among other topics, the origins of the landscape, rocks and prehistory from the Stone Age to the Roman era.
Another architectural highlight is Mödling Municipal Baths, built in the 1920s. It has Austria’s first swimming hall outside Vienna and is considered the only bath in Austria to have preserved its distinctive Bauhaus style to this day. Compared with the historic houses and museums, it shows how Mödling’s buildings and collections make different eras tangible.
Explore and Enjoy the Region
A cycling route also connects several sides of the region: the Mödlingbach Cycle Route follows the Mödlingbach through Biedermannsdorf, Wiener Neudorf, Mödling and Hinterbrühl and is signposted throughout. Mödling station, centrally located, is a useful reference point for connections with Vienna and Baden; check the timetables for your travel date.
The vineyards around Mödling are part of the region’s food and wine culture. Their grapes are used to make wines typical of the region, and Mödling’s Heurigen wine taverns offer a chance to experience the variety of these wines first-hand. Nature, historic sites, museums and winegrowing complement one another, so a visit need not focus on just one theme.
Discover more destinations: Vösendorf, Perchtoldsdorf, Gumpoldskirchen, Brunn Am Gebirge, Achau, Guntramsdorf, Gaaden, Münchendorf, Hinterbrühl, Breitenfurt, Wiener Neudorf, Maria Enzersdorf, Mödling, Gruberau, Hennersdorf Bei Wien, Sittendorf Bei Wien, Grub.
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