The Lac du Grand Ballon and waterfall of Kletterbach

An original route to get to Lac du Grand Ballon avoiding the road. You will discover beautiful trees, a waterfall and views over the Petit Ballon and the Black Forest along the way.

Details

241
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 8.61 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 3h 20 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 302 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 299 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 1,013 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 745 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Park your car in the Schutzle car park down the paved forest road of the same name leading to Lautenbachzell. The GPS position of the start of car park is 47°55'24.20"N,7° 7'6.03"E. From the village centre, continue on Grand Rue towards Sengern to find the path that climbs steeply to Schutzle on the left (a sign indicates the direction of Gustiberg). Follow this road to the car park 3 km away. The paved road ends here (S).

Follow signs for Gustiberg. After a 90° turn to the right and crossing a stream, a small well-marked trail heads up steeply to the left (1). Take it to the Gustiberg colony, then on to the farmhouse (2). You then come to stubble and the forest road. Follow it to the Lac du Grand Ballon (well signposted) (3).

On the way back, return to the Gustiberg farmhouse and inn and continue on the forest road on the right, following the Blue Crosses. It goes down a bit at first and becomes flat after a fork that you pass on your left (at a picnic table) (4). Continue to the Kletterbach waterfall at the first rapids you come across (5).
One hundred metres before the waterfall (retrace your steps), a path starts on the left and winds down. Take this and head down to the forest road where you turn right to reach your starting point. Along the trail, you can see the lower waterfall.

Hope you enjoy this walk in Lautenbachzell.

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 745 m - End of the tarmac road
  2. 1 : km 1.07 - alt. 812 m - Intersection, path on the left.
  3. 2 : km 1.82 - alt. 976 m - Auberge du Gustiberg
  4. 3 : km 3.47 - alt. 998 m - Lac du Grand Ballon
  5. 4 : km 5.53 - alt. 926 m - Fork, straight on
  6. 5 : km 6.59 - alt. 933 m - Klettenbach
  7. S/E : km 8.61 - alt. 745 m - End of the tarmac road

Notes

This is a well-trodden route, even if the path back after the waterfall is not very busy and not necessarily very visible. For this part, I recommend proper walking shoes.

If the weather has been below freezing for a while the waterfall may freeze and is definitely worth a look!

You can stop at the Gustiberg farmhouse and inn for a drink or food (outside of summer and weekends, remember to warn them of your arrival).

Reviews and comments

4.4 / 5
Based on 76 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.5 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.4 / 5
Route interest
4.5 / 5
Cordier 72
Cordier 72
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 08, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

The route around the lake would be a bonus.

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Wendling Bernard
Wendling Bernard
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 08, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Cool route apart from the first climb. The entire route is shaded, so it's great in hot weather.
You can also cycle around the lake in 30 minutes and stop off at the Gustiberg farmhouse inn: it's best to book in advance.

we encountered three mountain bikers and a dozen walkers on 7 August.

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Cordier 72
Cordier 72

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 16, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : Not used / Not applicable
Very busy route : No

Route follows the track. Adding the tour of the lake would be a plus

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User 26477885

Overall rating : 2 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 14, 2025
Reliability of the description : Not used / Not applicable
Ease of following the route : ★★☆☆☆ Disappointing
Route interest : Not used / Not applicable
Very busy route : No

I couldn't find the exact starting point for the hike or get a precise description of the route, so we followed a marked trail

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Colette messner
Colette messner

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 13, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

It's a shame that the forest approaching the watercourse is cluttered with trunks and vegetation, making access impossible and views of the waterfall difficult!

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MCVR13
MCVR13

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 04, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A fine route, most of it in the shade of the forest, which is much appreciated during this hot week at the beginning of September. The lake is magnificent in its green setting.
The waterfalls are meagre at this time of year, but we were expecting that.
Thanks for sharing

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Bayek
Bayek

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 18, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Short and accessible tour. We did it the other way round, i.e. we took the path marked with blue crosses on the way out and not on the way back as indicated in the description. As the path is quite steep, we thought it would be wiser to take it uphill rather than downhill. But don't worry, we're just quibbling, as it's still accessible in both directions 😉
The passage through the Auberge du Gustiberg is most pleasant. And as for the balloon lake, it's a little gem.

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Marion68
Marion68

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 20, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

Lovely hike. It's uphill at first, then becomes easier. Beautiful scenery and magnificent lake.

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honey68
honey68

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 16, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A very pleasant route, almost all of it in woodland. A slightly steep climb shortly after the start to the Ferme auberge.

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Paola D'Alessandro
Paola D'Alessandro

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 26, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A superb walk to do in hot weather. The route is shady and not very busy, so it was very pleasant. We also walked around the lake, which gave us 11.5km and 300m of ascent.

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randoviso17
randoviso17

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 12, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A lovely shady route, well suited to hot weather. I adapted the start by avoiding the part along the road and taking the forest track from the Monument Brun. It's a nice trail that climbs steadily. We then took the route we'd planned and walked past the pretty waterfalls. There were a few tricky sections, but the route was diverted to avoid the dangerous, degraded areas.

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Carla du 68
Carla du 68

Overall rating : 5 / 5

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

Hello,

Hiking on a bank holiday Monday.
I didn't meet many people.
The route is reliable and the directions are good too, even if I didn't follow them very much.

Nice little hike, with a small climb towards the start of the route. This will be the only difficulty.
Some open views to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

Be careful, the fences around the horses and others near the inn towards point 1 are electrified.
The waterfall is not imposing but is still very pretty depending on the time of year and the flow of water.

We recommend this walk for a lovely stroll.
Thank you

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keyla
keyla

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

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

Superb hike! Worth repeating.

Be careful, there's no Internet on most of the route, especially at the start! Print out the description!

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Oliv68
Oliv68

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 04, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Good walk with medium difficulty. No problems finding your way around.

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Porta Jacques
Porta Jacques

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 15, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A lovely hike, in a magnificent forest, with a pleasant path that went well and didn't make you feel the climbs. The waterfalls, still frozen over, were superb. The jewel in the crown was the lake, which was still covered in a thick layer of ice, which is not surprising given the biting cold, which also explains the fact that we were alone in the world. Although we were well equipped, our hands and feet were cold throughout the hike, and the icy north-north-easterly wind probably had something to do with it. There were still a lot of trees in the way.

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