Hiking: Schramberger Burgenpfad

🌼Distance: 12km

🌼Time: 4 to 5 hours

🌼Difficulty: Moderate

🌼Our rating: 💚💚💚💚💚/5

Going up to the first castle

Do you know this feeling when you go to a new place and without the slightest idea you fall in love and you instantly know that you'll come back again? Well, that's what happened to us with the charming town of Schramberg in Schwarzwald. More about the town itself, you could find in a soon-upcoming blogpost on "Some of the best towns to visit in Schwarzwald". 

We found this trail by chance. One Saturday morning, while having our first and probably sweetest cups of coffee, I was browsing through a list of hikes and the name "Schramberg" grabbed my attention for some reason. I showed it to my always-ready-to-go-for-a-hike husband and in half an hour we were already in the car. After finding a free street-parking just outside of the town's center, we headed to the starting point of the Genißerpfad. What is this word? And what's the difference with Qualitätsweg? You can find out here.

While walking through the town, pay close attention to where exactly the signs for this path are or you'll end up visiting one of the residents living nearby...as we almost did. It was winter and the ascend to the castle was really icy. So, make sure to have really good shoes, if you prefer the cold months for this trip. 

Burgruine Hohenschramberg

Upon arriving at the Ruins of the Castle Hohenschramberg (Burgruine Hohenschramberg), an information board would give you a realistic view of how the castle used to look like, plus instructions to download a free-of-charge audio guide. Built in 1457, a big part of the building is still standing and one can't help but wonder, how it "survived" through the ages. That's why Google exists (plus the audio guide of course, which I just mentioned). At the tourist information website for Schwarzwald, we found out that " In addition to the city of Schramberg and the State Monuments Office, the castle pioneers in particular, did a valuable work. This group of Schramberg citizens has done its best to preserve the Hohenschramberg castle ruins with great engagement and time commitment." 

Our next impressive stop were the waterfalls Lauterbach (die Lauterbach Wasserfälle).

Fairy tale paths

It was a particularly fascinating view, because parts of the water were frozen in such a way, no sculptor could imagine. Some looked like huge diamond stacks, others were in the shape of a dancer, who froze mid-air. Then, we continued up and left, crossed a country road, went up again and looked to our left. We had a pretty nice distant view of the castle. 

A look from the Ruins Falkenstein

In about 500m we arrived at another amazing scenery with well-preserved ruins - The Castle Ruins of Falkenstein (Die Burgruine Falkenstein). But first, we took a break at the sunny bench, breathed in deeply the fresh air and let this scenery sink into our memories. This castle was build in 1150, which makes it the oldest one in the district of Schramberg, by a noble family that lives near the town of Villingen. This town is an absolutel must-see and will also be  featured in our hopefully-soon-upcoming post on "Some of the best towns to visit in Schwarzwald". The rest of the path led us through paths, hugged by mighty trees, turning our casual walk into a fairy tale. The trail ended with the beautiful park at the heart of Schramberg. We took some time to look around, have a small break and absorb this adventure through history, enchanting sceneries and fulfilling emotions.