Südsteirisches Weinland, Österreich
The Old School Guesthouse
The South Styrian wine road needs no long introduction — anyone who has been there understands it immediately. The Old School is exactly the right house for this landscape: small, hand-picked, uncompromising. A former school building that now teaches what a holiday should be: slow, well-fed, with the right wine alongside.
- Location
- Südsteirisches Weinland, Österreich
- Best for
- Couples, wine lovers, hikers, anyone who wants to experience Austria beyond Vienna and Tyrol
- Best season
- Frühling bis Herbst · Mai–Oktober ideal
- Price
- €€€
- Visit hotel website
- theoldschool.at
CinCin Hotels
The CinCin Notes
The Old School is six rooms in a converted schoolhouse in the Styrian wine country — and that's exactly what makes it work. The southern Styrian hills are some of Austria's most quietly beautiful landscapes, and this place sits inside them without making a fuss about it. The breakfast alone — made from what's grown nearby, paired with local wines — is reason enough to come.
- Six rooms only — genuinely intimate, not just marketed as such
- The southern Styrian wine road runs past the door
- Breakfast is the meal — gourmet, local, unhurried
- Pool and sauna in a landscape that changes dramatically with the seasons
- The kind of place that feels like a discovery, not a destination
“Six rooms — no mass tourism, no anonymity. Add a gourmet breakfast, pool and sauna, the wines of South Styria right outside the door, and hiking routes through Europe's most concentrated wine landscape. That combination is almost impossible to find elsewhere.”
Our take
Why we love it
Six rooms — that is the right size to genuinely know every guest. No anonymous operation, no mass tourism.
The South Styrian wine road is Austria's finest open secret: Sauvignon Blanc, Weissburgunder, Buschenschanken — and almost nobody who knows about it.
A former school building with pool and sauna, gourmet breakfast, and wine country right outside the door. That combination exists nowhere else.
Graz in under an hour — one of Austria's best restaurant scenes, then back to the quiet of the vineyards.
Spa & Sport
Wellness & Activities
Pool and sauna — in a guesthouse of this size, that's not a given, it's a decision. You swim and sweat while the vineyards stand around you. But the real recovery happens outside: hikes through the hills of the South Styrian wine road, bike rides through wine villages, the quiet of a Sunday afternoon in Styria. The Old School understands wellness as what it should be — not a programme, but a state of being.
Your time here
What your days could look like
Morning: a breakfast you won't forget — regional products, freshly baked, no rush. Then outside: a walk through the vineyards toward Gamlitz or a bike ride along the wine road. Lunch break at a Buschenschank — a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, a cold platter, the view over the hills. Afternoon: pool, sauna, book. Evening: visit a winery, tasting, or simply sit on the terrace until it gets dark. South Styria needs no programme — it is the programme.
People
The Hosts
The Old School is a house with history — as a school building it accompanied generations of children from the wine countryside. Today it is a guesthouse that draws its strength from that heritage: not an anonymous new build, but a place with character that knows where it stands. Six rooms mean six guest couples — and with that, the possibility of genuinely caring. Breakfast is a programme item, not a given. Pool and sauna are decisions, not standard offerings. That's the difference between a house that is managed and one that is lived.
Location
The Area
Südsteirisches Weinland, Österreich
The South Styrian wine road is one of the most beautiful wine landscapes in Europe — compact, hilly, green. Weissburgunder, Sauvignon Blanc, Welschriesling: the grape varieties that grow here are the best in the country. Buschenschanken, local wineries, cellar lanes — with a car you can visit more producers in a day than you could in a week elsewhere. Gamlitz, Ehrenhausen, Leutschach: medieval villages, castles, wine culture. Graz is just under an hour away — Austria's most liveable city and one of the country's best restaurant scenes. The Slovenian border is just minutes away.