Top 3 Castles around Polling in Tirol

Great hike .. definitely sturdy shoes

There's a nice animation on YouTube showing what the castle once looked like: https://youtu.be/uoZ6R732W_Q?si=jnkCu17-k__vppUf

From here you have a wonderful view of the Inn Valley.

Very beautiful old castle ruins with a fantastic view of the Inn Valley.

Both directions possible, shortening possible at any time, Simmering Alm currently closed. Marienbergalm or Lehnberhaus can be attached.

Martinsbühel Castle, sometimes also referred to as Martinsbühel Castle or Sankt Martinsberg, is a renovated hilltop castle between the Inn and the Martinswand in the municipality of Zirl in the Innsbruck-Land district of Tirol. The Martinsbühel is a low hill east of Zirl at the foot of the Martinswand. It rises at 616 m above sea level. A. around 30 meters over the Inn. It was already settled in the Latène period, later the Roman fort Teriolis was located here. The hill was also important in the Middle Ages because of its strategic location on the Inn ferry and the road from Innsbruck to the Upper Inn Valley and to the Seefelder Sattel. At the site of the late Roman Teriolis fort and the former road block, a castle was built over the ruins of the fort in the early Middle Ages. In 1290 Heinrich von Aufenstein enfeoffed Ludwig von "sant Marteinsberg bei Zierlen". After the nobles of Martinsberg died out, Martinsberg fell to Prince Meinhard II of Tirol. Martinsbühel was originally intended to be the widow's residence of Margarete Maultasch, who had kept St. Martinsberg in addition to Ambras Castle and two castles in South Tirol when Tirol was handed over to the Habsburgs in 1363. Rudolf IV von Habsburg prevented Margarete Maultasch from remaining in Tirol. In the 15th century it became a hunting lodge for Duke Friedrich with the empty pocket or for Archduke Sigismund the Coin-Rich. The hunting lodge was also expanded by Emperor Maximilian I (a zoo, stables, farm buildings) and used as a starting point for show hunts in the Martinswand. The castle was mostly administered by aristocratic fiefdoms, around 1450 by the Mentlberg family. In the 17th century the facilities were neglected and later also sold by the government. The Benedictine Father and Prior Edmund Hager (1826–1906) from St. Peter's Monastery, founded the “Kinderfreunde-Benediktiner”; In 1888 he acquired the property of the early castle complex to build a monastery with the aim of building an educational institution and training center for boys based on the model of Don Bosco. In Martinsbühel, a home for apprentices was set up in 1895, in which young people who were considered neglected were trained in tailoring, shoemaking, locksmithing and gardening. After the expropriation by the National Socialists, there was a school in Martinsbühel from 1938 to 1945 for "difficult to educate children", then a home for South Tirolean emigrants and a prisoner-of-war camp. After 1947, the Benedictine nuns from Scharnitz, who belonged to the Melchtal mother monastery, ran a denominational girls' home in the buildings with an attached special school for mentally and physically disabled girls (the school was rebuilt in 1988). Against the nuns of this institution there are allegations of physical and sexual abuse of the children entrusted to them. From 1985 until the closure in July 2008, the one-year housekeeping school for girls was retained, which girls from other federal states could also attend and which were assigned by the respective youth welfare services of the federal states. Due to insufficient registrations, this facility was also completely closed and at the end of 2008 the last remaining nuns moved to the Benedictine monastery in Scharnitz. Since then, the building complex, including the school - this has been largely empty since 2010 - or is partly managed and inhabited by an estate manager (the artist Ferdinand Lackner). A media and publishing office can be found in the former special school. Around 1700 the palas of the castle, the adjacent St. Martin's chapel and the castle wall were still completely preserved, but other buildings had already become ruins. Today the rectangular Romanesque palace of the castle, which is built up from regular layers of stone, is also still fully preserved. The house has a half-hip roof and unplastered stone masonry; it probably dates from the first half of the 14th century. The walled up arched portal on the second floor of the south wall is remarkable. Romanesque windows and a double-fluted, pointed arched gate from the time of Archduke Sigmund the Rich in Coin can also be seen on it. The front is adorned with a double-headed eagle on a yellow background. There are still a few remains of the old barrier walls. The late Gothic St. Martin's Chapel next to it dates from the 15th century in its current form; At that time, under Emperor Maximilian, the ribbed vault was built and the presbytery was added. It is believed that this is the work of Niklas Türing the Elder, the court architect of Emperor Maximilian. The origins of the chapel go back to the 6th century; it is even assumed that Martinsbühel was temporarily the seat of the Rhaetian bishop Martinus-Marcianus (around 570 AD). In addition, the Martinskirche is said to be the oldest still existing church in North Tirol. The chapel was also rebuilt in the 17th century. The long building is now provided with a high gable roof, contains fresco paintings (serrated meanders, Heavenly Jerusalem and a holy bishop from the 12th century) and is adorned with a baroque bell rider. The last renovation took place in 1965. The property is still owned by the St. Peter's Monastery in Salzburg today. On July 24, 1703, an ambush was carried out on the Bavarian Elector Max Emanuel at Martinsbühel when he marched into Tyrol. But instead of him, the magnificently dressed Count Ferdinand von Arco (1643–1703), who was part of the company (and who was pro forma married to the Elector's mistress, Agnes Le Louchier,) was shot by mistake.

Two square towers, visible from afar, still stand from the once extensive castle complex of Felsenstein Castle. The better preserved upper "Weinecker Tower" located here was built in 1483 and still has the remains of a ring wall. The pyramid roof was put on it only in the last quarter of the 20th century. The five-storey tower is about 30 m high. Its quarry stone walls are between 1.60 and 2.0 m thick, the side length is 7.75 m. On the top floor there is a round-arched opening, which is slightly offset from the central axis and occupies almost the entire width of the interior.

At the memorial cross below the ruins of the ruins of the ruins of the castle in remembrance of the Zirler standschützen there is a beautiful panoramic view.