On a low rise in Styria's Enns Valley, where the foundations date to 1009 and Pope Pius II once came to visit, Schloss Pichlarn has passed from noble residence to monastic retreat to, since 1972, a golf and wellness hotel beneath the limestone wall of the Grimming massif. The 110 rooms and suites, no two alike, occupy towers and wings added across nine centuries, furnished in local wood and marble. Guests walk from breakfast straight to the first tee of the resort's own 18-hole course, recently reworked by Olazábal Design, or to the 4,500-square-metre spa with its indoor and outdoor pools. Restaurant 19 holds the clubhouse view; the Wintergarten holds the mountain one. An hour and a half from Salzburg, the castle remains, in the words of its general manager, a real place of power.
110 rooms · 1 course · Europe · LXV
Completely rebuilt in the 2024–2025 Olazábal Design renovation (new tee boxes, new green, enlarged pond), the 5th hole tees off across the water toward the castle with the Grimming massif behind the green — the course's officially cited new 'signature hole.'
Three ways Schloss Pichlarn earns its place among Styria's storied addresses.
The resort's 18-hole course, laid out in 1972 by Donald Harradine across 55 hectares of alpine terrain, emerged in 2025 from a two-year, roughly €3 million redesign by Olazábal Design — the studio of Ryder Cup icon José María Olazábal. Fairways climb and fall nearly 280 metres across a round that…
Schloss Pichlarn's foundations reach back to 1009; by 1150 it had passed to Admont Abbey as a retreat for church dignitaries, and Pope Pius II is recorded among its visitors. The castle became a hotel only in 1972, and every one of its 110 rooms and suites — spread through towers raised in 1555 and…
The 4,500-square-metre wellness area connects the hotel's rooms to the Lindenstöckl treatment pavilion, so guests move from bed to sauna in a bathrobe. Indoor and outdoor pools held at 32°C, a Finnish sauna, bio sauna, and steam bath sit alongside relaxation rooms that look out toward the Ennstal's…
Restaurant 19 · Wintergarten & Bar · Vital Lounge · Wine Lounge · Cigar Lounge
18-hole golf course with TrackMan Range and indoor simulator · 4,500 m² spa with indoor and outdoor pools · Six saunas, steam bath and infrared cabin · Beauty and massage pavilion (Lindenstöckl) · Estate-grown produce and own apiary
May–October
The golf course and its Restaurant 19 terrace run May through October; ski season at nearby Schladming-Dachstein picks up the winter months, with the indoor TrackMan simulator keeping golf alive year-round.
Every Saturday at 5:30pm the general manager leads a guided tour of the castle itself — ask at check-in, as it fills with in-house guests first.
The Stainach-Irdning train station is about 5 km away, with hotel pickup available; the ÖBB Holiday Express runs a direct weekly connection from Vienna on Fridays.
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