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Car park at the entrance to the cascade, if space is available, otherwise roadside restrictions apply.
Throughout the route, you'll follow yellow diamond signs, with a short section in blue diamond. There is also a "tourist" signposting system with numerous explanatory panels (in German only) along the points of interest. The signposting is a broad White Arrow with a Sky Blue box marked "Prisental".
The start is a little less well signposted, so keep your map to hand if you're in any doubt as there are a great many paths, but with this route, it's impossible to get lost!
(S/E) Take the gravel forest path from the official car park at the waterfall, which climbs gently to the east. Follow the signs for Nußbach. You will see several engraved rocks on your right (see photos). Arrive at a pretty clearing with a typical farmhouse in the centre.
(1) Enjoy the peace and quiet and the flowers, if it's summer. When you return to the forest, you cross the Prisenbach stream. Continue along the forest track.
(2) After the second stream, turn south-east and join a tarmac road for a few metres, then turn left onto the path leading up into the forest. At the end of the forest, take a path (grass) that becomes a forest road and then a tarmac road a few metres before reaching the farms and the main road.
(3) Cross the road then pass behind the old inn (closed). Now follow the dark blue lozenges. You are now following a small tarmac road that serves the farms in the area and is therefore not very busy.
(4) You can take a break at the Geutsche point, close to a car park, on one of the many benches available for contemplating the landscape, which offers a wide view of the Black Forest. Continue due south on a long straight stretch that branches off to the left, leaving a large farmhouse on the right. Arrive at the Nußhurtkapelle (see photo).
(5) At the foot of the chapel, note a small lake with lots of koi carp coming to see if you have anything to give them... you never know! Continue almost due south in a straight line over a gentle rise in the meadows, cross the forest and come across a tarmac path that leads to the Nußhurt farm. Continue straight on through the forest until you reach a gravelled forest road.
(6) Be careful to turn right at this point. Leave the blue lozenges and follow the yellow ones. After a sharp bend in the gravel road, you come to a small tarmac road that you follow for a few metres. At the end of the forest, immediately turn left onto the path on the edge of the forest, which climbs slightly. Cross the main road and continue on a forest road heading west. At the end of the forest, turn left onto the path that leads down into the meadow towards a very large building that appears to be an old holiday camp.
(7) At the building, the path becomes a tarmac road. Continue along the road to reach the pretty Prisen chapel.
(8) Begin a steep climb to the left. Take heart: after this climb, you'll discover incredibly green undergrowth dotted with rock formations... aren't there a few goblins around here?
At the four-way junction, go straight ahead and at the next three-way junction, turn right.
At the next three crossroads, go straight ahead and turn left at the fourth. You will reach the edge of the forest.
(9) You can take a break on deckchairs built into tree trunks and pointing towards the village of Shönwald. Head back north.
(10) Continue on a small path and follow the yellow diamond signs through the forest, which is sometimes quite damaged by bark beetles. At the next crossroads, turn left and after a good hundred metres, bear right. After a few slightly undulating kilometres, always keeping to the right, head back down to the starting point. Watch out for rolling stones!
(S/E) This is where you decide whether or not you want to go to the waterfalls. For the tour of the waterfalls, allow 2.3 km, very steep but doable ... even with pushchairs.
From the car park, go through the wooden entrance porch and down the tarmac path for about 300 m to reach the ticket office.
(11) The entrance fee in 2021 was €8 per adult. After the entrance, follow a path that winds along the waterfall, where there are several viewpoints overlooking the various points of interest in the waterfall. Bridges and footbridges, either wooden or metal, cross the river, allowing you to see it up close and discover the seven different levels. You can enter and leave the waterfall area as many times as you like, as there are four entrances/exits.
(12) At the lowest point, enjoy the largest waterfall from the footbridge. Walk back up to the kiosk, leaving the tarmac path to take the cultural path. This goes off to the left and is a dirt track where you will find signs explaining the local flora and fauna. This path, which is a little less crowded, takes you back to the cash desk where you take the uphill route back to the car park.
If you have a few seeds, you'll find squirrels along the path ready to come very close to you to fetch them. Return to the car park (S/E).
Tourist office
Visorando member
Difficult 
Association / Club / Walk leader
