Tips for your Eifel vacation: Favorite places in the GesundLand Vulkaneifel

Favorite places? What does this actually mean? My favorite places attract me again and again - magically, as it were. Without being aware of it, I always head for these places on my numerous tours on foot or by bike. They are located in the middle of a forest, on a hilltop with a great view, at a clearing next to a stream or simply on a fishing pier at a maar in our GesundLand. At this point I would like to introduce you to two of my personal favorite places in the Manderscheid area. More tips will follow in the near future.

Resting at the castle pond in the Lieser valley near Manderscheid   

Already the way to the castle pond via the Lieserpfad/Grafschaft-Pfad and the Pellenzkanzel are an experience. The narrow hiking trail leads me away from civilization and takes me deeper and deeper into the primeval nature of our volcanic Eifel. On the descent from the Pellenzkanzel to the Burgweiher, I feel as if I am diving deeper and deeper into nature, as it were. And when I arrive at the pond, I don't hear any of the noise that usually accompanies us in our everyday lives. Birdsong, the rustling of leaves and the rippling of the water when a trout jumps out of the water to chase a fly transport me to another environment. I just sit down on a bench and watch the hustle and bustle of the many dragonflies and birds flying around. I forget the everyday worries and troubles. The forest, which rises up around the horseshoe-shaped castle pond on the Lieser slopes, I feel like a natural protective wall. I can be here in the here and now and completely forget about everything around me. A great place that our special nature in the GesundLand Vulkaneifel provides us with free of charge, as it were.

On du and du with the crater lake at Windsborn

If you hike the VulkaMaar trail, which was voted Germany's most beautiful hiking trail as a multi-day tour in 2021, or simply make a short trip to the Windsborn crater lake near Bettenfeld, then I have a - in my opinion - good recommendation for you. Take the time to stay at the shore of the crater lake and feel the special atmosphere of the only mountain crater lake north of the Alps. Here you can feel firsthand why we in GesundLand Vulkaneifel welcome our visitors with the following motto: "Feel the original life force of the earth!" Around the crater lake there are some footbridges on which you can sit down and very quickly you will realize what is meant by the motto. You are in the middle of the crater at a lake that captures us with its flora and fauna and geological evidence. You just have to get involved and really bring some time with you. The circular Windsborn crater lake is completely surrounded by a 20 to 30 m high rampart, which slopes steeply down to the lake. The rampart consists of the reddish-brown ash and sweat slag ejected from the original volcano. Surrounded and, as it were, sheltered by this rampart, you can immerse yourself in nature. Rare plant species have settled in the riparian zones, such as the white-flowered fever clover, the marsh blood-eye or sphagnum mosses. Rare animal species such as the endangered dragonfly "Glänzende Binsenjungfer" or the "Gemeine Smaragdlibelle" have also found a new home in the siltation zones. A unique biotope in which swimming and also fishing are prohibited for good reasons.

What are your favorite places in the GesundLand Vulkaneifel? Surely there are many other great places or places that inspire people. Write and tell us about them at info@gesundland-vulkaneifel.de - maybe you will soon read about your favorite place in our GesundLand blog.

Author: GesundLand scout Rainer Schmitz