A bang-free New Year's Eve with your dog - holiday in Steinschaler Dörfl Lower Austria

We took Shaggy to Steinschaler Dörfl to spend a bang-free New Year's Eve with our dog this year. I'll tell you what it was like in today's blog post.

Loud bangs out of nowhere, flashing and shining skies, mini earthquakes caused by the firecrackers - all these are the kind of impressions that are terrible for our pets and also for animals living in the wild - so if you have a Bang-free New Year's Eve If you want to spend the New Year with your loved one in a relaxed atmosphere, there's no getting around a quiet location. 🏨🐕

We did some research on the internet and looked for hotels that offer a bang-free New Year's Eve. This time we decided on the Steinschaler Dörfl in the Lower Austrian Mostviertel region. 

⚠️ Attention - Personal opinion: I think the shooting is simply awful and totally out of date. Without attacking anyone personally, I don't understand the compensation for a deficiency that people try to make up for with ever louder firecrackers. Be that as it may - tradition or not - for many people this is the worst day of the year and the louder and more violent it is, the worse it is. Honestly, if you shoot all your powder at midnight - then so be it.
But if you start shooting a week before, or don't stop after New Year - I just can't understand that. 🤷‍♂️

Firecracker-free New Year's Eve with a dog - but how? 🧨

If you have already tried everything to get your dog used to the noise and the impressions and it just doesn't work, there is still one option left: go on holiday to a quiet area. 🏖️ After scouring various dog hotel websites, we came across the Steinschaler Dörfl, which guarantees a bang-free New Year's Eve.

We were already very late with the booking, but were lucky that a double room was still available for us. We didn't hesitate and booked the room straight away by email.

Location of the Steinschaler Dörfl

The nature hotel for a bang-free New Year's Eve is located in the Lower Austrian district of St. Pölten Land in the Mostviertel region. only 90 minutes by car from Linz and Vienna. 🚗

It is easily accessible via the motorway and a few kilometres on the main road. The approach is via Frankenfels.

Some guests who travelled from Germany 🇩🇪 took the opportunity to spend a day in Vienna during their stay - a great excursion tip due to the relatively short distance.

The quiet location is marvellous - there are hardly any houses far and wide and you are very secluded here in a peaceful environment. If you have a room with a view of the valley, you can only see your neighbour, who is a kilometre away. That's it. A wonderful and dreamlike natural location. 🌿

Stay and price at Steinschaler Dörfl

If you want a bang-free New Year's Eve with your dog in the Steinschaler Dörfl must plan their stay as a week's holiday. The minimum stay is 6 days. 🗓️

There are several ways to spend these 6 days in a meaningful way. The hotel offers an extensive programme and the surrounding countryside is also great for exploring. Every morning at breakfast, you are also given a tip for a day trip in the surrounding area. 🥾

The price for the 6 days including programme and half board for a double room is around €1900 (incl. daily breakfast buffet, daily evening buffet, New Year's Eve gala dinner, daily cake buffet and social programme)

Drinks are always charged extra (recorded during your stay and charged at the end when you check out). However, I have already taken this into account in the above price. Attention, the price is only an estimate from me - you get the offer in advance by email (excluding drinks and lunch). 📧

Furnishings and rooms

I think the furnishings and style are typical of a nature hotel in this location. The hotel was furnished and designed exactly as I had imagined. You can find a picture gallery with our impressions below.

The rooms were clean and we felt very comfortable with our dog. Nothing was dirty or „messy“, despite the high number of dogs in this hotel. The guests are very considerate of each other here and the host also ensures that the surroundings are clean.

It is a very rural hotel and an old building - you should not expect a modern and newly furnished property. But that is not promised either.

For the dogs, there were water bowls at the entrance, water and food bowls in the room, fenced dog exercise areas and dog biscuits. You can tell that a lot of value is placed on man's best friend here.

Shaggy was also allowed everywhere - even in the dining room.

Supporting programme at the nature hotel

The Weiß family and the team make every effort to make the guests' stay as pleasant as possible. There was a Extensive supporting programme such as:

• Active into the day
• Bake a dog biscuit
• Punch & welcome
• Massage on New Year's Eve
• New Year's Eve hike to the wooden church 
• Handicrafts for the dog
• Gala dinner on New Year's Eve
• Late riser breakfast for New Year
• Kaiserschmarren in the Dörfl
• Nature garden tour
• Beaver - Guided tour

In any case, you won't get bored with this programme. 🙌

Culinary delights

The food at the hotel was really commendable. There was always a large selection of great dishes and always At least one vegan dish. 🌱 The vegan dish was not just a vegetable loaf with rice - no - it was always a super, wholesome and extremely tasty meal. Big praise at this point to the kitchen!

There was also always a vegan cake at the cake buffet. 🍰

At the breakfast buffet, there is a table with extra vegan treats. Cheese and butter alternatives, vegetables, hummus, vegan milk substitutes and much more.

For everyone else, there was of course the classic breakfast buffet with eggs, sausage, cheese, muesli, etc.

New Year's Eve hike to the wooden church

The municipality of Schwarzenbach an der Pielach organises an annual New Year's Eve hike to the wooden church. On the descent you walk towards the sunset with torches. A really great experience for young and old! 🥾

We thought we would go on this leisurely walk 🚶‍♀️ and hoped that no rockets or firecrackers would be heard during the walk. Unfortunately, we could hear a few firecrackers from a very, very long way back - but it was so quiet that Shaggy didn't mind.

So anyone who, like us, thought this would be a leisurely walk was taught better - because it wasn't leisurely - it was actually very strenuous. 😂 The last few metres were really steep and you really earned your dinner.

You should be sure-footed and experienced hikers generally have no problem with this hiking trail.

Brief key data:

✅ Duration approx. 2.5 hours

✅ approx. 8.5km starting from the Haslaustüberl

✅ approx. 320 metres in altitude

Suitable for fit dogs

⚠️ Stamina and basic stamina required

⚠️ Sturdy footwear required

⚠️ Hiking poles are an advantage

⚠️ Slippery due to foliage and rocks

⚠️ only possible for experienced children

⛔️ Not suitable for pushchairs

⚠️ ATTENTION: We expressly point out that we accept no liability for accidents or possibly closed trails. Before hiking, check the availability of the trail and reflect on your own fitness.

Gala dinner on New Year's Eve

The gala dinner was really brilliant - so I was able to experience the turn of the year with a full stomach.

As a welcome drink there was a Elderberry lillet. In addition a small Sesame balls with herb butter. As a vegan starter, I was served a Savoy cabbage roulade with sweet potato cream. The next course was a Salad plate from the buffet. The Vegan cream of chive soup was then served to our table. As a warm starter we were then served Glass noodles with vegan spring roll and lemon cream sauce. 

The main course was again from the buffet and there was plenty of choice. Napkin dumplings, spinach, vegetables, potato gratin, bulgur, suckling pig, wild mushroom risotto, warm coleslaw and much more.

Of course, I made myself a really colourful mixed plate. 🍽️

For dessert we had panna cotta and a punch doughnut. ❤️

Bang-free New Year's Eve with a dog - was the promise kept?

To be honest - no - it wasn't bang-free. The neighbour set off some firecrackers and rockets at around 22:00, knowing full well that there were lots of panic dogs in the hotel next door. 🧨

Nevertheless, to be fair: It was bearable for us and Shaggy. It didn't last long and it was quiet at midnight. If I compare it to New Year's Eve at home, this was in a completely different league - it was relatively very, very quiet and we were so tired from the hike to the wooden church that we almost slept through the New Year.

For some dogs in the hotel, however, the firecrackers came as a surprise and they were extremely panicked despite the distance - for us, as mentioned, it was totally fine. We were also able to go for a normal walk after midnight, which would be completely impossible at home.

You also have the option of taking your dog into the hall on the ground floor, as you shouldn't hear any firecrackers there. Some people did this and I was told that it was really quiet and you couldn't hear the firecrackers.

Conclusion on the New Year's Eve holiday

So if you want to have a completely bang-free New Year's Eve with your dog, you'll probably never get a 1001TP3 guarantee. But if you want to have a very quiet and relaxed New Year's Eve, then you've come to the right place.

The 6-day stay is really long, but there are so many great ways to make the most of your time in the area.

As for the price, ok, that's debatable. But it was definitely worth it for the dog owners here and there were a lot of regular guests from previous years.

It was also very funny to see how many different dogs, owners and characters were here. A really funny and colourful group with cute dogs. From time to time you had the feeling of being stranded somewhere after a shipwreck and making the best of it.

We really enjoyed our stay and who knows - maybe we'll see you again next year?

Further recommendation

If you're looking for an excursion tip for the whole family, then you should definitely read this: Harry Potter: the exhibition in Vienna.