Eifelsteig

Just you, the rocks and the water

“Just you, the rocks and the water”: a perfect description of a trail which offers constantly changing variations on its underlying theme. The Eifelsteig takes in spectacular natural environments on its way through three impressive conservation areas in the Eifel region: the highland moors of the German-Belgian nature reserve Hohes Venn, the Eifel National Park and the Vulkaneifel European Geopark.

Over a total of 313 kilometres the 15 stages of the Eifelsteig trail lead from Aachen/Kornelimünster in North Rhine-Westphalia to Trier in Rhineland-Palatinate. In the north of the region, where the trail begins, the mountains are merely hills that tail off into the lowlands. The initial stages of the route are characterised by the highland moors of the Hohes Venn and beech hedges as high as houses that shield against the wind. It continues through the Eifel national park with its rocky ravines and mixed woodlands as far as the dam of the Urfttal reservoir, then up onto the Dreiborn plateau, home to a former National Socialist training camp (Ordensburg Vogelsang), and down again to the river Urft which leads on to Gemünd. Passing the Roman aqueduct that once served Cologne, the trail continues via Nettersheim to Blankenheim, where it crosses into Rhineland-Palatinate.

Here in the western Eifel region, the landscape is shaped by volcanic activity. Mother Nature puts on a spectacular show: some of her finest achievements include the continuously growing Dreimühlen waterfall, the dolomite cliffs in Gerolstein and the maar crater lakes known as the blue eyes of the Eifel. After Daun, the Eifelsteig joins the Lieser Trail before it turns off into the Salm valley, headed for the Kyll valley. Reddish-yellow sedimentary rock dominates the scenery in its latter stages all the way to Trier, the final destination.