Discover Glurns: City Walls, Culture and Trails
Accommodation in Glurns
Glurns amid Walls, History and Trails
If you are looking for a historic town with short distances to culture and countryside for your holiday, Glurns offers many tangible points of interest. The Renaissance city walls of Glorenza are fully preserved and include four corner bastions and three gates: Malles, Sluderno and Chiesa. The historic centre of Glurns also includes patrician houses dating from the 16th century. The townscape and architecture thus tell the story of a deeply rooted past that you can experience at close quarters on a walk among walls, towers and houses.
Town History at Towers and the Mühlbach
Glurns was a trading hub for the salt trade between southern Germany and Lombardy. The parish church of St Pancras, dating from the 15th century, stands in the town. The exhibition “Tappe di una piccola città” in the Schludernser Gate Tower explores topics relating to local history. Another cultural stop is the permanent exhibition “Paul Flora – Vita e opere” in Glurns. It opened in 2011 and displays up to 60 works by Paul Flora.
The town mill also brings historic technology to life. The Mühlbach was diverted directly beside the old Adige bridge and had served as an energy source for the Glurns town mill since at least 1330. The waterwheel was renewed, and the mill was completely restored in 2004. There is no arbitrary vehicle route from the mill to the centre: the Glurns town mill can only be reached on foot from the town centre.
PUNI and Local Culinary Culture
Outside Glurns’ city walls, the PUNI distillery is located in the artisans’ zone. At the PUNI Visitor Centre, it offers whisky tastings with a view of the stills. A self-guided tour of the PUNI distillery uses a web app that guides visitors through the distillery’s production area. This allows you to combine the historic town centre with an insight into a contemporary production environment, without equating the two locations geographically.
Experience the City Walls and Plan Your Routes
Part of Glurns’ covered rampart walkway is accessible from the Schludernser Gate Tower. For the “Towers, Walls, Mice” guided tour through Glurns, the meeting point is at the Tauferer Gate Tower. In 2026, the tour is offered every Monday from 13 April to 26 October.
The summit tour to Glurnserköpfl begins at the parish church of St Pancras in Glurns and initially follows Trail No. 9, then Trail No. 24 to the summit. The hike to Tartscher Bühel, on the other hand, starts at the North car park outside Glurns’ city walls, near the Malser Gate Tower. It follows Trail No. 18 and then the Bichlsteig trail around Tartscher Bühel. If you prefer to travel by bike, you can use the Adige Cycle Path along the ancient Roman road Via Claudia Augusta, which passes through the medieval town of Glurns.
Getting There and Choosing Your Accommodation Location
Glorenza can be reached by Citybus 274 from Mals, by Postbus 811 or by the Vinschgerbahn train to Schluderns, followed by Citybus 274. When choosing your accommodation, you can therefore consider whether your stay should focus more on the historic centre, a guided tour of the city walls or starting points outside the walls. The town mill, the PUNI distillery and the trails to Glurnserköpfl and Tartscher Bühel are not located in the same place and represent different focuses for your holiday day.
For the higher-level travel overview: Vinschgau.
