Leoben

Leoben is a town of about 25,000 inhabitants (2018). It is the industrial and educational centre of Northern Styria in Austria.

Understand

The University of Leoben with about 3,000 students is right in the centre, Leoben also hosts the headquarters of international companies and the brewery Gösser.

Get in

By plane

The closest international airport is in Graz (about 70 km). It has its own railway station Flughafen Graz-Feldkirchen 500 m away.

By train

Leoben is connected directly to several places in Austria and Central Europe, for example to Graz, Vienna, Villach, Klagenfurt, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Zurich, Hamburg, Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Warsaw, Rome, Milan or Florence. Tickets can be bought in all stations and online, see Austria#Get around.

The 1 Main Station is located around 800m north-west of the city center.

By car

• From Vienna, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland or Hungary take the A2 to Seebenstein then S6 to Leoben.
• From Salzburg or Linz and Germany via A1 or A8 to Voralpenkreuz then on A9 to St Michael, then S6 to Leoben.
• From Graz and the Balkans take A9 to St Michael then S6 to Leoben.

The motorway A9 is partly a toll road, coming from north (Linz, Salzburg, Germany) the tunnel Bosruck costs €4.50; coming from south (Graz, Balkans) the tunnel Gleinalm costs €8.00 (as of August 2013). The toll can be paid directly at a gate or online in advance.

Get around

The centre is easily covered by foot. There are buses that run in Leoben and connect it with the towns around.

See

• 1 Main Square. Features traditional town houses and:
  Hacklhaus, which has a Baroque facade from around 1600 (red facade, on the southern end of the square, see photo above).
  Altes Rathaus (Old City Hall), with structures that date back to 1485, the five-sided tower was erected in 1568. It was the city hall until the 1970s and now houses a congress centre.
  Pestsäule (Plague Column), built in 1717 after the plague was eliminated (in the centre).
  Engelsbrunnen (Angel's fountain) from 1794 (on the northern end of the square, in summer one of the fountains is fed with drinking water and marked with a sign).
  Bergmannsbrunnen (Miner's fountain) from 1799 (on the southern end of the square). (updated Oct 2023)
• 2 Schwammerlturm. This tower (literally called mushroom tower) was erected as a toll gate in the town wall in 1512. It received its roundish roof in 1794, that is the reason for its name. Nowadays it is the town's landmark. There is a small café on top of it (see "Drink"-section). (updated Oct 2023)
• 2 Montan Universität. The renowned university of Leoben is a technical university and Austria's only university for mining and metallurgy. It is concidered one of the most difficult universities in Austria to pass.
• 1 VOESTalpine Steel mill Donawitz, Kerpelystraße 199, A-8700 Leoben. Take a tour through one of the largest steel factories in Austria to dive into the production of steel free service of VOESTalpine. (updated Oct 2023)
• 2 Gösser Brewery. Visit the largest brewery in Upper Styria (updated Oct 2023)

Do

• Grab a coffee or a beer (Gösser, of course) at one of the many cafés on the Main Square and enjoy the scenery.
• Go hiking on one of the various mountains around Leoben, for example the 1 Mugel, a pleasant hike of about 3.5 hours.
• 2 Red Bull Ring is a motor-racing circuit that hosts Formula One and other big events. It's in Spielberg 25 km southwest. The next F1 race is 28 June - 30 June 2024.
• 3 Asia Spa (Hotel, Spa and Outdoor Pool), In der Au 3, 8700 Leoben (about 5min from the city center). Asia themed Spa center and public swimming pool (updated Oct 2023)

Buy

There are many shops at and around the main square, including the 1 Leoben City Shopping-mall with about 80 shops.

2 Star-Center Leoben. Located approx. 1 kilometer south of the city center a few shops as well as the local CINEPELXX cinema have settled. Being one of the largest cinemas in Styria especcially in the evening the area is well visited.

Drink

• Cafe am Schwammerlturm, Homanngasse 11, 8700 Leoben, ☏ +43 3842 43600. Tu-Su 11:00 - 20:00. The café offers a nice view over the roofs of Leoben and beyond. It offers the usual choice of drinks and cakes. When walking up one can see a small collection of medieval weapons. 

Go next

• Graz is just 45 minutes away.
• Eisenerz with the old iron mine in and on the Erzberg, a beautiful old town and the lake Leopoldsteinersee make a good day trip.
• Schladming is a small - former - mining town in the Enns valley, that is now a very popular large winter sports resort. It has a great view on the Dachstein mountains.
• Semmering the alpine pass between Graz and Vienna encompasses two ski areas and the railway UNESCO heritage.