Plaus
Plaus is a small municipality in the province of Bolzano, in the lower Val Venosta (Vinschgau), a few kilometres west of Merano al...
Updated 19 July 2026
This season · July · Summer
What to do in Plaus now
The story
The story of Plaus
Plaus in the Lower Val Venosta
Plaus lies in the lower part of the Val Venosta (Vinschgau), the long valley carved by the Adige between the Reschen Pass and Merano, precisely where the river approaches the Merano basin. The small village, set at 519 metres on the right side of the broad valley floor, borders the municipalities of Naturno upstream, Parcines downstream and Lagundo, already at the gates of Merano. Despite its geographical location in the Val Venosta, Plaus belongs for historical reasons to the Burggrafenamt district community, the area gravitating around Merano of which the village was part as a judicial district until the end of the First World War. The relatively small municipal territory stretches from the cultivated valley floor up to the slopes of the Nördersberg, on the southern side, where farmland gives way to woods and mountain pastures at higher altitude. The station of the Val Venosta railway, which links Merano to Malles, makes Plaus easy to reach even without a car, an ideal starting point for exploring both the valley floor and the panoramic trails of the Sonnenberg above the village.
Orchards and Vineyards
The economy of Plaus, like that of much of the lower Val Venosta, has revolved for generations around fruit growing. The dry, sunny climate, among the least rainy in the entire eastern Alps, combined with the valley's long irrigation tradition, has made the valley floor and lower slopes ideal ground for apple cultivation, today marketed also as Val Venosta PGI apples. Neat orchards cover the plain around the village, while higher up, on the south-facing slopes of the Sonnenberg, warmth and prolonged light also favour small terraced vineyards, often tended by family-run holdings alongside the orchards. This agrarian landscape, of geometric rows and terraces climbing from the valley floor toward the forest, is the most recognisable feature of the Plaus territory and reflects the balance between intensive farming and landscape care that characterises the whole lower Val Venosta, from Naturno to the gates of Merano.
The Cycle Path and the Irrigation Channels
The valley floor at Plaus is crossed by the Val Venosta cycle path, one of South Tyrol's best-loved cycling routes, which follows the Adige from the Reschen Pass to Merano, linking the valley's villages along a long, flat, family-friendly route. Yet the true distinguishing feature of the area are the Waalwege, the historic paths running alongside the irrigation channels dug centuries ago to carry water from mountain streams to the orchards and vineyards of a valley chronically short of rain. Walkable with almost no gradient in every season, these paths offer close views of the orchards and terraced vineyards and let visitors understand at close hand an irrigation system as ingenious as it is essential to farming in the Val Venosta, so much so that in 2024 the valley's traditional irrigation technique was recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage.
The Landscape, the Sonnenberg and Nature
Overlooking Plaus is the Sonnenberg, the 'sunny mountain', the slope of the lower Val Venosta that rises steeply from the valley floor to woods and high-altitude meadows, creating a warm, dry, almost Mediterranean microclimate with steppe vegetation rare in the Alps. The Sonnenberger Panoramaweg, a scenic trail linking Parcines and Naturno above Plaus, offers, from a natural balcony, views over the Merano basin and, on the opposite side of the valley, the snow-capped peaks of the Ortler massif. Those looking for a more demanding hike can follow the loop that starts and returns to Plaus railway station, through terraced vineyards, woodland and the Pardellbach waterfall, whose coolness invites a pause. To the south, beyond the Nördersberg, the municipal territory climbs to the ridge of the Vigiljoch, the highest point of the municipality at over two thousand metres, in a setting that is by then high mountain.
History and Experiences
The earliest written records of Plaus date back to the twelfth century, when the village appears as 'de Palude' and later as 'Palus', a name tied to the marshy valley floor before it was drained. In the municipal coat of arms, three black eagles on a silver field crossed by a red band recall the Lords of Tarant, who held the nearby Tarantsberg Castle until 1291, today reduced to a few ruins above the valley. The religious heart of the village is the church of St Ulrich, with its Gothic interior, which also houses a striking contemporary work: a dance-of-death cycle created between 1996 and 2001 by the artist Luis Stefan Stecher. A community that is overwhelmingly German-speaking, Plaus today has a rural economy of family-run fruit and wine holdings, alongside a quiet hiking tourism drawn precisely by the Sonnenberg trails and the irrigation channels that cross the village.
Not to be missed
- St Ulrich's Church, with the dance-of-death cycle by Luis Stefan Stecher
- A hike on the Sonnenberger Panoramaweg between Parcines and Naturno
- A walk along a Waalweg among orchards and terraced vineyards
- The Val Venosta cycle path along the Adige
- The ruins of Tarantsberg Castle and views over the Merano basin
To see
What to see in Plaus
Routes · Trovido Route
