Traunreut: American Art, and New German Cuisine

Traunreut was founded in 1950. Before that there was a munitions factory at the site of the present town, which worked from 1938 to 1945. Now many companies are concentrated there that provide the population with jobs. The firms include Bosch, Siemens and Siteco. The Traun River flows through the city, from which it got its name. 

Despite Traunreut’s young age, it has a Town Hall Square (Rathausplatz), like all German cities. But the story here is concentrated in Pertenstein Castle (Schloss Pertenstein). Hofmarkfest Pertenstein Festival is held here every summer with traditional folk festivals, mummers and the market where farmers come from the outskirts with their products. The local DASMAXIMUM Museum of Contemporary Art includes an exciting collection of contemporary art, which you should definitely see.

You can try traditional Bavarian beer and an appetizer (Brodzeit) in Traunreut’s restaurants: it is often a slice of black bread with onions, lard, ham and smoked cheese. More serious dishes of this and neighboring regions are typically added with the new-German fusion, that is, the ease and versatility, based on which the new German cuisine grew. These dishes include fillet of brook trout in wine sauce (Rieslingsud gedünstetes Saiblingsfilet), goulash soup with scones (Gulaschsuppe), cheese spätzle (Käsespätzle), beef chops and schnitzel Viennese. For dessert, in addition to apple strudel you can take the dish called “Ice and heat” (Eis & Heiss)- vanilla ice cream with berries warmed to a high temperature and cream. Of course, the usual Bavarian pretzels - pretzels and sausages with mustard are everywhere.

Traunreut is remarkable for its two baths- Städtisches Hallenbad and Franz-Haberlander-Bad. The latter is a real city of water fun with a large swimming pool, slides and trampolines, café and sun beds. To enjoy the natural beauty you should go to the distal area of Stein an der Traun, where everything is surrounded by greenery and a castle (Schloss Stein an der Traun) towering a rock, which hosts the summer festival of the historic fortress on the Traun. Rest and magnificent scenery await travelers also 10km away from the town, on the beautiful Lake Chiemsee with the famous Palace of Ludwig of Bavaria and the monastery, where they make excellent marzipan.