We try to go on an “adventure” every week. This doesn’t have to be something super special but it takes us out of the area where we live and exposes us to new impressions and experiences. Here come my favorite places to go at the moment.

1 – Camels at Weil im Schönbuch

We LOVE to visit the camels at camel farm Weil im Schönbuch. It is a lovely hike from the car park to the enclosure. Most of the trails are paved. Only a short part leads you down to a small pond isn’t paved but it is manageable with the stroller, too.

It is an easy 3 km walk that takes us around 1.5 hours to complete (with a snack break on a bench and a stop at the enclosure to check out the camels). You even pass the pretty tree top houses of Oase Weil.

At the moment this is our most favorite excursion for small children in Stuttgart. Here comes a link to google maps .

2 – The beginning of Herzog-Jäger-Trail at Waldenbuch

Herzog-Jäger-Pfad is one of the most beautiful hiking trails in the area. It even got rewarded “Premium Hiking Trail”. The whole trail covers 13 km and is thus way to long for our little one. But we like doing just the beginning of it and ad our own little extra loop which brings us to a small historic house.

At first you walk through the forest and then you you arrive at a large meadow with wild flowers. Perfect for kids to go explore. There is even a huge Sequoya/Redwood Tree close by. Quite a sight for little children 🙂

Here comes a link to google maps that shows you how we walk.

3 – Donkey Mill at Leinfelden-Echterdingen

The Eselsmühle (Donkey Mill) at Musberg/Leinfelden-Echterdingen is one of our all-time favorites. It is a short walk from the car park on a paved road to the mill. There you find donkeys and chicken as well as a little shop with organic produces and a café.

Here comes the link to google maps.

4 – Wilhelma – Stuttgart’s zoo and botanical garden

A zoo is always a good idea 🙂 The Wilhelma in Stuttgart is not only a zoo but also a botanical garden with thousands of beautiful plants and flowers. Plus, the historic buildings will enchant you as well.

After it was closed for such a long time because of covid I was super eager to go there with the little one two weeks ago. And what can I say, even though the weather wasn’t great we still had a wonderful time. As always 🙂

These are our 4 favorite outings for small children in Stuttgart. What are yours?

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Wutach Gorge in the Black Forest is 33 kilometers long and consists of 60- to 170-metre-deep gorges. You can hike along the river (note that it goes up and down all the time and can be quite slippery) and enjoy the amazing flora and fauna.

A good starting point for a hike down the river in the gorge is Schattenmühle (shadow mill). From here you only follow the signs (or the other hikers) and are in the gorge within minutes.

You will hike through lush green vegetation and pass interesting geological formations. For those of you interested in geology: The Wutach gorge is a beautiful example of the South German Scarplands. While hiking down the gorge you will pass several layers of sedimentary rock showing granite, bunter sand stone, tufa and keuper. It’s like walking through the history of our earth.

The hike itself is a treat. You will enjoy the beautiful vegetation, several waterfalls and if you’re lucky you might even see a fire salamander.

At one point you will pass the area where famous Bad Boll, a spa resort, was located in the early 20th century. Nothing is left of this resort nowadays but an alley of old trees and a small chapel.

I will leave you with some more impressions of the hike along Wutach gorge and, at the end of this post, some links to websites with more information.

Please note that you should only hike Wutach gorge when you have proper boots and don’t mind slippery and steep hiking paths.

More information about:

Wutach gorge (only in German)

Great places to stay are the campsite or hay hut at Bruderhof or the beds at Schattenmühle:

Schattenmühle (only in German)

Bruderhof (only in German)

There is a bus for hikers that runs between several entrances to the gorge: http://www.suedbadenbus.de/suedbadenbus/view/angebot/buslinien/wanderbus_wutachschlucht.shtml

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A “warning” straight ahead: The hiking book I point out in this post is written in German so if you don’t understand at least a bit of German, you might want to skip this article and browse through  former posts in order to find great destinations for hiking with kids in Stuttgart and the area:

Hiking from Waldenbuch to the hidden Lake Schönbuch

Hiking in the Schönbuch Nature Park

Did you know we have a waterfall in Stuttgart?!

On the Möhringer Witch Trail on a sunny winter day

Zavelstein Castle at the beginning of the black forest

Bärenschlössle Stuttgart – the cute litte castle in Stuttgart-West

But if you do understand German and if you want to have a great time outdoors with your family, this book is for you.

“Auf geht’s Kinder!” holds 24 tours in the Stuttgart region that start and end at train stops, operated by the public transit association VVS. The length of the tours vary between 2 km and 11,5 km. Some of the trails are extremely easy and short and thus suitable to bring a stroller, like the one leading through Höhenpark Killesberg. Others are more advanced, steeper and cover rougher terrain and will entertain older kids. This is true for the trail leading up to the ruins of Reußenstein in Göppingen for example. And a lot of tours are somewhat in between.

The destinations and highlights of the tours vary as well: You will find ruins and castles, grottos and caves, playgrounds and climbing high rope courses and more. But as I mentioned earlier, the book offers even more: As the child of a hiking enthusiast I know myself that hiking can be veeery boring for kids. Even if a fun attraction waits at the end of the trail, walking there is veeeery boring.

That’s why my dad and I came up with the idea that we want to entertain the kids throughout the whole hike. So we included stories that play along the trail. Like for example the story of the raven Tecki who knows the true story of the ruins of castle Teck – but who’ll only tell it when the kids solve three mysteries. Or the story of the little bandit Josef who needs to hide his loot somewhere along the Blaustrümpfler trail in Stuttgart and take care that he doesn’t get caught by the police – the help of the young hikers is highly appreciated here. Other tours offer quizzes where the kids need to spot for example a sign, solve a task or get active themselves. Thus, the hike doesn’t get boring and if fun for the whole family (and you can train your kids German at the same time ;-). Win-win!)

So if you want to go hiking with kids in Stuttgart and speak a bit German, check out this book! 🙂

More information:

You can buy the hiking book “Auf geht’s Kinder!” in most bookstores in the region or order it online on amazon.  [Affiliate link]

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Some of you might remember Siebenmühlental (Seven Mills Valley) from my former post about Eselsmühle (Donky Mill). But there’s much more to explore! Siebenmühlental is among the best-known, best-loved and most interesting valleys in the Stuttgart region. It is sometimes also known as Reichenbachtal, after the Reichenbach river that flows through it.

Siebenmühlental is the perfect setting for days out – whether you’re local or just visiting. The footpaths through the charming valley are popular with hardened hikers, leisurely walkers, families (with or without pushchairs), cyclists and skaters. They all come here to get their fix of the great outdoors.

Most people take the paved Bundeswanderweg trail from Musberg to the Burkhardtsmühle. But there are other footpaths that are much more secluded, that provide even more opportunity to get back to nature. Whether it’s the Reichenbachtalweg, which also runs through the valley but gets closer to nature than the Bundeswanderweg, or one of the various paths or walking routes that take in the magnificent woodland and countryside surrounding the valley, the choice is yours.

Hiking in the beautiful Siebenmühlental

If you want to walk through the Siebenmühlental valley, there are two options: the Bundeswanderweg (Federal Hiking Trail ) and the Reichenbachtalweg (Reichenbach Valley Trail ). The Bundeswanderweg runs along a stretch of disused railway a little way above the valley, and is fully tarmacked. The Reichenbachtalweg is a loose gravel trail with some short stretches of unmade paths. It regularly takes you alongside its eponymous river, and at some points you can get up close to the water.

If you want to combine the two routes, you are best advised to start on the Reichenbachtalweg and go as far as the Burkhardtsmühle, then go up to the beer garden and take the Bundeswanderweg back to the start. To make the walk shorter, you can start from the Seebruckenmühle car park. On the return leg, look for a path marked with a red cross shortly after the old Steinenbronn train station to find your way back down to the starting point.

Get your free copy of the new guide book!

The city of Leinfelden-Echterdingen has published a new and free guide book freaturing Siebenmühlental. It points out 14 tours for hikers and bikers – from well known trails to hidden paths.

And the best: it is also available in English AND it’s for free! 🙂

You can :

…download the guest guide as a PDF-document here: Guest Guide – Idyllic Recreation in Siebenmühlental (PDF)

… pick up the printed brochure at the town hall in Leinfelden (Marktplatz 1, 70771 Leinfelden-Echterdingen)

… or order it via ipunkt@le-mail.de

More information about:

Leinfelden-Echterdingen (only in German)

My visit to Eselsmühle in 2015

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This adventurous hike near Stuttgart starts in the west of Murrhardt, a town located approximately half an hour drive away from Stuttgart. When you arrive in Murrhardt follow the signs to “Siebenknie”, then the ones pointing out the “Hörschbachwasserfälle”. You can park your car just before the road enters into the woods or you drive a bit further and park right next to the first waterfall.

When Moritz and I did this adventurous hike near Stuttgart, we parked on the first parking spot, took the trail on the left of the road and entered the woods. After a few minutes we saw a sign that pointed out the two waterfalls. We wanted to see “Vorderer Wasserfall” (lower waterfall) first, and thus turned right.

We descended into the Hörschbach Valley and reached the first waterfall a few minutes later.

So far, it was an easy trip. We crossed the waterfall via the little bridge, turned left and followed the sign with the blue dot and the stream of water. And after some more minutes the adventure began…

The trail got veeeery muddy and slippery.

Sometimes, roots served as stairs…

… other times trees served as bridges:

At some points, the track was missing completely for a meter or so because it had fallen down into the stream. Then you had to hang on to the steep cliff next to the trail and climb over the gap. Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture of that –  I was too busy trying not to fall into the water 🙂

After 1.5 hours (yep, it took us 1.5 hours to complete 2 kilometers) we reached the upper waterfalls (Hintere Wasserfälle). There is one waterfall located on the left:

And another one straight on. That’s what it looked like when we arrived:

Quite peaceful a pitturesque, right? That’s what I thought, too and used some stones in order to step on the other side of the stream to take this picture. Suddenly, something changed. There was a loud roar and the water running down the waterfall tripled. I didn’t know what happened but was smart enough to jump back to the other side of the stream, using the same stones again. I was SO lucky because the stones disappeared in the swollen water, as did the place where I just stood to take the picture.

Here’s what the waterfall looked like now:

We climbed up the trail on the right of the waterfall and reached a platform. And that’s where I found out what had just happened: Next to the platform is a watergate. When it’s closed, the water in the stream is collected in a small basin. Every hiker can open the watergate in order to make the waterfall look more exciting – or to scare the hell out of other hikers that are still down at the stream! 😀

The platform is the turnaround point of the hike. From here you can follow a big trail back to the lower waterfall and the parking lot (as we did) – or you still feel adventurous, then you can hike back the same way you came!

Here are some tips if you want to do this hike:

• Wear proper hiking shoes!
• Be prepared to get dirty. If I had known about the muddy condition of the trail, I would have worn shorts as the lower parts of my trousers were soaked in mud after ten minutes.
• Reconsider doing this hike if there has been much rain the days before. When we did the hike, a bad thunderstorm has raged in the area – that’s probably why parts of the trail and even bridges were missing.
• Only do this hike during the winter months when you’re experienced in hiking in icy conditions!

If you have kids and wonder if you can bring: We saw a lot of families and the kids seemed to have a blast. Of course they were covered in mud but the proud expressions in their faces might be worth the extra load of laundry 🙂

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Moritz and I visited the waterfall in Stuttgart recently on a hot sunday afternoon. We decided that we start at Feuersee so we can check out the new bank of the lake.

The city of Stuttgart has built stairs and a little pathway on the south side of the lake, next to Rothebühlstraße. So by now you can sit down on the stairs and enjoy the view of the lake with the beautiful Johanneskirche in the background (if you ask me, the most beautiful church in Stuttgart). Several kids had brought remote-controlled boats and had a lot of fun maneuvering them around the ducks, swans and turtles (yep, the Feuersee is home of a bunch of turtles. Cool, right?! :-D)

We followed Senefelderstraße and Reinsburgstraße in order to reach Hasenbergsteige. I just love this street! Check out these beautiful buildings and details:

Keep in mind that the words “Berg” and “Steige” in the streetname “Hasenbergsteige” already point out that you have to climb up a few meters while walking this street. But you get rewarded with beautiful views:

After a while you will reach a park with an art exhibition…

…and an old tower, the Hasenbergturm. It used to be a look-out but is closed nowadays.

If you need a break, you can sit down on some of the tables next to it. If you want to enjoy the view nevertheless, you can still do so, there is a platform underneath the old tower from where you have this view:

We headed straight on. The houses ended and we entered a forest.

Apparently, we were walking on the Bürgeralle now.

We walked through the woods for some time until we finally reached our destination: The waterfall in Stuttgart!

In order to get to the waterfall, we had to leave the big trail and follow a narrow path that can be slippery.

Then we saw the waterfall. Depending if there was some rain the days before your visit or not, it can be bigger or smaller.

Well guys, if you have visited the Heslacher waterfall in Stuttgart, you can truly call yourself a real Stuttgarter as this place is only known to locals – and not even to all of them. 🙂

We relaxed a bit next to the water before we walked on, crossed a little bridge at the food of the waterfall and climbed up a hill on the other side.

We reached the main track and followed it down to Heslach and the U-Bahn-Station “Heslach Vogelrain” where our trip ended after 1.5 hours.

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We parked our car at the sports ground of Altdorf and had a look at the map.

We decided to hike to a tree called Gabeleiche (Fork oak tree). It was a nice and easy stroll through the forest.

Tatatataaaa, the Gabeleiche:

We followed the way for a little longer, had a look at some yellow moss on old trees…

… passed a picnic area with an open air bbq…

…until we reached an open field.

There we turned around and walked back. It was quite a small stroll, I think we were hiking for 1.5 hours only but it was nice to be outside and get some fresh air. Next time however, we will bring more time so that we can explore even more of this lovely area.

More information about:

Schönbuch on Wikipedia

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We really love this hike and do it again now and then. And as I had written about it in one of my first blog posts two years ago, I won’t do the whole description of the trail again but share the beautiful pictures of the trail in autumn with you. If you feel inspired after reading this post, check out my article “Hiking in the Schönbuch Nature Park” for more information.

It was still foggy and cold when we arrived at Bebenhausen yesterday. We were the only hikers on the track for at least one hour which was nice because we had the whole beautiful scenery to ourselves.

It didn’t take the sun too long to fight the fog so we hiked underneath shimmering colored and sun kissed leaves most of the time.

On the first and the last part of the trail it feels like walking on a very old alley because of the old trees on both sides of the street.

Then, there is this little pond which I love very much.

Make sure to look up from time to time, otherwise you miss the colorful leaves… Not quite  Indian, but Swabian Summer…

There it is, the royal hunting cabin:

There is a picnic area close by. So make sure to bring some sausages!

Some more foliage:

Hmmmm, I love it!!

We have never done this hike when there was foliage and it was well worth it. I can imagine that the colors will get even more intense within the next weeks. So you still have a chance to enjoy some “Swabian Summer”!

More information about:

the hike (older blog post)

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We drove to Waldenbuch, the town where Ritter Sport, famous for it’s  square (and yummy) chocolate bars, is based, and parked our car next to the city center (there is a little parking area behind the crane on the picture).

We crossed the roundabout and started our hike.  We followed the signs pointing out Seitenbachermühle (Mill Seitenbacher) and had our first “wild”-life encounter:

Cute, hum? We passed the mill, followed the signs with the red dot…

…and turned right at the Schützenhaus (a clubhouse for shooters) – you can see it on the picture, it’s the building with the red roof.

We followed the stream Segelbach through it’s lovely little valley…

…until we reached it’s end and had to cross a street. On the other side we had to follow the sign with the blue dot.

We crossed a little parking area, turned right and entered the forest again.

We left the forest again and arrived at the beautiful valley Aichtal. We turned left and walked towards the mill Obere Rauhmühle.

We passed the mill and arrived at a street. Here we turned left and followed it for a few minutes until we found a little byway on the right. From now on, we had to follow the blue rectangle.

We followed it uphill, turned right into Forststraße, found a hidden lake, actually a water reservoir, on our right.

We walked around the lake and set down on a bench to have picnic.

I love how the leaves are turning yellow and red again. A little bit of Indian Summer in Baden-Württemberg !

We arrived at the street again, crossed it and followed the blue dot through the Aichtal and all the way back to Waldenbuch. On our way, we passed some artwork that belongs to an art trail sponsored by Ritter Sport…

…and some more wildlife – getting ready for winter…

Then, we could see Waldenbuch again and thus our little hike was over.

For those of you who like to treat yourselves with something sweet after a hike: Ritter Sport has a little Café, open for the public. Try the Cappuccino RITTER SPORT with its melted chocolate – hmmmmmmm!

More information about:

Schönbuch (Wikipedia)

Waldenbuch (only in German

Ritter Sport

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As hotels are ridiculously expensive in Switzerland, we had decided on staying in a hostel. And what can I say, we were very pleased with our decision…

Hostel Rotschuo is located in Gersau, right at Vierwaldstättersee in Switzerland. The main building looks like an old farmhouse and I loved the cozy hallway and rooms.

For some reason, our room looked a lot like a honeymoon suite!?

The main reason we had chosen Switzerland for our reunion was our wish to do lot’s of hiking. So on Saturday morning, we headed towards mountain Rigis.

We took the bus to the village “Vitznau” and after the friendly lady at the tourist office told us, it takes three hours to hike to the top of the mountain where the main hiking trail begins, we decided to take a gondola, operated by local farmers.

Say “Hi” to Anne:

Those of you who follow my blog for a while might remember Anne as Moritz and I were invited to her wedding two years ago. Anne is a blogger, too. Check out her fun food and fitness blog www.fannetasticfood.com .

On top, we found our trail straight away and followed it uphill for a while. Even though the first hour of the hike was quite a bit exhausting, we got rewarded with stunning views.

We had lunch in an old farmhouse before we arrived at Rigi-Kalthaus.

Rigi-Kalthaus is a small village where the station of the incline is located and where you find the most unusual thing I’ve ever seen on top of a mountain: a mineral bath and spa!

Relaxing in warm water with an amazing mountain view after three hours of hiking? Let’s do it!

After two hours in the spa we took the incline back down to Vierwaldstättersee.

The incline brought us down to Weggis, another picturesque village at the lake. We had dinner in a lovely restaurant next to the water.

That’s what happens when you bring two bloggers together: You can’t even cling glasses without some picture action going on…

What a lovely Saturday we had. And Sunday was just as great:

We got up early in order to hire a kayak from our hostel and explore the lake.

It was 8 a.m. and we had the lake to ourselves. We couldn’t believe it.

After our little kayak adventure we had breakfast at our hostel and took the ferry to Luzern afterwards.

Luzern is a lovely city with a beautiful old town and lot’s of bridges. The most famous one is Kapellenbrücke (Chapel Bridge).

There are remains of the old city wall, too:

We enjoyed the afternoon in Luzern and took the ferry back to our hostel in the evening.

Monday was our last day in Switzerland. We had planned to drive to Zurich first thing in the morning but as we had enjoyed the hike on our first day so much, we changed plans and drove to Melchsee-Frutt in order to do another hike. However, on this day we were not very lucky, weather-wise. It was raining when we drove up the mountain and even though it stopped when we started our tour, there was heavy fog.

Even though we didn’t have much of a view it was a beautiful, very mysterious hike in the clouds.

Well and then, after three amazing days full of fun and adventures at Vierwaldstättersee in Switzerland, it was time to say good-bye to Anne. We drove to Zurich from where her plane left on Tuesday morning. But this was definitely not my last weekend in Switzerland. It really is a beautiful country with amazing mountains and very lovely people!

More information about:

fannetasticfood.com

Luzern

Hostel Rotschuo

Rigi Mountain hiking trails

Mineral Bath and Spa Rigi-Kaltbad

Melchsee-Frutt

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