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Travelling to Heppenheim by public transport:
- RE 60 from Frankfurt or Mannheim
- RB 67/68 from Frankfurt
- RB 68 from Heidelberg
Departure from Hemsbach
- RE 60 towards Frankfurt or Mannheim
- RB 68 towards Heidelberg
- RB 67/68 towards Frankfurt
(S) The fourth stage of the Burgensteig starts on the station forecourt in Heppenheim. Opposite the station building, walk along ‘Bahnhofstraße’, then turn right onto ‘Neckarstraße’ and then left onto ‘Ernst-Schneider-Straße’.
Follow this road until you reach “Ludwigstraße”, cross it at the pedestrian lights and walk along the pedestrian zone to the “Kleiner Markt” square.
Opposite, you’ll see the “Wormser Tor”, the gateway to Heppenheim’s old town. Walk through it and continue straight on to “Großer Markt” square.
It’s worth taking a look at the street lamps along the way. These feature paper cut-outs by the artist Alber Völkl, depicting Hessian legends. There is also an explanatory panel at each lamp post.
(1) Behind “Großer Markt” square, you can already see the two towers of St Peter’s Church rising up. To get there, cross the square and follow “Kirchgasse”. After a few metres, you’ll find yourself in front of the “Dom der Bergstraße”. It’s well worth a visit.
Leaving the cathedral, keep slightly to the left and you’ll come through a narrow alley onto ‘Laudenbacher Tor’ and thus back onto the Burgensteig. Turn left.
(2) After a few metres, you’ll pass the Sparkasse Starkenburg Money Museum and find yourself at the “Merianstraße/Gräffstraße” junction. Continue on the other side into “Kolpingstraße”.
In front of a massive sweet chestnut tree, keep left and continue along “Kolpingstraße” until you reach “Erbacher Tal” (L3120). Cross this road.
Walk a short distance along “Mausnestweg” and turn left straight away onto “Essigkammweg”. The path now climbs steeply upwards.
At the end of the tarmac path, turn right (sign: ‘Pedestrians only’) and continue uphill along the edge of the woodland.
After the steps, take a sharp left and pass a car park. After the car park, take a sharp right onto a forest track.
A few metres along this wider path, a narrow track branches off to the left (landmark: the Burgensteig trail marker – a blue castle on a white background).
The path comes to a junction, which you cross straight ahead. At the next fork, keep left.
At the next junction, stay on your path, which now merges into a wider forest track.
(3) You’ll now emerge from the woods and walk along the top of the vineyards. At the next junction, carry on straight ahead and you’ll see a bench on your left, perfect for a short break.
(4) A few metres past the bench, a narrow path leads up to the left; hidden here is a shelter. In bad weather, you can take your break there instead.
There is another bench at the next junction. This one, and the one before it (3), are part of the ‘Kommunikation’ art bench trail organised by the Sparkassenstiftung Starkenburg. Keep to the right and continue along the tarmac path past the vineyards.
At the next junction, keep right towards Laudenbach. At the following junction, leave the tarmac path, walk straight ahead into the woods towards a barrier and past it.
After a while, you’ll come to another junction; keep left, and at the next junction, stay on your current path.
(5) You’ll pass a bench on your left and continue along the path until you reach a T-junction. Turn left here.
After a right-hand bend, leave the wide path and turn left onto a narrow track that leads down the hill.
(6) You’ll come to a signpost marked ‘Laudenbach’. This is where the Burgensteig meets the Blütenweg. Walk straight on towards Laudenbach.
At the next junction, turn left onto a tarmac path that leads you slightly uphill. You are now walking above the town of Laudenbach.
(7) The path reaches a T-junction; here, on the left-hand side, there is also a table with two benches – a good spot for a short rest. Then turn right.
At the junction after a left-hand bend, keep to the left (following the Burgensteig signposts) and, a little further on, you’ll reach ‘Kirchstraße’ via a narrow flight of steps.
(8) Here, it’s worth taking a short detour to the right down to the late-Gothic village church in Laudenbach.
From the church, walk back up “Kirchstraße”, turn right before the Talmühle restaurant (“Buchtal”) and cross the Laudenbach. At the lime tree, keep left (signposted towards Waldnerturm).
Follow the tarmac path for a while; at a right-hand bend, turn left onto a forest track. At the next junction, turn sharply right; the path now leads uphill.
You’ll reach the main path; keep to the right and, as the path curves to the left, carry on straight ahead until you reach a junction. Here, turn left and walk alongside the vineyards.
(9) At the next junction, take the narrow path past the mountain hut. After a while, you’ll reach a wide, gravelly path and follow this uphill.
(10) At a junction, you’ll pass another mountain hut and continue straight on uphill along the forest track.
(11) Once you reach the top, you’ll see the pilgrimage site on the Kreuzberg on your left. An open-air service is held there every Whit Monday. Walk round the open-air church to the left and continue along the gravel forest track.
(12) You’ll pass a mountain hut; shortly afterwards, a narrow path branches off to the right (wooden signpost ‘Steinerer Gaul’). The path runs parallel to the main track, crosses it and leads you to the edge of the forest.
(13) You’ll come to a car park with another mountain hut (the ‘Schaumesklingel’ forest car park) and walk straight on along the tarmac road until you reach a T-junction. Here, turn right.
Note: If you turn left, you’ll come to a refreshment stop called “Der Watzenhof”. It’s about 500 metres from here.
(14) Slightly to your left, you can already see a tower in a meadow: the 10-metre-high Waldnerturm, also known as the Vierritter Tower. Walk past the tower and back into the forest.
At the fork, keep to the left and, a little further on, turn right onto a narrow path (landmark: Burgensteig signpost).
At the next junction, turn sharply left and, at the next fork, turn sharply right.
You’ll come to a wider path again and keep to the left.
(15) After passing through a hamlet, you’ll come past a mountain hut (“Bocksberghütte”) and keep to the left again. Stay on this path. As the path curves to the left, it branches off to the right. Please note that the Burgensteig signpost is difficult to see here. It’s on the left (!) just before the junction.
(16) When you reach the “Eichbach-Hütte”, take a sharp right and continue down the path.
You’ll come to a T-junction, with the house of the Schützenverein 1928 Sulzbach e.V. on your left, and turn right, continuing downhill towards Hemsbach.
At the next junction, leave the Burgensteig, continue straight ahead downhill along the tarmac path (landmarks: trail markers 1, 2 and 4 in a yellow circle) and, just before the Weinheim-Sulzbach cemetery, turn right onto a dirt track.
Follow this straight ahead until, after a slight left-hand bend, you reach the B3 (“Landstraße”). Here, turn right.
Turn left into “Alleestraße” and, shortly afterwards, right into “Hildastraße”.
(17) Passing the former Hemsbach Castle, turn left into “Schlossgasse” (on the corner there is another place to stop for refreshments, the “Zehntscheuer”).
At the end of “Schlossgasse”, turn right once more onto “Wareham-Straße” and, a few metres later, you’ll reach your destination for this stage: Hemsbach railway station (E).
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