Col du Pigeonnier and Rott from Cleebourg

A pleasant hike through forests with wide paths, viewpoints and a passage through vineyards with a beautiful panorama. In spring, you can enjoy the blossoms on the fruit trees!

Details

20687637
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 13.84 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 4h 55 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 346 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 351 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 526 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 212 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Car park before Cleebourg on the D76.

(S/E) With your back to the car park, follow the path on the left (yellow disc markings). Ignore the path (red disc markings) that you come across further on and continue straight ahead.

(1) Ignore the path on the left and follow the path that branches off to the right (marked with a yellow disc).

(2) Turn left and follow the path towards the Stiefelsberg Pass (marked with a yellow diamond).

(3) At the pass, follow the path that branches off to the right (marked with a green triangle) towards Luchsenkopf.

(4) Follow the path on the left (marked with a yellow ring and yellow triangle) which goes around the Luchsenkopf. Stay on this path at the next junction to reach the Col du Pigeonnier, still following the same markings.

(5) At the Col du Pigeonnier, follow the path that branches off to the right of the D3 (marked with a red disc).

(6) Carefully cross the D3 and continue straight ahead on the path (marked with a red cross) which passes in front of the Scherhol forest house.

(7) After the forest house, turn right and continue along the path (marked with a green ring) which takes you back to Rott.

(8) At the entrance to the village, turn right and go to the end of the street, then turn right again and follow the Sentier de Découverte (Discovery Trail) on the left.

(9) Turn left, then a few metres later, follow the path that branches off to the right (marked with a yellow disc) which takes you back to Cleebourg.

(10) At the first houses in Cleebourg, turn left, then take thefirst street on the right (still marked with a yellow disc). Cross the Bruehlbaechel stream, then turn right and return to the car park where you started (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 240 m - Parking on the D76 before Cleebourg
  2. 1 : km 1.01 - alt. 319 m - Path on the right
  3. 2 : km 2.09 - alt. 414 m - Fork towards the Col du Stiefelsberg
  4. 3 : km 2.8 - alt. 472 m - Follow the path to the right - Col du Stiefelsberg (475m)
  5. 4 : km 4.05 - alt. 501 m - Fork in the road to the left
  6. 5 : km 6.22 - alt. 431 m - Col du Pigeonniet (432m)
  7. 6 : km 7.24 - alt. 351 m - Crossing the D3
  8. 7 : km 8.21 - alt. 296 m - Fork in the road after the forest house
  9. 8 : km 8.77 - alt. 239 m - Rott
  10. 9 : km 11.4 - alt. 257 m - Fork in the road to the left
  11. 10 : km 12.53 - alt. 219 m - Rue Principale
  12. S/E : km 13.84 - alt. 240 m - Car park before Cleebourg on the D76

Notes

Actual elevation gain: 458 m

Worth a visit

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

Reviews and comments

4.6 / 5
Based on 9 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.9 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.2 / 5
Route interest
4.8 / 5
User 23214461

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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Florence1719
Florence1719

We did this hike on 11/05/2025
Parking is easy to find but not large (4-5 cars max)
Well-marked trail and easy hike, no difficulty

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gizmo
gizmo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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