The Rennsteig

Germany's most Significant Long Distance Path Dating back to before 1000, it was both a border and an important road linking Thuringia with northern Franconia. You will see many intriguingly carved old border stones along the path. Much of the route follows the main ridge of the Thuringian Forest. Once you have climbed up the ridge during the first day or two of the walk, there is little climbing and you can enjoy a classic forested ridgeway. Much of the central part passes through a nature reserve; almost all the rest is still through protected countryside. You can download a profile of the Rennsteig, and a report by some of our walkers from 2009 is also available. This will open in a new window or tab.

As it crossed the former iron curtain, no one could walk the entire route for 40 years before 1989. Starting at Hörschel just west of Eisenach (where Luther translated the Bible from Latin), it runs via the Grosser Inselsberg, Oberhof, Neustadt am Rennsteig, Altenfeld, Limbach, Spechtsbrunn and Brennersgrün to Blankenstein. Today, however, this is the walk that every German Walker wants to do. For them, this is not just one of the finest walking tours in their country, it is also an emotional journey through the heart of Germany, symbolising within itself the unification of 1989.

The towns of Eisenach, Gotha, Erfurt and Weimar lie to the north of the route and a visit to any or all of these can easily be combined with a holiday on the Rennsteig. There are many sights along the way: the church in Hörschel, the Dragon's Gorge, the Grosser Inselsberg (highest point of the area), the Rennsteig Garden in Oberhof (a collection of alpine plants and flowers above what was the leading winter sports centre of the German Democratic Republic), a glass museum, the source of the River Werra (a spring emerging from the mouth of a lion), the Three Rivers Stone and various other local museums and churches. The villages are typically of wooden houses. Owing to the risk of snow, tours on the Rennsteig are not available in winter. Accommodation is in villages and small towns a mile or two from the Rennsteig itself.

The following tours along the Rennsteig are available: The Rennsteig from the Werra to the Saale A 9 night walking tour along the full length of the Rennsteig from the start at Hörschel to Blankenstein The Western Rennsteig A 7 night easy walking tour along the western Rennsteig from Hörschel to Oberhof We can arrange other tours along this route, easy or demading, covering as much, or (within reason) as little of the Rennsteig as you choose. E-mail us with details of what you would like and we shall put together an offer for you.

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