Hik­ing

Click here for a map includ­ing all trails in and around Weißenstad!

1. The Path of Life (“Der Eger-Lebenspfad”)

Inform­at­ive stroll by the lake.

Explore the path of life and learn more about the vari­ous plants and anim­als of the region. The 900m long trail will edu­cate you about dragon­flies, bats, but­ter­flies and their plants and many oth­er fas­cin­at­ing top­ics. Watch birds at the obser­va­tion point or enjoy the refresh­ing river ford!

Addi­tion­ally, you can test your know­ledge on a range of subjects.

The fully access­ible path is opened all year long.

You can down­load the fly­er right here as a PDF file or vis­it us in the Resort- and Tour­ist Inform­a­tion Cen­ter in Weißenstadt.

2. The Jean-Paul-Trail (“Der Jean-Paul-Weg”)

Hikes with sta­tions all about lit­er­at­ure fol­low­ing the foot­steps of Jean Paul.

• “Vis­it­ing rel­at­ives” Schwar­zen­bach a.d.S. to Weißenstadt
• “You small, but kind and lumin­ous city“ Weißen­stadt to Wunsiedel
• “The heal­ing power of the Fichtel­ge­birge“ from Wun­siedel to Nagel
• Hik­ing in stages to Jean Paul’s life sta­tions in Upper Franconia

Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, who called him­self Jean Paul, was once the most ima­gin­at­ive and most pop­u­lar author in the Ger­man-speak­ing area. He loved Upper Franconia, although that term was formed much later. Many places in the area around and between Bayreuth and Hof became the sub­jects of his books, let­ters and oth­er lit­er­ary reflec­tions. His numer­ous hikes through the Fichtel­ge­birge greatly inspired and encour­aged him.

The Jean Paul Weg, which, after its com­ple­tion, will lead all the way from Jod­itz to Hof to Schwar­zen­bach a.d.S. to Wun­siedel to Bayreuth and all the way to Sans­pareil, guides hikers through places and land­scapes that shaped his life and meant incred­ibly much to him.
Strolling through these scener­ies enhanced with snip­pets of Jean Pauls writ­ing and thoughts on info pan­els along the way, brings hikers closer to the author and demon­strates just how uni­ver­sal many of his ideas were.

You can find the cur­rent info mater­i­al of the „Jean-Paul-Weg“ with inform­a­tion regard­ing the indi­vidu­al sta­tions here:

https://​www​.jean​paul​weg​.com

Jean-Paul-Weg‑1 — Jean-Paul-Weg‑2

3. Hik­ing to the Rudolfstein

The entry point to the ridge­way is loc­ated near the Inform­a­tion barn by the lake in Weißenstadt.

You hike through Weißen­stadt (asphalt) to the Fried­hof­skirche (church by the cemetery), past the “Keller­haus” and the rock cel­lars towards the Leder­er res­id­en­tial area. In the forest always head towards the dir­ec­tion of the “Höhen­weg-Rudolf­stein” (Rudolf­stein ridgeway).

The Rudolf­stein is home to the gigant­ic gran­ite-towers „Die drei Brüder“ („the three broth­ers“), which ist one of the most beau­ti­ful geotopes in Bav­aria. The north­ern rock with the cross on top is a very pop­u­lar des­tin­a­tion for rock climb­ing. The highest rock, which is access­ible by wooden stairs, offers a won­der­ful pan­or­ama of the sur­round­ing Moun­tains and the Weißen­stadt val­ley with the lake. Accord­ing to doc­u­ments dat­ing back to the year 1317, the hill­top once held a castle of which no traces are vis­ible today. Blue and white mark­ers lead down­hill towards the Weißen­haid­er Mühle (Weißen­haid­er Mill) which is cur­rently closed and towards Schön­lind-Zechen­haus. Here you can find the access point to the Eger­weg, which leads through the Eger­leben­sp­fad and back towards the lake and the inform­a­tion barn.

Trail­head:	Infosch­eune (inform­a­tion barn) nature park Fichtel­ge­birge or Fried­hof­skirche (cemet­ary church)
Route:	Infosch­eune (inform­a­tion barn), Leder­er, Rudolf­stein, Weißen­haid­er Mühle, Schön­lind, Weißen­städter See, Infosch­eune (inform­a­tion barn)
Dur­a­tion:	3 hours
Length:	6,5 km, some steep sections
Elev­a­tion:	Trail­head: ca. 600 m uphill to 866 m (Rudolf­stein), back down to 600 m
Trails:	Path­ways (25%), forest paths (50%), paved roads (~25%)
Dif­fi­culty:	medi­um to difficult
Mark­ers

Use­ful PDFs to download:

• Hike to the Rudolfstein
• Over­view of all hik­ing trails in Weißen­stadt am See

4. Hike to the Great Wald­stein (“Großer Waldstein”)

 

Leave Weißen­stadt on the ridge­way to the north­w­est close to the camp­site park­ing lot (Stadtbadgast­stätte Weißen­stadt). After about 40 minutes you will arrive at the Dr. Goep­el­stein (stone monu­ment) stand­ing on the right side of the road.

Pretty soon you will reach the sum­mit of the Great Wald­stein (877 m) which is the highest point in the north­ern part of the horse­shoe-shaped Fichtel­ge­birge. It divides the Weißen­stadt val­ley from the Münch­ber­ger valley.

In the court­yard of the Red Castle (“Rotes Schloss”) you will find the infam­ous  Devil’s Table (“Teufel­stisch”). The Pavil­lon which was erec­ted on top of the Keyrock (“Schlüs­selfelsen”) in 1881 offers a breath­tak­ing panorama.

To the west of the Wald­stein­haus you can find an odd, small build­ing. The so-called Bear-Dun­geon (“Bären­fang”). It was built in 1650 and was actu­ally used to hold cap­tured bears.

On the way back, fol­low the lake trail east­ward in order to reach a quarry. The rest of the lake trail leads down­hill. Walk past the former coun­try hostel (“Schul­land­heim”), leave the forest and you can already see the Weißen­stadt lake. Dirt roads now lead back towards the trailhead.

Trail­head:	Stadtbad / Camp­site in Weißenstadt
Route:	Stadtbad / Camp­site, Dr. Goep­el­stein, Wald­stein­gip­fel, Stadtbad
Dur­a­tion:	2 to ca. 2,5 hours
Length:	~7 km, some steep­er sections
Elev­a­tion:	Trail­head: ca. 600 m uphill to 877m (Wald­stein) back down­hill to 600 m
Trails:	Path­ways (ca. 70%), forest paths and roads (30%) and paved roads (ca. 5%)
Mark­ers:

Use­ful PDFs to download:

• Hike to The Great Waldstein
• Over­view of all hik­ing trails in Weißen­stadt am See

5. Rock-Well­spring-Tour Weißenstadt

The ridge­way behind the Cemetery Church (“Fried­hof­skirche”) leads through the „Hob­bit-land­scape“ of the his­tor­ic rock cel­lars of Weißen­stadt and past the Leder­er res­id­en­tial area. Just before the path leads into the forest, turn right and fol­low the „blue-white-blue“ mark­er along a forest path to the Schön­lind dis­trict. Now fol­low the „blue dot“ mark­er uphill towards the Rudolf­stein. Enjoy the vant­age point over­look­ing Weißen­stadt and the Fichtel­ge­birge with all its cap­tiv­at­ing Stone-form­a­tions. The geotope „Die drei Brüder“ („the three broth­ers“), which is ranked among the 100 most beau­ti­ful geotopes in all of Ger­many, will soon emerge. After anoth­er 400 m, turn right and head towards the Weißen­haid­er Eck fol­low­ing the „blue slant­ing bar“ mark­ers. The Eger­weg leads to the Eger­quelle, a place of serene tran­quil­ity. Head down­hill from there, across forest paths and cross the Voit­sumra dis­trict. Now walk along the Eger­weg, across the street and along the Eger-Leben­sp­fad towards the Weißen­stadt lake. Fol­low the „E“s along the lake until you reach the „Bum­meltränke“ where the Cemetery Church (“Fried­hof­skirche”) is then loc­ated to your right-hand side, bring­ing you back to your start­ing point.

Trail­head:	Church by the cemetery in Weißen­stadt, Bayreuth­er Straße
Route:	Weißen­stadt rock cel­lars, Schön­lind, Rudolf­stein, Drei Brüder (three broth­ers), Weißen­haid­er Eck, Eger­quelle, Voit­sumra, Eger­leben­sp­fad, Weißen­stadt lake
Dur­a­tion:	ca. 5 hours
Length:	15,5 km
Elev­a­tion:	Trail­head: ca. 600 m, 246m uphill, 251m downhill
Trails:	Path­ways (60%), forest paths (30%) and asphalt roads (ca. 10%)
Dif­fi­culty:	medi­um
Mark­ers: