Styria, Austria

The Old School Guesthouse

Price per night from$312.01

Price information

If you haven’t entered any dates, the rate shown is provided directly by the hotel and represents the cheapest double room (inclusive of taxes and fees) available in the next 60 days.

Prices have been converted from the hotel’s local currency (EUR302.00), via openexchangerates.org, using today’s exchange rate.

Style

A class of its own

Setting

Vine-ribboned arcadia

In the vineyard-studded Styrian countryside, The Old School Guesthouse is set to age as perfectly as a fine, local wine. As its name implies, the six-key space was lovingly converted from a 20th-century school, with historical nods showcased in its characterful artwork and restored furnishings. Cushy king-size beds, a photogenic pool and wood-fired sauna add creature comforts; but the seasonal, farm-fresh cooking (and wine pairings) is what really draws this spot’s devotees.

Smith Extra

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A welcome drink each

Facilities

Photos The Old School Guesthouse facilities

Need to know

Rooms

Six.

Check–Out

11am; check-in, 3pm. Both are flexible, on request and subject to availability.

More details

Rates include a multi-course breakfast, made fresh each morning with eggs from local farmers and just-picked ingredients from the gardens.

Also

Unfortunately, due to the historic layout of this listed building, there are no lifts between floors and wheelchair access is extremely limited.

Please note

The restaurant opens daily for breakfast, but only serves dinner on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Hotel closed

The Old School Guesthouse closes from early January till late February.

At the hotel

Gardens, lounge area with a selection of books, and free WiFi throughout. In rooms: 42- or 50-inch TV, air-conditioning, pool bag, hairdryer, bathrobes and locally made bath products.

Our favourite rooms

There’s only six to pick from, and each has its own romantic charm. If vineyard views are your tonic, go for Room 1 for its reading nook; or, Rooms 5 and 6 have far-stretching vistas from their in-room, freestanding bath tubs.

Poolside

Bucolic scenery surrounds the hotel’s heated outdoor pool (open from 7am to 7pm), set in the gardens and fronted by a pool house.

Spa

There’s no formal spa, but you’ll find a small, wood-fired sauna beneath the birch trees, bookable for exclusive use on request.

Packing tips

Your refined palate for plenty of wine tastings.

Also

If you see a small dachshund pottering around, don’t be alarmed, it’s just the owners’ rescue, Frank — this is as much his home as yours.

Pet‐friendly

Four-legged friends are welcome to join you for €20 a night, each. See more pet-friendly hotels in Styria.

Children

Over-14s are welcome, but this wine-and-dine style of retreat is best suited to adults.

Sustainability efforts

During the hotel’s renovations, eco-friendly materials and methods were at the forefront. Since opening, this Earth-kind ethos has been maintained with rigorous recycling and composting systems, energy-saving sensors, minimal single-use plastic and a zero-waste approach to cooking. When it comes to ingredients, everything is either sourced from local, family-run farms or grown on-site in the gardens.

Food and Drink

Photos The Old School Guesthouse food and drink

Top Table

Sample hors d'oeuvres with Oliver at the open kitchen, before moving to the conservatory for the main event.

Dress Code

Whatever you're comfortable in is all Oliver and Petra ask.

Hotel restaurant

Co-owner Oliver, of Steirereck fame, helms the kitchen at The Old School Guesthouse. Dishes are spun from seasonal, local ingredients, either grown in the gardens or sourced from the hotel’s neighbouring farms. For this reason, menus are ever-evolving, but breakfast is a daily, multi-course affair of to-your-liking eggs, cold cuts, yoghurts, fruit, oven-warm bread and pastries. If you’re heading out to the wineries for the day, ask Oliver to put together one of his flavour-packed picnic baskets to soak up any accidental sips between tastings. Dinner is dished on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and includes an impressive three courses, plus wine pairings. On summer afternoons, light bites are also available from the pool house.

Hotel bar

There isn’t a bar as such; but, naturally, there are plenty of local wines to choose from at the restaurant and drinks are available from the pool house when the weather warms.

Last orders

Breakfast is served daily from 8am–10am; pool snacks are available in summer from 1pm–3pm, and dinner is from 7pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Picnics are available with 48 hours’ notice.

Location

Photos The Old School Guesthouse location
Address
The Old School Guesthouse
Großwalz 1
Schloßberg
8463
Austria

The Old School Guesthouse sits in southern Austria’s wine-making region of Styria.

Planes

Most international flights will land into Vienna’s main hub, which is around three hours from the hotel by car. Some countries offer direct routes to Graz Airport, a closer 50-minute drive. The hotel can’t arrange transfers, but there are taxi ranks at both airports.

Trains

Direct daily routes run from Graz and Salzburg to the hotel’s nearest station, Ehrenhausen, around 30 minutes away. Private transfers can be arranged for €30 each way.

Automobiles

The sprawling nature of southern Styria means a car is essential if you’re hoping to explore more of its expanse. There’s free private parking at the hotel; and there are four electric-vehicle charging spots, for an additional charge.

Worth getting out of bed for

In a region known for its viticulture, what better a way to learn more about your Styrian surroundings than with a visit to one of its many wineries. In nearby Schlossberg, Bernd Stelzl and Oberguess are top picks; and if you’re heading over to Glanz, stop in for tours and tastings at Oberer Germuth or Weingut Germuth Stammhaus

The area is so dedicated to its crop that a dedicated network of hiking trails connects a bunch of vineyards: check out the storied Sausal, South Styrian and Schilcher wine trails. Avid cyclers can bike between each, or chalk up stages of the challenging 403-kilometre Weinland Steiermark tour, which spans the region. Back at the hotel, two-day cooking classes fill weekends from November to January and March to May.

Local restaurants

Kreuzwirt serves seasonal Styrian fare, cooked in Austria’s famed kernöl (pumpkin seed oil), against sweeping views of Pösnitzberg’s vineyards. For fine dining, secure a coveted seat at Liepert’s in Leutschach, where traditional five-, six- or seven-course tasting menus are matched with local wines.

Reviews

Photos The Old School Guesthouse reviews

Anonymous review

Every hotel featured is visited personally by members of our team, given the Smith seal of approval, and then anonymously reviewed. As soon as our reviewers have returned from this home-from-home hotel in Austrian wine country and unpacked their bottles of local labels and corkscrews, a full account of their bacchanalian break will be with you. In the meantime, to whet your wanderlust, here's a quick peek inside The Old School Guesthouse in Styria…

Quietly resting between rolling vineyards and family-run farms in southern Styria, The Old School Guesthouse is your launchpad to popping the cork on this wine-rich region. 

As with any refined tasting, we’ll start with some history. This full-bodied retreat has aged beautifully — housed in a listed 20th-century school building that’s been painstakingly renovated and given a contemporary upgrade by husband and wife, Oliver and Petra (and their dachshund, Frank). Reception is fronted by a repurposed classroom desk and absence letters — discovered during the remodel and now framed —  decorate light-washed walls. Rooms have equally relaxing notes, some with south-facing, freestanding bath tubs and others with private meadow-watching balconies.

With provenance and aesthetic established, it’s now time to swirl and sample. Like its locale, food and wine are this spot’s forte, and Oliver’s deft skill for seasonal cooking (incorporating ingredients fresh from the garden, or delivered by neighbouring farmers) comes from his time at Vienna’s Steirereck restaurant. 

A storied stay in idyllically landscaped gardens crowned by a showstopper pool, this is a well-rounded vintage you’ll want to return to.

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Price per night from $306.85