All 14 long-distance hiking trails have one thing in common: They are pioneering, i.e. well signposted, varied and eventful and have a good infrastructure for overnight stays: Many hosts along the way have been awarded a seal of quality.
As early as 2005, the 14 most beautiful hiking trails came together to form the Top Trails of Germany. These long-distance hiking trails meet the criteria as a “premium hiking trail” by the German Hiking Institute or as a “quality trail” by the Wanderbares Deutschlands portal, the website of the German Hiking Association. This is the umbrella organization of 58 German mountain and hiking clubs with around 600,000 members.
Wanderable Germany
At the same time, the German Tourism Association created the “Quality Host” label for hotels, guesthouses, private accommodation, holiday apartments, youth hostels and inns.
Because if you’ve been hiking all day, maybe even gotten into bad weather and got wet, you want to spend the night in good accommodation where you don’t have to put up with grumpy innkeepers and bad food.
On the following pages of the photo series we give suggestions for the most beautiful multi-day hikes in Germany. The requirements are different: The selection ranges from the strenuous 350-kilometer-long Albsteig in Swabia to a route through the Lüneburg Heath in Lower Saxony to the moderately difficult Rheinstieg with deep views of Germany’s longest river.
Sources: www.top-trails-of-germany.de and www.wanderbares-deutschland.de
Also read:
– Off through the Greina plateau: A hike from Graubünden to Ticino
– Swiss railway adventure trail Albula: hiking along the world heritage route
– Only for those with a head for heights: These are the most spectacular suspension bridges for hikers