Mariensee - Niederwechsel (red trail)

Access to starting point:
We leave Highway A2 Graz - Vienna at the Aspang Markt exit and follow the road to the mentioned settlement. Upon arriving in the town, we follow the signs for Mariensee; at the end of the town we turn left once more towards Mariensee (straight ahead is St. Corona am Wechsel). After approximately 8.5 km of further driving, we reach the centre of Mariensee, where we park at the marked parking area behind the fire station.

Path description:
Through the settlement we continue on the road ahead, and after a few minutes we turn left in the direction of Mönichkirchner-Schwaig. Further on we ascend past a few more houses, where we turn left; afterwards the road curves right and at the last house turns into a cart track, which then climbs across a grazing slope. Higher up, when we reach the macadam road we follow it to the left; it first leads us past a holiday cottage and then for a short while ascends diagonally to the left.
Soon we turn sharply right and immediately left onto a cart track that takes us to another pasture, where we join a wider macadam road, which we follow left to the nearby farm.
Before the farm we turn right and ascend on a cart track across a panoramic pasture to a larger masonry chapel built in 1925.
Above the chapel we reach the next road and follow it to the left, or according to the signs for Mönichkirchner-Schwaig.
We then gently ascend along the macadam road to the left, continuing straight at several minor junctions. Later we arrive at a ski piste of the Mönichkirchen / Mariensee ski area, which we cross through a small tunnel. On the other side of the tunnel we arrive at a marked junction next to the inn Alpengasthof Fernblick, where the green path also joins us.
We continue straight ahead (the inn Alpengasthof Fernblick is sharply to the right, 30 metres away) and continue walking along the gravel road, which still ascends diagonally to the left. After leaving the forest we continue past the hotel Alpengasthof Enzian and the reservoir and arrive at Berggasthof Mönichkirchner-Schwaig.
We continue in the direction of the mountain hut Hallerhaus and Vorauer Schwaig and further we are ascending on the right side of another ski track, where we are accompanied with some rare trail blazes. Next follows few minutes of a steeper ascent on a cart track which is ascending on a ski slope, and then we join the cart track which still continues on a ski slope. Further, occasionally beautiful views opening up, and we follow the marked path to the hut Hallerhaus.
We bypass the cottage on the left side and we follow the signs for Hochwechsel. The path ahead leads through the forest, and at few crossings we follow the blazes. A little higher we leave the forest and we get to the mountain hut Kulinarik zur Stoa Alm, from which a nice view opens up mainly towards the northeast.
We bypass the mountain hut and the upper station of the cableway on the left side and we return into the forest, through which we are for few minutes steeply ascending. Higher the forest gets thinner and a view opens up a little, and we continue a little further and we get to the indistinct peak Steinerne Stiege.
Next follows some descent through the forest and then we get to a clearing, from where a view opens up towards the mountain Schneeberg, which with the second-highest peak Kaiserstein is considered to be the northernmost and at the same time also easternmost two-thousander in the Alps. The path ahead returns into the forest and splits.
We continue straight across the cart track on the path in the direction of peaks Hochwechsel and Niederwechsel (left on a cart track - hut Vorauer Schwaig. Further, we are ascending diagonally, short time still through the forest and then gradually on a more and more panoramic grassy slope. Higher, we two more times cross a grazing fence, and we follow the marked path all the way to a crossing near the peak Niederwechsel, where from the left joins the path which leads past the mountain hut Vorauer Schwaig.
Here we go right and in few steps we ascend on a rocky and panoramic peak.
Mariensee - Alpengasthof Fernblick 1:05, Alpengasthof Fernblick - Berggasthof Mönichkirchner-Schwaig 0:20, Berggasthof Mönichkirchner-Schwaig - Hallerhaus 0:30, Hallerhaus - Stoa Alm 0:15, Stoa Alm - Steinerne Stiege 0:15, Steinerne Stiege - Niederwechsel 0:50.
Description refers to the conditions in October 2025; the photos are from October 2022 and October 2025.

On the way: Alpengasthof Fernblick (1140m), Berggasthof Mönichkirchner-Schwaig (1185m), Hallerhaus am Wechsel (1350m), Kulinarik zur Stoa Alm (1423m), Steinerne Stiege (1505m)