Grafenau: Salt Trade, Town Square and Bavarian Forest National Park

Grafenau is shaped by its history as a packhorse-trading town and its immediate proximity to Bavarian Forest National Park. This gives you a range of options when planning your holiday: a town walk, museums, nature trails and seasonal winter sports. Which of these interests you most may also play a part in choosing your accommodation.

Salt Trade and Historic Sites

Grafenau owed its rise to the historic salt trade. As an important packhorse-trading town, it was located directly on the Golden Trail, also called the Gulden Road: one of Europe’s oldest and most important trade routes. Salt was transported along it from the Upper Innviertel to Bohemia. This trading history can be kept in mind as you explore the town’s historic sites.

The town walk takes in, among other places, the historic town square, the statue of St. John of Nepomuk, the packhorse traders’ fountain, the Old Town Hall and the last remains of the old town wall. The town square also invites you to stroll and linger among the packhorse traders’ and Luitpold fountains, the statue of St. John of Nepomuk, colourful town houses and the old town hall. You can explore the route independently, on a guided tour or interactively. This lets you choose how you would like to discover the town.

Museums Offering Different Perspectives

The museums also focus on different themes. Grafenau’s Bauernmöbel Museum explores painted farmhouse furniture and the former domestic culture of the Bavarian Forest. The Grafenau Snuff Museum is dedicated to the custom of taking snuff and displays exhibits and information about its history. The Town Museum presents local history, from old trade routes to the everyday lives of earlier generations. If you would like to include culture in your trip, you will find a range of different subjects rather than a single story about the town.

Forest Trails, Cycling and Winter Sports

South of Grafenau, the Dreifaltigkeitsweg combines hiking, reading and reflection; most of the route follows natural forest trails. For cycling, Grafenau’s network of paths can be combined with the cycle path network in Bavarian Forest National Park. It connects directly to the National Park Cycle Path.

Winter sports options include classic cross-country ski trails and skating trails ranging from easy to moderate, various route combinations and connections into the National Park area. You can therefore choose between a reflective walk, cycle rides and cross-country ski trails. Winter sports are seasonal, and snow conditions vary. Take this into account when planning your trip.

Friday Morning at the Town Square

Every Friday morning, the Grünwochenmarkt at the town square offers fresh regional produce to sample and take home. If the market is part of your travel plans, check the Friday schedule again before you arrive.

More to Explore in the Wider Freyung-Grafenau Destination

The wider Freyung-Grafenau destination also offers nature and cultural attractions that differ from those in Grafenau. In the Buchberger Leite gorge, steep rock ridges force the boulder- and cascade-filled Wolfsteiner Ohe into a deeply constricted bed. Remnants of primeval forest have survived in the gorge’s moss- and fern-rich woodlands. An eight-kilometre themed hiking trail, with information boards and an accompanying brochure, runs through the Buchberger Leite between Freyung and Ringelai. Historic timber-floating walls, tunnels carved into the rock and above-ground canals bear witness to centuries of human activity there.

In Freyung, the Schramlhaus, built around 1700, is the city’s oldest farmhouse; in its original condition, it is among the oldest in the district of Freyung-Grafenau. It houses the Wolfsteiner Local History Museum and more than a hundred original examples of reverse glass painting, a form of sacred folk art. Near Neuschönau, the animal enclosure provides information about the National Park and its native wildlife. Its circular trails are also suitable for small children who cannot yet manage long distances.

Discover More Destinations

Discover more destinations: Saldenburg, Röhrnbach, Hohenau, Freyung, Perlesreut, Zenting, Waldkirchen, Ringelai.

Back to the wider travel overview: Freyung-Grafenau.