Sissi's Path: Stroll from Merano’s City Center to the Botanical Garden

Sissi’s Path: A lovely stroll leading from Merano to Trauttmansdorff

Meran has many stories, and Sissi’s Path tells one of them. The immensely popular Empress Elisabeth of Austria loved taking long walks. You can follow in her footsteps even today, walking from downtown Merano up to Sissi’s holiday residence, Trauttmansdorff Castle, passing quiet corners, majestic villas, enchanting manors and old parks. Along the path leading from the gardens to Empress Elisabeth Park in Merano’s city center there are many places that commemorate the monarch’s sojourns in the spa resort town. The well-marked Sissi's Path is easily negotiated with a wheelchair or stroller.

Bust of Sissi

Sissi adored both the spa town of Merano and Trauttmansdorff Castle

Empress Sissi spent two of her four Merano health sojourns at Trauttmansdorff Castle. After her arrival “in the strictest incognito” (yet with a retinue of 102 people!) via the newly commissioned Brenner Railway, Sissi moved into her rooms – sumptuously furnished and renovated especially for her – at Merano’s Trauttmansdorff Castle for the first time on 16 October 1870. She had brought her ailing two-year-old daughter, Marie Valerie, with her.

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Blooming tulips

Follow in Sissi’s Footsteps at Merano’s Botanical Garden

If you, like many of our visitors, are a fan of Empress Sissi then the gardens are the perfect place to follow in the footsteps of the hugely popular monarch. It was largely due to Empress Elisabeth of Austria’s visits to Merano and Trauttmansdorff Castle that the little spa town achieved international renown. Scattered throughout the present-day botanical gardens and the Touriseum commemorate, you’ll find attractions and exhibits dedicated to Empress Sissi, who has long since achieved cult status.

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