The Blumengarten route

Access to car park

From Haguenau town centre, follow signs for Soufflenheim. Once you reach the D1063 (Route de Soufflenheim), turn left onto Route de Schwabwiller, which leads directly to the Gros Chêne rest area.

(S/E) From the Gros Chêne car park, head north-east to cross the Eberbach bridge.

Blue Ring trail markers

(1) Continue straight ahead on the Route forestière de Schwabwiller (tarmac road) for approximately 600 m.

(2) At the intersection with a path, turn left onto it.

(3) At the T-junction with a path, turn right.

(4) At the crossroads of four paths, turn left and continue along the path towards the north-west for 2 km, ignoring the paths on the right and left. This part of the path is almost perfectly straight.

(5) At a left-hand bend, turn off in that direction.

(6) At the next intersection, turn right and cross the small clearing of coniferous trees. Go through the gate and continue straight ahead on the path.

(7) At the crossroads, turn right onto Allée Forestière de Blumengarten and stay on this path, ignoring the other paths to the right and left.

(8) At Carrefour Nanquette, where the remarkable pedunculate oak tree is located, continue straight ahead on the Blumengarten forest path.

(9) At Carrefour Noël, join the Schwabwiller road (tarmac road) and take the path that starts on the other side of the road, slightly to the right. At the next intersection, turn right to go around the plot of Scots pines.

(10) At the next crossroads, turn right onto the Gros Chêne forest path.

(1) Return to the Schwabwiller forest road (tarmac road) and take it on the left to cross the Eberbach bridge, then return to the Gros Chêne area.

Don't forget to pick up a tourist map of the Haguenau Forest d'Exception®, available at the Haguenau Tourist Office, which shows the plot numbers marked on the trees at intersections. This makes it very easy to find your way around the undivided forest!

The Blumengarten Route, Tourist Office information sheet.

Contact

Pays de Haguenau Tourist Office
03 88 06 59 99
tourisme@agglo-haguenau.fr
More information at visithaguenau.alsace

Refreshments available at the Auberge du Gros-Chêne.
Playground and picnic tables available.

On the road to Schwabwiller, you can see irregular stands of birch, oak and Scots pine trees. These young stands have replaced those devastated by Storm Lothar in 1999. Scots pine and oak are the two main species in the Haguenau Forest, covering two-thirds of its surface area.

During the hike, on either side of the ditches, you can see bright yellow marsh irises, which always grow in wet areas. In spring, you may be lucky enough to spot a yellow-bellied toad, a small protected species.

A few metres after the crossing point (5), you can take the path on the right to reach a remarkable Scots pine after 100 metres, with a trunk circumference of 3.60 metres, or nearly 1.15 metres in diameter.

The pedunculate oak at the Nanquette crossroads measures 1.26 m in diameter and 28 m in height. It is remarkable for its location in the centre of the crossroads, its size and its shape. On the richest soils in the forest, some oaks can reach 40 m in height. At the foot of the oak, a bench invites you to take a break.