Romantic days at Schlosshotel Burg Hirschhorn – Hiking around Heidelberg

Individual journey to Schriesheim

Are you traveling by train?

Please travel by train via

• Heidelberg HbF or via
• Mannheim HbF.

Please change to streetcar line 5 in the direction of

• Weinheim / Mannheim (coming from Heidelberg) resp.
• Weinheim / Heidelberg (coming from Mannheim).

Take line 5 to the Schriesheim Bahnhof stop.

Are you traveling by car?

Please drive directly to the starting hotel. Public parking is available within walking distance of the hotel.

Day hike Schriesheim – Heidelberg, approx. 15 km, 600 m ↑↓, ~ 7 h

Make your way to Heidelberg. You start comfortably directly from your hotel. Via paths steeped in history and grandiose views, it leads you along the famous Heidelberg Philosophers’ Path and down the narrow Snake Path into the old town of the Kurzpfalz region.

First we climb up through the town to the Strahlenburg and then steeply uphill to the edge of the Schriesheim quarry with its climbing paradise on the Ölberg. From here you have a wide view over the Rhine Valley, Mannheim to the Palatinate Forest.

We follow the old border path with beautiful views into the Odenwald and partly deeply cut hollow ways up to the lookout tower and high altitude inn on the Weißen Stein. Continue to follow the well-known white – red – white Odenwald – Vosges – path in the direction of Heidelberg.

Just before descending to the Philosophenweg, the trail has three more surprises in store for you.

The impressive ruins of the Michaelskloster monastery above Heidelberg on the hilltop of the Heiligenberg with its magnificent distant view of the Rhine plain.

A little further down, you will come across a huge forest stage with a view over the Rhine towards France – one of the so-called ‘Thingstätten’, which the NSDAP had erected throughout the Reich after seizing power. It once provided space for 20,000 spectators for völkisch indoctrination and propaganda of the Aryan master race. Today it lies peacefully there in the woods, offering space and sun to visitors and lizards.

All this is surrounded by a ring wall, probably the oldest structure in the Heidelberg area. The Celts built a castle and settlement up here in the Bronze Age around 400 years before the birth of Christ.

Following the path further, you will pass the Heidenlochloch and the ruins of the former St. Stephen’s Monastery.

Via the Bismarck Tower and the world-famous Philosopher’s Path, you descend the Snake Path to Heidelberg’s Old Bridge and into the Old Town.

Please walk the entire Neckar riverbank or the inner city pedestrian zone, the Heidelberg Hauptstraße all the way through to the end to Bismarckplatz. There, please get back on the streetcar line 5 in the direction of Weinheim and get off at 12 stops until Schriesheim Bahnhof.

Done! We count: 3 castles, a castle, two monastery ruins, a devil’s hole and a fortress rampart

Day hike: Heidelberg – Heidelberg Castle – Königsstuhl – Neckargemünd, approx. 17 km, 600 m ↑↓, ~ 7 h

From Schriesheim you drive – just like yesterday only in the opposite direction – again to Heidelberg to the Bismarkplatz. If you like, walk along the main street towards Heilig Geist or walk east along the Neckar promenade towards the Alte Brücke. Our route tip on komoot.de takes you up the Königsstuhl in a zigzag.

From the old town we first climb up the castle path to the once world-famous terraced garden of the castle. Even if the day is still fresh – we should take a little time for the park, the castle and its impressive fortress ruins.

After leaving the electoral splendor on the uphill side, we walk a short distance along the newly laid historical path. he commemorates the siege and storming of Heidelberg by the Bavarians led by General Tilly during the Thirty Years’ War some 400 years ago. We zigzag uphill via the Upper Castle, a former outer castle of the castle, and the Molkenkur.

There are hundreds of paths up the Königsstuhl. The most regal – and exhausting – is undoubtedly the ladder to heaven.

We follow it only the last part and before that we make a hook over the poacher’s cross in the electoral forest.

Welcome to the summit!

We leave the Königsstuhl to the east along the Via Naturae through the electoral city forest. A short detour during the slow descent is still worthwhile to the Heidelberg Felsenmeer. There is hardly a more beautiful distant view of the Neckar and the Heidelberg mountain towns of Ziegelhausen and Schlierbach than from here.

Follow the Neckarsteig further east until you reach the old town of Neckargemünd. If you like, take a detour through the city park to the ruins of Reichenstein Castle above the city. Stroll a little through the small center and go in the evening with the S – train (S1 or S2) from the station Neckargemünd old town 4 stations to Eberbach main station.

You will reach the day’s destination Eberbach.

Done!
We count: 5 castles, two chateaus, two monastery ruins, a devil’s hole and a fortress rampart

Farewell day – or extension

Stay – or come back! There is still so much to experience.

If you have to go home in between, we wish you a safe journey.
If you – like us – have fallen in love with the region: We are always on the lookout for good colleagues :-)!