Apartments, Houses and Chalets for Sale in the city and district of Graz, Steiermark (Styria)

Graz - Hauptplatz - Main square

Graz - The city

Graz is Austria’s second-largest city is probably Austria’s most relaxed. After Vienna, it is also Austria’s liveliest for after-hours pursuits. It’s an attractive place with bristling green parkland, red rooftops and a small, fast-flowing river gushing through its centre. Architecturally, Graz has Renaissance courtyards and provincial baroque palaces complemented by innovative modern designs.

Graz city - birdseye view

Architecture

Graz - Clock Tower

Graz enjoys a rich history, yet is at the same time bursting with modern life.

It would not be an exaggeration to describe Graz as a city of opposites: its magnificent buildings bear witness to over 850 years of architecture in the city, such as the Landhaus, also home to the Styrian Armoury and its 30,000 weapons and suits of armour, the cathedral and the mausoleum, Schloss Eggenberg and the Grazer Burg with its double-spiral staircase.

These ancient edifices merge in unique harmony with state-of-the-art works by internationally renowned architects, some from the Graz School, such as for example the Kunsthaus Graz, Joanneumsviertel, MUMUTH or the greenhouses in the Botanical Gardens.

Sites at a glance

Graz - Clock Tower stairway

In recent years, Graz was awarded the prestigious title of European City of Culture and has continued to live up to its reputation. Quality museums, such as the Stadtmuseum, offer plenty of information about Austria's Styria region. The Landeszeughaus Armoury is worth a look and boasts an enormous collection of weaponry and artefacts.

Graz is home to no less than six universities (three "standard" universities, two dedicated to applied sciences, and one dedicated to music and arts), and is associated with names as illustrious as Johannes Kepler (Laws of planetary motion), Erwin Schrödinger (of Schrödinger's cat fame) and Nikola Tesla (father of AC).

Some 50,000 of a population of 300,000 is made up of students.

Graz Highlights

Kunsthaus Graz

Designed by British architects Peter Cook and Colin Fournier, this world-class contemporary art space is a bold creation that looks something like a space-age sea slug...

Graz - Kunsthaus

Wonder, enthusiasm, incredulity. The spectacular architecture of Graz Kunsthaus leaves nobody cold. Whilst it’s not common for existing, traditional urban buildings to sit so perfectly next to breathtaking new architecture, with the setting of this museum of contemporary art in Graz it’s definitely the case - the reader is free disagee. The Kunsthaus floats like a mysterious blue balloon between the roofs of the historic city centre. Named friendly alien by its creators, its interesting shape makes it hard to ignore.

Schlossberg

Rising to 473m, Schlossberg is the site of the original fortress where Graz was founded.

Graz - Uhrturm and Schlossberg

Graz - Schlossbergbahn

Napoleon was hard-pressed to raze this fortress, but raze it he did.

The remains of the castle were turned into a public park by Ludwig von Welden in 1839. The park contains the Uhrturm, the Glockenturm, a cistern (the Türkenbrunnen) and two bastions from the old castle.

The whole area was later landscaped and today has an open-air theatre, a great restaurant-bar.

Its wooded slopes can be scaled by a number of bucolic and strenuous paths. One can also get there by lift or Schlossbergbahn funicular for the cost of a regular city transport ticket.

The funicular Schlossbergbahn leaves from Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Kai and the Glass Lift from Schlossbergplatz.

Uhrturm - Clock Tower

But something isn’t quite right here. What is odd about the face of the clock tower of Graz? A faulty city emblem? No way!

Graz - Uhrturm (Clock Tower)

Graz -Schlossberg lift

Anyone taking a longer look will spot it readily; here time has a different priority. Hours count for more than minutes, and justifiably so, because the area beneath the clock tower is magical and, if you turn round and let your gaze wander over the gardens and city, you will also know why. At least that is what the locals will tell you.

The hands on the huge clock faces often confuse people.
Is the clock out of order?
No!!!

The fact is that originally there were only long hands for the hours which could be seen from the distance, and that those for the minutes were added only later caused the "swapping" of the hands.

The Stone Watch Dog

Near the Clock Tower, some steps down the street a dog of stone is keeping watch. According to a legend, it was a dog's barking which in 1481 saved the emperor's daughter Kunigunde from being kidnapped by the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus, whose marriage proposal had been rejected.

Schloss Eggenberg - Eggenberg Palace

Situated on the western fringes of the city, Graz' elegant palace was created for the Eggenberg dynasty in 1625 by Giovanni Pietro de Pomis (1565–1633) at the request of Johann Ulrich (1568–1634)

Graz - Schloss Eggenberg

The universe is in Graz! It’s no joke, but rather a wonderful example of harmonious architectural skill: Eggenberg Palace on the edge of the city centre. Set within a beautiful park is the main palace, which was laid out as an architectural allegory of the universe. The building represents a precisely calculated cosmos. It was commissioned by Prince Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg from the year 1625 to embody his wish for a harmonious structure, reacting to the chaos of the 16th century.

Graz - Schloss Eggenberg - Fresco

365 windows, 31 rooms on each floor, 24 state rooms with 52 doors and, in all, 60 windows, 4 corner towers - all allusions to time, to the seasons, to weeks, days, hours, minutes.

Graz - Schloss Eggenberg - Planet Gardens

What really makes Schloss Eggenberg unique is the Palace Park. The park was commissioned to be a living landscape painting.

Graz - Schloss Eggenberg - Palace Park (No it's not a painting!)

Graz - Schloss Eggenberg - Palace Park in winter (No it's not a painting!)

Burg & Double Spiral Staircase

Graz - Double Spiral Staircase

In 1438 Frederick, then duke of Styria – later to become Emperor Frederick III of Austria, decided to erect a new residence in Graz. Frederick's son, Emperor Maximilian I, continued construction work in the Burg. And he left to posterity one of the major Gothic staircases in Europe. A double-spiral staircase - two flights of staircases, running in opposite directions, joined for some steps on each floor, separate again and join again... The architectural masterpiece of 1499 has often been interpreted as a symbol of eternity.

Graz people call it the "stairs of reconciliation". If you go separate ways, you will reunite. Even official architecture can harbour surprises. The Burg in Graz is the official headquarters of the regional government, is a real gem. Centuries of reconstruction have yielded interesting elements of the Gothic, Renaissance and Biedermeier eras.

Murinsel - Island in the Mur

Island or boat? It isn’t easy to tell with this extravagant steel construction by US-American artist Vito Acconci.

Graz - Murinsel - Island in the Mur

The Island in the Mur, Graz was commissioned as part of the city’s role as Capital of Culture in 2003. What is clear is its function as a link between river and city, a wonderful place to drink coffee or enjoy a cocktail. With the river Mur swirling cheerfully by on both left and right sides, from the Murinsel you can appreciate a completely new perspective of the city of Graz.

Graz - Glockenspiel

Graz - Vicinity

Plabutsch Buchkogel

Want to have picturesque nature walks?

Test mountain bike skills on steep trails?

Or just stroll with trolley and irons from hole to hole?

And maybe in between you want rest on lush meadows and shady trees?

Graz - Vicinity - Ruine Gösting

It can all happen whilst hiking in the natural theme park Plabutsch Buchkogel! In the recreation areas around Graz there are numerous hiking trails that are maintained by volunteer Alpine clubs and serviced at their expense.

Graz - Vicinity

Bärenschützklamm

Gaze down at the torrents on a trip to the Bärenschützklamm gorge. Past roaring waterfalls, bizarre rock formations, rare flora and fauna.

Graz - Vicinity - Bärenschützklamm

The route leads through one of the longest active gorges in Austria. The exciting ascent involves 164 wooden bridges and ladders along 1300 meters. This includes overcoming 350 meters of altitude. Illustrative wayside presentation boards give you the opportunity to get to know a little bit more about the exhilarating gorge’s fascinating vegetation.

Arnold Schwarzenegger Museum in Thal

“I’ll be back.” Hardly anyone could fail to recognise Arnold Schwarzenegger’s famous line.

Graz - Vicinity - Arnold Schwarzenegger Museum

Even though he doesn’t actually come back in person that often, nevertheless you can gain, at the very least, an intimate insight into the childhood and career of the international star at the Arnold-Schwarzenegger Museum, located at his place of birth in Thal near Graz. The beautiful building was constructed in 1806 and is the original forester’s lodge of the Count of Herberstein and Eggenberg.

Austrian Sculpture Park

Unterpremstätten

Universalmuseum Joanneum

Who on earth has been playing around here? The handle of a suitcase, a heap of aeroplane parts, a stranded boat – it’s as if a giant child has been using the Austrian Sculpture Park as his nursery.

Graz - Vicinity - Austrian Sculpture Park

Located in the south of Graz, the spectacular setting created by Swiss landscape architect Dieter Kienast is home to more than 60 magnificent sculptures created by renowned Austrian and international artists, making it a much loved venue for events and a great place for excursions.

Open-Air Museum Stübing

What is a "Rauchkuchl" (smoke kitchen)? What were the huge pans hanging on the houses used for?

Graz - Vicinity - Open-Air Museum Stübing

From kilns to wine presses, from sgraffito decorating the typical Upper Austrian farmstead to a "mouseproof" barn from Tyrol - at the Austrian Open-Air Museum you will surely be impressed by the inventiveness of our forefathers who knew exactly how to combine function and aesthetics in the buildings and tools they produced.

Lurgrotte Cave Semriach

Stalactite from the ceiling, stalagmite on the ground.

This mnemonic can help you to identify the wonderful stone formations at the Lurgrotte, Austria’s largest dripstone cave.

Graz - Vicinity - Lurgrotte Cave Semriach

Here calcium mineral deposition over millions of years has yielded enchanting natural artworks both fragile and massive, with fantastic names meaning prince, giant and grand candle stick. You can explore this fascinating cavern complex accompanied by an expert guide, starting from either Peggau or Semriach.