Col du Pigeonnier and Rott from Cleebourg

A pleasant walk through the woods along wide paths, with scenic viewpoints and a stretch through the vineyards offering a beautiful panorama. In spring, you can enjoy the fruit trees in bloom! The route also takes you briefly through the village of Rott with its beautiful Alsatian houses.

Details

20687637
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 8.60 mi
  • ◔
    Average duration: 4h 55 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 1,132 ft
  • ↘
    Descent: - 1,152 ft

  • ▲
    Highest point: 1,726 ft
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 696 ft

Photos

Description of the walk

Small car park before Cleebourg on the D76.

Marked with Yellow Discs

(S/E) With your back to the car park, follow the path leading off to the left. Ignore the next path on the right and carry on to the next junction.

(1) Ignore the path on the left and follow the track to the right until you reach the next junction.

Yellow Diamond markings

(2) Follow the path to the left towards the Col du Stiefelsberg.

Green Triangle markings

(3) At the pass, follow the path branching off to the right towards the Luchsenkopf.

Yellow Ring and Yellow Rectangle markings

(4) At the Fork in the road, follow the path on the left which goes round the Luchsenkopf. Stay on this path at the next junction to reach the Col du Pigeonnier, following the same markings throughout.

Markings: Red Disc

(5) At the Col du Pigeonnier, follow the path that branches off to the right of the road and continue to the next junction.

(6) Cross the D3 with care and continue to the left of this road. Further on, pass the Scherhol Forest House.

Green Ring signposting

(7) After the forest ranger’s house, cross the D3 with care and continue along the path through the vineyards, which takes you back to Rott.

Red Ring signposting

(8) At the entrance to the village, turn right onto Rue de l’Église, then take the second street on the right. Ignore Rue de la Halle on the right and continue leftwards to join the Sentier Arboricole, which you should follow until you reach the D77.

Yellow Disc signposting

(9) Cross the road with care, then after a few metres, turn onto the path branching off to the right (Yellow Disc sign) which leads back to Cleebourg.

(10) At the first houses, turn left onto Rue Principale, then take the first street on the right, Rue des Tuiles. Cross the Ruisseau du Bruehlbaechel and continue straight on to join the D76.

(11) Turn right and head for the car park (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : mi 0 - alt. 787 ft - Car park on the D76 before Cleebourg
  2. 1 : mi 0.63 - alt. 1,047 ft - Junction – turn left
  3. 2 : mi 1.3 - alt. 1,358 ft - Junction – turn left
  4. 3 : mi 1.74 - alt. 1,549 ft - Col du Stiefelsberg
  5. 4 : mi 2.51 - alt. 1,644 ft - Luchsenkopf - Col du Luchsenkopf (500 m)
  6. 5 : mi 3.87 - alt. 1,414 ft - Col du Pigeonnier
  7. 6 : mi 4.5 - alt. 1,152 ft - Crossing the D3
  8. 7 : mi 5.1 - alt. 971 ft - Junction after the forest keeper’s cottage
  9. 8 : mi 5.45 - alt. 784 ft - Entrance to Rott
  10. 9 : mi 7.09 - alt. 843 ft - D77
  11. 10 : mi 7.78 - alt. 719 ft - Rue Principale – Cleebourg
  12. 11 : mi 8.38 - alt. 768 ft - D76
  13. S/E : mi 8.6 - alt. 787 ft - Car park before Cleebourg on the D76

Notes

Actual elevation gain: 458 m

You can have a picnic at the Club Vosgien shelters at the Col du Pigeonnier. The Club Vosgien refuge at the Col du Pigeonnier is open on Sundays and public holidays, where you can enjoy a delicious pea soup, cakes and buy drinks. Very friendly welcome!
There are also several benches along the route

Reviews and comments

4.4 / 5
Based on 10 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.6 / 5
Ease of following the route
4 / 5
Route interest
4.6 / 5
PARUSSOM
PARUSSOM
• Edited:

Overall rating : 2.3 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 14, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

The route has been updated recently, so the description is now more up to date! And between Rott and Cleebourg, the description is rather far-fetched – even the mayor of Rott advised us to stick to the departmental road!

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User 23214461
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 20, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Very beautiful walk through the vineyards. Please note that the Discovery Trail is called the Arboricole Trail on the ground, but this does not affect the route.

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Florence1719
Florence1719
• Edited:

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : May 01, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A beautiful, easy route accessible to all

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gizmo
gizmo
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 18, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A lovely walk, partly through vineyards. The planned starting point is not easy to find, so we decided to start the route at level 9 and left the car in the car park of the Cleebourg wine cellar, which gives you the opportunity to taste the wine. The route is fairly easy, with clear explanations, except at points 5/6; we couldn't find the red cross marked path straight ahead. So we followed the red disc, which took us opposite the Scherhol MF; we found the red cross markings about 50 m to the left of the MF and arrived at a magnificent viewpoint (called Eselsforch) with a view of the entire plain and surrounding mountain ranges, with the pretty village of Rott in the foreground. Note that there are several benches along the route and even tables for picnics.

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Marc ECKERT
Marc ECKERT
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 02, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful hike in the Cleebourg and Col du Pigeonnier area.
The car park at the start is not easy to find; there are no signs; only the Visorando app can locate it.
Before point 6, we continued on the red-marked trail when we should have gone straight ahead; no matter, we ended up on the D3 one bend higher than planned on the route.
Before point 7, the markings (green disc) had been changed and the path diverted: the descent to Rott is signposted from the Maison Forestière de la Scherholl.
Thank you for this beautiful route.

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Les M&M's
Les M&M's
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 26, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely walk through forests and vineyards, even though we did it in the rain!

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rahm josiane
rahm josiane
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 31, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Summer hike with lots of undergrowth, but at this time of year the fruit trees in bloom were magnificent. Lots of concrete paths. Bad for the knees.

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guy hahn
guy hahn
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 23, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

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Leo67000
Leo67000
• Edited:

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 04, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

On a beautiful summer's day, we went hiking once again and loved it.
Thanks to our GPS, we were able to make one or two changes to our planned route:

we parked the car at the cemetery car park, which allowed us to avoid the heat on the way back.
We followed the red circles towards a redoubt and crossed the main road to the south (which was safer), rejoining the trail a little further on.

Thank you for everything.

Valérie and Léo.

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Geib Alfred
Geib Alfred
• Edited:

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : May 06, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful hike with perfect signposting.

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