Freyung combines a historic farming estate and recurring traditions with themed trails and seasonal winter sports. This gives you a choice of different focuses when planning your stay: you can explore the town’s history, follow themed trails or plan winter sports activities. Varying conditions—such as the annual dates of local traditions and snow conditions in winter—play a role in choosing when to travel.

Schramlhaus, Castle and Chapel Trail

Built around 1700, the Schramlhaus is the oldest farming estate in Freyung. It houses the Wolfstein Local History Museum and displays more than a hundred original examples of reverse glass painting, a form of sacred folk art. This makes the house a specific place to visit if you want to combine Freyung’s rural architectural history with a distinctive art form.

Wolfstein Castle also has a long history: Bishop Wolfger von Erla of Passau had it built around 1200. The themed trail “Kreuzberg Chapel Trail – Path of Contemplation” offers another way to engage with history and reflection. It was created around Kreuzberg, a district of Freyung, and complements the revived St. Anna pilgrimage. Along the trail are ten information boards and four chapels. The oldest chapel was built in 1509.

Numerous artists from the Bayerwald-Bohemia region regularly exhibit art and culture at the gallery in the Europahaus Freyung. A visit adds changing exhibitions to the historical themes, rather than limiting your visit to buildings and collections.

Annual traditions and festivals

The historical association “In-der-Freyung” organizes the traditional Wolfaustreiben on Freyung’s town square every year shortly before St. Martin’s Day. Freyung’s Bürgerfest has been celebrated annually since 1979. Both events offer recurring reasons to visit; if you want to plan your trip around a festival, check the exact event dates before booking.

The Maypole tradition involves taking down the trees once a year, decorating them festively, and having young men and men from Freyung put them back up using wooden poles and ropes. A Maypole stands in the town center in front of the Schramlhaus.

Themed hikes and landscapes

The eight-kilometre themed trail “People and Nature in Buchberger Leite” runs between Freyung and Ringelai. Information boards and numbered posts along the trail provide information about the stream and river system, the power of water, timber rafting and the geological history of the area, including the Pfahl rock formations. An accompanying brochure provides additional information. The trail combines nature-related themes with traces of human use.

In the wider Freyung-Grafenau destination, the Buchberger Leite Wild Gorge features a landscape shaped by steep rock barriers: these force the boulder-strewn, cascade-filled Wolfsteiner Ohe into a deeply confined channel. Remnants of primeval forest have survived in the moss- and fern-rich gorge woodlands. Historic timber-rafting walls, tunnels carved into the rock and open-air channels bear witness to centuries of human activity there.

Winter activities and planning

The Freyung-Geyersberg ski and snowboard beginner center has a 540-metre-long double drag lift. Operating hours depend on sufficient snow cover. The easy ski slope in Solla is suitable for beginners and more advanced skiers. For cross-country skiing, the Freyung-Kreuzberg cross-country skiing center offers 30 kilometres of classic trails, as well as an additional four-kilometre skating trail; trail conditions depend on the season.

The winter activities thus vary by sport and scope: the slope in Solla is classified as easy, while the trails are listed separately for classic and skating styles. Check snow cover and trail conditions before a winter stay. The wider Freyung-Grafenau destination is also home to Bavarian Forest National Park, which extends into the district and opened on 7 October 1970 as Germany’s first national park. In 2024, natural zones accounted for 75.37 percent of the national park area.

Discover more destinations

Discover more destinations: Falkenbach, Eppenschlag, Spiegelau, Hinterschmiding, Innernzell, Fürsteneck, Grafenau, Schöfweg.

Back to the main travel overview: Freyung-Grafenau.