Neunkirchen walks

A beautiful family trail with interactive stations such as a wooden organ or basketball hoop, plenty of seating and sweeping views, which leads along a mixture of beautiful narrow paths and slightly wider trails.

A short route that mostly follows the Druidensteig trail signs. It starts off nice and flat along the Sottersbach stream and then climbs quite steeply to a lovely spot with a swing and a hut in the middle of the forest, where children can let off some steam.

A beautiful hike through the forest area between Herdorf, Biersdorf and Niederdreisbach. There are a few metres of elevation gain, as we pass the Hachenburger Höhe and the Kohlenberg, partly via the Hellerhöhenweg. Along the way, we canenjoywide views again and again.

This varied circular hike takes you through the idyllic Mahlscheid nature reserve, past the informative forest nature trail to the striking Hüllbuche beech tree. The popular Köppel restaurant is the halfway point. The first section of the tour is particularly challenging and offers some tough climbs. You will be rewarded along the way with impressive views of the Westerwald landscape.

We walk through Bad Marienberg, cross the Schwarze Nister and later, at Langenbach, cross the Nister for the last time, pass the Götzenberg and arrive at Stöffel Park in Stockum-Püschen. Just outside Rotenhain, it is worth visiting the excavation site of the Alte Burg (old castle). We then walk past the Vierherrenstein (Four Lords' Stone) through extensive woodland to Dreifelden.

We walk past former mines and collieries and reach the Hoher Westerwald. At the Großer Wolfstein, we come across a legendary rock formation and then reach the highest point of the entire Cologne Trail at 567 metres on the Marienberger Höhe. Later, we come to the Marienberg Wildlife Park and the Hedwigsturm tower with its magnificent view. Shortly afterwards, we reach a stone nature trail and, a little later, the impressive Basalt Park.

The medieval long-distance roads from Cologne to Leipzig and Cologne to Frankfurt, as well as the iron road from the Siegerland region, already met in Hachenburg during the Carolingian period. Emperor Frederick Barbarossa advised Count Henry II of Sayn to build a defensive structure with a fortification wall to secure the trade routes. In 1314, Emperor Louis the Bavarian granted Hachenburg town rights. Hachenburg's Old Market Square is considered the most beautiful market square in the Westerwald. After a long walk through the historic old town and a visit to the Landscape Museum, we hike through the Hachenburg Forest to the Nister and on to Unnau-Korb.

There is hardly a more unspoilt and picturesque section along the Nister than the stretch between Heimborn and Hachenburg. At Heimborn, the Kleine Nister flows into the Nister. This is one of the most charming spots in the Westerwald. The Nister, which has carved its way deep into the north-eastern part of the Rhenish Slate Mountains, has formed steep and unusual rock formations, such as the Hohe Ley, together with mountain folds. Since the Middle Ages, the Nister Valley with the Marienstatt monastery has been a Christian centre and boasts a special gem: the oldest Gothic church on the right bank of the Rhine in Germany.

The Westerwald Lake District is an undulating plateau between the mountains of the Hachenburg and Höchstenbach forests in the north and the Saynbach valley in the south. The Cologne Trail runs almost all the way around the Dreifelder Weiher and leads through a densely wooded landscape to the Haiden, Brinken and Postweiher lakes. We continue our hike to Maxsain, pass a beautiful half-timbered house and finally head for Selters.

This exceptionally varied hike first takes us through meadows, pastures and forests to the Nister, a small tributary of the Sieg. At Alhausen, a village with beautiful half-timbered houses, we cross the Nister and continue above the river on wonderful narrow paths to Heimborn. This is one of the most picturesque sections of the entire Cologne Trail.

The section between Leuscheid and Marienthal Monastery offers many highlights. We hike through a hilly landscape on a wide, tree-lined path. Again and again, new and surprising views open up before us. Behind Ehrentalsmühle, we have a slightly longer climb through the forest to Ückertseifen, but we are rewarded for our efforts with a view of the Hammer Ländchen. Passing the Wunderbuche (miracle beech) near Birkenbeul, we finally climb the Beulskopf with the Raiffeisen Tower. Along the edge of the forest, we pass Hilgenroth, reach another beautiful forest and finally Marienthal with its former monastery.

The stage takes us behind Selters to the "Hahn" hill and the "Wacht" viewpoint, where we come across a Stone Age site. Later, we reach the old Jewish cemetery of Selters and learn why many inhabitants of Sessenhausen were "Landgänger" (people who left the land), pass a biotope at the Holzbach stream and reach Dierdorf through a magnificent beech forest.

The hike goes through the Märkerwald forest, past the Max and Moritz oak trees to Dernbach, then through meadows and fields to Urbach, a village with a church reminiscent of the Palatine Chapel in Aachen. Behind Urbach, a beautiful beech forest welcomes us. We reach Linkenbach, whose main street is named after the path that runs through the village: the Kölner Weg. Through the Linkenbach Valley, we reach the Grenzbachtal and the Grenzbach Mill.

This route is also one of the highlights of the Cologne Trail. From the Grenzbachtal valley, we climb up to Horhausen and reach two former mines, the Otto-Stollen and the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Grube, near Niedersteinebach. Later, above Niedersteinebach, we reach a wonderful vantage point and hike through forests past a "legendary" oak tree to Peterslahr. We visit Ehrenstein Monastery, cross the Wied, pass through the Metteshahner Schweiz, reach the Bertenauer Kopf and finally arrive in Neustadt.