Naturns between the Texel Group, irrigation-channel paths and culture

Naturns combines a distinctive landscape with an unusually diverse range of themes for planning your trip. The village lies at the foot of the Texel Group Nature Park. At the same time, Naturns’s Sonnenberg features a sparse dry grassland landscape considered a rarity in the Alpine region.

Understanding Water and Landscape

The permanent exhibition at the Texel Group Nature Park House in Naturns provides an informative introduction to the surrounding area. It is dedicated to water and leads from the Adige in the valley floor up to the glacier region. The exhibition thus places various landscape areas along the course of the water and is a suitable way to engage with the natural contrasts that characterize Naturns.

Those who prefer to explore the landscape on foot will find irrigation-channel paths around Naturns running along historic watercourses. These paths are mostly level hiking trails, creating a different experience from more demanding mountain passages. When planning your day, you can therefore distinguish between tranquil stretches through the cultural landscape and more physically challenging activities.

Churches, Frescoes and Historical Sites

Naturns’s cultural history can also be explored through several different sites. The Museo San Procolo displays Gothic frescoes removed from the church, as well as archaeological finds from the Church of San Procolo. At the St. Proculus Church Museum, a museum route leads through four spatial and chronological periods: Late Antiquity, the Early Middle Ages, the Late Middle Ages and the Thirty Years’ War. Both offerings have their own focus and make sacred art, archaeology and historical periods accessible in different ways.

A defining landmark is the late Gothic parish church of St. Zeno in Naturns. It was built between 1474 and 1475. The chancel was rebuilt in the Baroque style in 1760. This building therefore reveals different periods of construction and phases of design, without requiring you to focus on just one historical chapter.

Getting Around on Foot, by Bike or on the Rock

The Via Vinum Venostis in Naturns is a year-round circular route that can be walked in both directions. Its information boards focus on the landscape, wine, restaurants and wine cellars at local farms. The route thus combines physical activity with topics relevant to understanding the surrounding area and its regional characteristics.

For families and leisure cyclists, the Adige Cycle Path along the Via Claudia Augusta offers the opportunity for relaxed bike rides. The Hoachwool via ferrata, by contrast, has a considerably higher technical difficulty: it features several steep vertical sections rated D, while the new variant even reaches E/F. The mini-golf park in Naturns’s sports zone, on the other hand, has two courses and offers a clearly different, playful focus.

When choosing your accommodation in Naturns, you can therefore consider which of these aspects should define your trip: historic churches and museums, mostly level paths along irrigation channels, a route focusing on landscape and wine, or sporting activities on the rock and by bike. A hotel in Naturns is merely one possible choice of location.

For further trip planning, you can also consider Algund, Tisens, Ulten, St. Leonhard In Passeier, Riffian, Vöran, Plaus and Meran.

For the overarching travel overview: Burggrafenamt.