There are many easy hiking trails in Germany
Hiking in Germany The Coalminers Trail There are two things you should know about the Muttental Mining Trail, east of the Ruhrgebiet, Germany’s old industrial heartland: Firstly, for nearly all of the trail’s 9 km, you would never think that you are in the middle of what is essentially a city of 7 or 8…
Bricks in Buildings Architects in most European countries have always considered bricks second rate material, i.e. inferior to stone. As a consequence, there are fairly few “prestige buildings” across Europe – churches, palaces of the high aristocracy – that are made of bricks. The exception to this rule is the extreme North of Germany (and…
Spend Two Hours in Hamburg The best thing about Deutsche Bahn’s Across-the-Country 1-day rail pass (the “Quer-durchs-Land” ticket or QdL for short) is that it’s very cheap. Forty eight euros for two people on any regional train in Germany: that’s an unbeatable offer. Journeys take a little longer than on the fast IC trains, that…
Hiking the old German Industrial Heartland Hiking in Germany We continue our exploration of the Ruhrgebiet: The Emscherweg This walk is short, just right for the time of the year when there are so few hours between dawn and dusk. It features a park, a river promenade and a lake. But beware: nothing is quite…
On a Day Hiking Trail The Ruhrgebiet, Germany’s old industrial heartland, may not be rich with cultural sights, but Villa Hügel – the former residence of the Krupp family – on the shores of Lake Baldeney (popular day hiking trail and site for local day trippers) is a must see for anybody with even a…
Day hiking in Germany Guns and Forest on a Hiking Trail? Over the next few months, I am going to tell you – in a loose series of posts – a little bit about day hikes in the Ruhrgebiet, Germany’s old industrial heartland. The Ruhrgebiet may not be an area that many foreigners will want to…
Easy hiking in Germany I’m sure you will agree. To visit the mountains without getting to the summit of one is like traveling to the sea without dipping as much as your toe into the water. So when we recently visited the Harz mountains in northern Germany and had no time to climb the Brocken…
Where to Go in Germany An Old Peep Show Machine In the age before computers and video games, itinerant amusement parks in the 30s to the 50s were the place kids and adults could have some fun. At the end of our day hike on the Siebengebirge south of Bonn in Germany, we chanced upon these…
Hiking in Germany Where Witches Go Hiking Trail The Harzer Hexenstieg in North Germany, about 200 km (130 miles) west of Berlin, with a total length of 97 km (in 5 to 7 stages) from Osterode to Thale across what was once the most fiercely protected border in Europe. Profile The Harz is the wildest,…
Transport Tips for Germany Cheapest Train Ticket in Germany Last year, we gave Deutsche Bahn a bit more than €600 to ferry our family of 4, plus dog, from our holiday base in West Germany to the city of Erfurt in the East, and back. This year, we only spent €120 for our round-trip to…