Forest air bathing trail Horse-drawn railway circuit

Forest air bathing in Rainbach

Rainbach lies in the Mühlviertel highlands between the mountain ranges of the Bohemian Forest and Sternwald to the west and the Freiwald to the east. The north-south connection through the Bohemian Gate to Bohemia, which has been important since early history, runs through the municipality. It is also home to the Heidenstein, an ancient and important cult centre. The centre of the Rainbach plateau is the Birauberg to the north-west, a once very impressive moorland forest.

Kerschbaum forest air bathing trail

We start again in the centre of Rainbach. After a short walk along the R9 on the way to Deutsch-Hörschlag, it crosses the Horse Railway Trail and the Nordwaldkammweg II, which we now follow northwards. Halfway to Kerschbaum we come to Heiligenberg. Today, a Way of the Cross leads to this former cult mountain.

In Kerschbaum we come across the nostalgic horse-drawn railway. The first public railway on the European continent was opened in 1832 between Linz-Urfahr and Budweis and extended to Gmunden in 1836. This horse-drawn railway has been operating in the municipality of Rainbach again since 1996. The incomparable feeling of "travelling back in time" can once again be experienced on half a kilometre of track. In the luxury carriage "Hannibal", in which the rulers of the Habsburg Empire once travelled, the experience is brought back to life in the stylish surroundings of the historic horse-drawn railway station and museum.

The Waldluftbadeweg leads back to Rainbach via the R8, while the district-wide Waldluftbadetour follows the Nordwaldkammweg II to the border hike to Leopoldschlag.

Waldluftbadeweg Kerschbaum - waypoints

1. hiking stone
2nd horse-drawn railway, Birau viaduct
3. horse-drawn railway Wächterhaus
4th Heiligenberg
5. horse-drawn railway museum
6. further hike Grenzwald


For guided tours, please contact our qualified forest guides - you can find more information here.