Hochblauen from Marzell

PLEASE NOTE (May 2025): the hotel is currently undergoing renovation and work is not due to be completed any time soon. The upper car park is congested and it is impossible to eat or watch the paragliders; to reach the tower, you must walk around the summit

You will discover the southernmost peak of the Black Forest, which rises to 1,165 m.
From up there, you can see the start of the Rhine Plain to the west, the Vosges Mountains to the south and the Jura Mountains to the south. In fine weather, the Swiss Alps and, to the north, the peaks of the Black Forest complete the panorama.

Details

2778101
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 8.63 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 3h 50 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 476 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 475 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 1,169 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 698 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Start from the small car park on the left, after the bus shelter in Marzell.

(S/E) Stay on the pavement for about 50 m. Take the street on the left towards Oberdorf Blauen.
Continue to follow the Yellow Diamond and the signs for “Blauen”.

(1) Turn left towards the forest, then keep to the right.

(2) After the last houses, follow the stony path Steinmättleweg to the left, which runs alongside the river on your left.

(3) At the top of the path, cross over to take the path opposite, where you can see a hunter’s shelter a little further on; do not go all the way to the shelter, but take a small path that climbs to the left. When you reach a path, cross it and continue straight ahead, still heading towards Blauen for 2.0 km (Yellow Diamond).

(4) Cross the Hexenplatzweg and continue straight ahead, still following the Yellow Diamond.

(5) At the small clearing, head right following the Red Diamond sign for Blauen or Blauenhaus. The path continues to climb through the woods for about 1 km, heading north. Walk past the large granite boulders; then, on emerging from the forest, you will see the Blauenhaus (hotel and restaurant) ahead with its panoramic terrace and, to the right, the television relay tower. Below the terrace, you can see hang-gliders and paragliders taking off.

(6) Go round the building to the right via the steps, continue across the car park to reach a path leading to the observation tower (Aussichtturm). From up there, there is a 360° view. Retrace your steps and go back down the steps at the side of the hotel-restaurant.

(6) Turn left. Follow the Yellow Diamond or the wooden ‘K’ along the path that winds downwards.

(7) Follow the Red Diamond opposite towards Egerten, which is about 2 km away. After a few junctions, continue to follow the Red Diamond or the “K”.

(8) Once you reach the Egerten car park, you can cross the road and rest under the small shelter. Then take the path on the car park side, at the roadside, following the Yellow Diamond (“K”, Winterwanderweg or Marzell on a red background). Head down the slightly steep path to reach a road, which you follow to the right for about a hundred metres.

(9) Follow the tarmac road between the two “parking” signs and along the “Meisenbachw.” Follow the Yellow Diamond towards Marzell. The tarmac road becomes a forest track with a “Frei für Land- u Forstwirtschaft” sign (no vehicles), then, a little further down, becomes tarmac again.

(1) Continue along the road to rejoin the starting road and the car park on the right (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 699 m - Marzell car park
  2. 1 : km 0.52 - alt. 735 m - Junction of the circular loop
  3. 2 : km 0.73 - alt. 759 m - Junction
  4. 3 : km 1.47 - alt. 898 m - Crossing the path
  5. 4 : km 2.16 - alt. 985 m - Crossing the path
  6. 5 : km 2.37 - alt. 1,006 m - Clearing
  7. 6 : km 3.38 - alt. 1,152 m - Hochblauen
  8. 7 : km 4.41 - alt. 1,074 m - Junction, turn right
  9. 8 : km 6.34 - alt. 932 m - Egerten
  10. 9 : km 6.82 - alt. 865 m - Junction
  11. S/E : km 8.63 - alt. 699 m - Marzell car park

Notes

Hochblauen Hotel and Restaurant, at the summit (self-service food and drinks) with a superb panoramic terrace.

Worth a visit

Watch the hang-gliders and paragliders take off.

Reviews and comments

4 / 5
Based on 6 reviews

Reliability of the description
3.7 / 5
Ease of following the route
4 / 5
Route interest
4.3 / 5
Positiver68
Positiver68
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 13, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Perhaps best done in the opposite direction, otherwise
A lovely 3km climb with a 500m elevation gain
The hotel restaurant is open again at the summit, with a lovely terrace overlooking the Alps.

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pteyssier
pteyssier

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 09, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

This was a very pleasant walk, with beautiful views.
We used the route that we had downloaded onto our mobile phone rather than the signs, which are not necessarily very reliable, and we had no trouble following the track.

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Joris Hanser
Joris Hanser

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : May 21, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Superb hike to discover the Blauen. Itinerary clearly signposted, no worries!

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Bertrand LEPERE
Bertrand LEPERE

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 25, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Following the comments, I did the walk again. In fact, it was easy to get lost, as some of the signs had been removed and the colours of the paths had been changed.
I hope that this will enable you to enjoy this walk.
Have a good walk.

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Marlyse et Gilbert
Marlyse et Gilbert

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 24, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Quite disappointed by the description of this hike! There was a lack of precision at point 3, where it was specified that you had to cross the road and follow the path signposted Hochblauen.
We didn't find this sign and took a path to the right, which obviously wasn't the right one, as we didn't find any other signs pointing to Hochblauen until we reached the summit, which we climbed to after two and a half hours.
In the end, we had to abandon the whole hike for lack of time and return to the starting point by
following another route.
Fortunately, the view from the summit was quite incredible and consoled us a little for not having been able to do the rest of the hike.
of the hike.

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MASCAY25
MASCAY25

Overall rating : 2.7 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 06, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★☆☆☆☆ Very disappointing
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

We didn't find any signs indicating Blauen or Hoch blauen apart from at the very end.
it would be better to indicate the different paths ...weg
We got lost all morning and stopped the hike at the Berghaus because of the time spent on the first part of the trail.

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