Freistadt

Freistadt is well connected to the public transport system. There are good coach connections to get to other villages and cities around Freistadt. Moreover there is a train station a little out-of-town with direct connections to Linz and Budweis.

Freistadt with its beautiful historic city center and the colourful nature all around invites everybody to explore the city on foot. For people who want to go to the shops out of town, the train station, the leisure center or to the cemetery there are two so called "city buses" which take you to nearly every place in and around Freistadt.
They start their round trips in the morning and drive until 7 o'cock in the evening. The buses reach every stop on the round trip once an hour.
There are two lines, one for the inner city and one for the surrounding stops.
Here you can find the road-maps of the two lines:
http://www.ooevv.at/uploads/pics/Kursbuch/390.pdf
http://www.ooevv.at/uploads/pics/Kursbuch/391.pdf
Stifterplatz is the biggest bus terminal in Freistadt. There are a lot of coaches leaving for every other city in the region for example Linz (capital of Upper Austria), Pregarten, Hagenberg or others.
The trains give you another and sometimes more comfortable opportunity to reach the cities near Freistadt or even go to cities farther away like Vienna, Austria's beautiful capital. If there's no direct connection to a city you can take the train to the central station of Linz from where you can go to nearly every city in Austria and Central Europe.

The Main Square (Hauptplatz) is a rectangular place in the middle of the old town inside the city walls. It was built during the founding of the city in the 13th century. Around the Main Square there are 24 protected buildings as a historic monument, including the parish church and the town hall. St. Mary's Fountain in the middle of the Main Square is a baroque style fountain which was built here in 1704.

• Freistadt Castle

  phone: +43 7942 72274
  address: Schlosshof 2
  Passing a beautiful Gothic styled archway you reach the castle. It was finished in the years 1397/98 and served as a substitute for the old castle. The mighty tower is 50m high and gives rooms for the native museum. In the former chapel of the castle there is also a rich collection of pictures painted on glass.

• LinzertorThe “Linz Gate” is 28 meters in height and the landmark of Freistadt. You can still see the hangovers from the draw-bridge. A painting of the royal double eagle, a loophole and a picture of the patroness of Freistadt (Saint Catherine of Alexandria) is on the “Linz Gate”. Moreover the earlier writing of the name of the City “Freystadt” can be seen there.

• Bohemian Gatenearly as old as the city. The shape of the side walls shows you that there once were three wooden floors inside. These floors as well as the wooden roof were damaged by the last town fire in 1880. But the existing walls give you an impression of the strength of the fortification.

• Liebfrauenkirchebuilt around 1345, and all around this church there was the cemetery of Freistadt for 300 years. The building next door gives room to a convent school.

• ScheiblingsturmBack on the promenade, it leads you along a pond. The Scheiblingturm was built to protect the water running in. On the inner side of the tower there is a reconstruction of the rampart walk in a height of 7 metres.

• Bürgerkorpsturmfounded in 1777 and now gives room to an art gallery. You can see the inner side of the „Bürgerkorpsturm“ if you pass the „Linz Gate“ and turn right. The Tower is named after an old but still existing association of the citizens of Freistadt for the defence of the city.

• Weyermühlturmbuilt as a defense in the fourteenth century between the city and the town moat. In place of the tower there was the “Posttürl” – the small secret third entry to the city which was destroyed by a town fire in 1887.

• Alter RathausturmAt the southern side of the city there’s the “Old Tower of the Town Hall” in Renaissance-style. It was built very robust because it’s part of the city wall. The way through the town moat leads you to the “Dechanthofturm” – our next sight.

• Parish church KatharinenmünsterThe church of Freistadt is the only five-aisled basilica in Austria. The star-vaulting in the choir of our church is very impressive and a masterpice of gothic style. The tower of the parish church is in baroque style and 67 m high. It also gives room for a war-memorial.

• SalzhofThe oldest building of the city. Its name stands for the admission to embed and trade salt in the Middle Ages. Now a lot of concerts and exhibitions take place in the “Salzhof”. A few years ago it was completely restored and now mainly gives room for the music school.

• DechanthofturmThis tower was built for defense of the city wall too. It’s one of the most picturesque parts of the city and includes the “Dechanthof” which is along with the tower a very impressive building in baroque style.

In your freetime you can do a lot of things in Freistadt. The in- and outdoor swimming pool called „Moby Dick“ which has a great chute is near the bus stop „Stifterplatz“ and next to the sports field where you can also play beach volleyball. On the sports field you can watch some football and fistball matches. If you want to relax you can go to the beautiful big park near the Schlosshof, where there are lot of benches to sit down, a beautiful stream and a lot of flowers and trees.
Outside of the city centre you can go skiing or skating. You can go shopping in different shops or go sightseeing.

Although Freistadt is a very small city you can find a lot of different shops, where you can buy books, clothes, food etc. In the city centre there are most food and other shops like Bipa (Industriestraße 3 4240 Freistadt) which is a perfume shop where you get make-up, creams for your body, jewellery and so on. It’s very practical that the pastry shop Poißl is near Bipa. So you can buy lots of different things nearly at the same time because you don’t have to go a long way to buy things.
On the Main Square there are a lot of shops like café Lubinger which is an ice cream parlour too.

• Billa

  address: Eisengasse 14
  grocery shop

• Unimarkt

  address: Pragerstraße 2
  Fruits, biscuits and household articles like brushes. There are also magazines or newspapers on sale.

• Wolfsgruber

  address: Pfarrgasse 16
  In the shop you find different kinds of books, such as children’s books, adventure stories, action books, history books and so on. They also offer gifts and stationery.

• Intersport Pötscher

  address: Makovskystraße 2
  A sport shop in which you can buy sport articles. But the shop also sells jackets and other street wear.

• Pharmacy

  address: Hauptplatz 16

If you want to go for a drink, you find some bars, discos and cafes in Freistadt. First we start at the Main Square.

• Acanto

  address: Hauptplatz 13

• Foxi´s Vinothek

  address: Samtgasse 8

• Kern

  address: Eisengasse 8
  Café and bakery

• Kupferdachl

  address: Zemannstraße 21

• Latino

  address: Eisengasse 10
  a bar

• Lubinger

• Poisl

  address: Eisengasse 3
  A café

• Rockford

  address: Samtgasse 7

• Sailor´s Bar

  address: Dechanthofgasse 1

• Snoopies

  address: Salzgasse 11
  a pub where you can bet

• SuchanA café and coffee roasting house

• Tanz Tenne Amadeus

  address: Lasbergerstraße 4
  a night club for dancing. Wespennest one the same address is a pizza pub

• Vis á Vis

  address: Salzgasse 13

Budget

There’s one youth hostel and a few private rooms:

• Youth Hostel Freistadt

  phone: +43 7942 74365
  address: Schloßhof 3

• Familie Rechberger

  phone: +43 794274463
  address: Kubinstrasse 4

• Truffner

  phone: +43 794277713
  address: Vierzehner Straße 27

• Dr. Würl

  phone: +43 6763838841
  address: Obere Hafnerzeile 1

Mid-range

In Freistadt there are four types of accommodation you can choose from, The most comfortable opportunity is staying at hotels - here are some suggestions:

• Gasthof Hotel Goldener Adler

  phone: +43 7942 72112
  address: Salzgasse 1

• Hotel Deim – Goldener Hirsch

  phone: +43 7942 72258
  address: Böhmergasse 8-10

Another type of accommodation is farmhouses:

• Tonihöh

  phone: +43 794276616
  address: Sonnberg 7

• Lainschübl

  phone: +43 794272022
  address: Trölsberg 12

Freistadt is well connected to the public transport system.
There are good coach connections to get to other villages and cities around Freistadt.
Moreover there is a train station a little out-of-town with direct connections to Linz and Budweis.