Alkoven brings together a range of discoveries: remembrance at Hartheim Castle, themed trails with specific route lengths, and the history of Emlinger Holz. When planning your visit, it is worth distinguishing between the trails by their individual focus. Some explore a specific theme through information boards, while others connect places or describe a loop along the Innbach and Danube.
Hartheim Castle: Remembrance and Renaissance
The Hartheim Castle Learning and Memorial Site opened in 2003. It includes a memorial to the victims of Nazi euthanasia as well as the “Value of Life” exhibition, and is a place of remembrance and learning. Hartheim Castle is considered one of Upper Austria’s most significant Renaissance buildings. Both its historic architecture and its memorial and educational role shape Alkoven’s cultural identity.
Themed Trails and Routes to Choose From
Alkoven has a total of 155 kilometers of hiking trails, some of which are also suitable for Nordic walking or cycling. One specific shorter route is the 3.5-kilometer Mensch-Wald-Klima themed trail, which includes a Dwarf Trail. It has ten information boards for adults and 26 for children. Dwarf houses and wooden dwarfs designed by Claudia Schlagnitweit invite children to explore. Alongside the trail’s length, the boards and figures provide their own thematic highlights.
Wandergolfen offers a different kind of stop: the attraction features eleven stations made from natural and wooden elements, as well as old farming equipment. The Alkoven Activity Arena, meanwhile, is a marked network of trails with ten loops ranging from 5.5 to 11.5 kilometers. The loops are suitable for running, Nordic walking and hiking. This lets you choose based on route length and activity: the themed trail is 3.5 kilometers long, while the Activity Arena loops cover a wider range of distances.
The Diversity Trail and the Danube Loop
The Diversity Trail connects the Danube Cycle Path with Hartheim Castle and the Hartheim Institute. Along the way, you can discover stations with interactive activities, as well as the Danube floodplain forests. A specific route to the trailhead is provided: From the Alkoven stop on the Linz Local Railway, cross the B129 highway and turn into BahnhofstraĂźe. After about 210 meters, you will reach BerghamerstraĂźe at a T-junction; this road is already part of the Diversity Trail. Check the current Linz Local Railway connections before you travel.
The Danube Loop is 6.7 kilometers long and runs mostly along unpaved paths. It starts and ends at the Radkovsky ponds. For 1.2 kilometers, it runs directly beside the Innbach and reaches the Danube via the floodplain forest bridge. This distinguishes it from the Alkoven Danube Trail circular route both in its riverside course and in its starting and finishing points: that route starts and ends in Alkoven’s pond landscape.
Further Traces of History
At Emlinger Holz on November 9, 1626, imperial troops and mercenaries under General Pappenheim, together numbering 8,000 men, faced 8,500 farmers. About 3,000 farmers and 3,000 soldiers lost their lives. The date, the groups involved and the approximate casualty figures give the site a specific historical significance.
Alkoven Parish Church also offers a point of reference in time and architecture. It was built in the Gothic style around 1470. The Late Gothic church stands in the middle of the cemetery, on elevated ground in the center of Alkoven. At the Roman rest area, a fair-faced concrete column recalls a Roman milestone and bears a Roman head created by Miguel Horn. There you will find information about Alkoven, the Danube Cycle Path and the Romans. A five-meter-long resting bench made of concrete and stone invites you to linger.
Discover more destinations: Eferding, Sankt Marienkirchen An Der Polsenz, Scharten, Haibach Ob Der Donau, Stroheim, Pupping, Fraham, Prambachkirchen.
Back to the main travel overview: Eferding.
