Palatinate Cabin Route

18 KM I ALTITUDE 667 METRES I DURATION 6 HOURS I Level of difficulty Hard

SHORT DESCRIPTION

Wallfahrer-Kapelle St. Anna (St. Anna’s Pilgrimage Chapel), the “Orensfelsen” Aussichtspunkt (Orensfelsen Rock Lookout Platform) and five Pfälzerwald-Hütten (Palatinate Forest Cabins) with viewing terraces are all great places to stop, offering stunning views of the Rhine Valley and Anweiler Castles.

STARTING POINT AND HOW TO GET THERE

Starting/finishing point: Car park for walkers in Albersweiler, St. Johann district
How to get there: A65 to the Landau-Nord exit, B10 to Siebeldingen and on to Albersweiler, St. Johann from there
Public transport: Bahnhaltepunkt Albersweiler (Albersweiler Train Station) on the Landau–Pirmasens route in the Queich Valley; the footpath from the train station to the route’s starting point is around 2 km

THINGS TO SEE

St. Anna-Kapelle (St. Anna’s Chapel), Felsformation und Aussichtspunkt “Orensfelsen” (Orensfelsen Rock Formation and Lookout Platform), Trifelshütte cabin with view of Trifels

PLACES TO STOP

St.-Anna-Hütte cabin, Ringelsberghütte cabin, Trifelsblick-Hütte cabin, Landauer Hütte cabin, Naturfreundehaus (Nature Lovers’ Cabin) in Kiesbuckel, Wirtshaus Hüttenzauber pub.

TOURDESCRIPTION

This trail leads past five forest taverns, each with a panoramic terrace, as well as the Annakapelle and the viewpoint at Orensfelsen, all offering magnificent views over the Rhine Valley as well as the castles of Annweiler. Hiking as well as stopping for a refreshment is the motto of the Pfälzerhüttetour ..

(There is also a shorter version of the tour, where the Ringelsberghütte is not included. A detailled description of the tour as well as GPS tracks can be found under "Hüttentour- shorter variant")

Our trek begins at the Wanderparkplatz Albersweiler-St. Johann and takes us to the edge of the village before going off to the left through the Schlossstraße. We follow the signs with a brown tavern icon on a yellow background and go past the Annahof walking between forests and vineyards until we reach Frankweiler. At the entrance to Frankweiler, we turn left into the forest.

From here it goes uphill to the Ringelsberghütte then downhill into the Hainbachtal and on to the St. Annakapelle. We cross the Hainbach in front of a large brick building. Behind it we turn right along the foot of the Kittenberg and through an avenue of lime trees in the spa town of Gleisweiler. Having reached the sanatorium in the Badstraße, we turn to the left following a right turn. We now walk uphill past the sanatorium grounds and into the forest to the Luitpoldplatz where we keep to the right.

The path leads us first in a northerly direction, then a right curve through the forest to the St. Annakapelle. The chapel, situated high above the Rhine valley on an extension of the Teufelsberg has attracted pilgrims for many centuries. After enjoying the view, we go a few yards further to the St. Anna-Hütte and turn there to the left. The trail now leads us through dense green vegetation to a view from the Trifelsblick-Hütte.

An information board tells us all we need to know about the landmarks now in sight. Even the Orensberg, which we will be climbing in the course of the tour, can be seen from here. First, however, we follow the path to the Dreimärker and the Landauer Hütte. We now go counterclockwise around the Orensberg passing the lookout point on the Orensfelsen and follow the familiar trail mark in the direction of the Naturfreundehaus Kiesbuckel and Albersweiler.

At the Naturfreundehaus we then follow the path downhill back to our starting point in Albersweiler-St.Johann.

CONTACT

SÜDLICHE WEINSTRASSE E.V.
An der Kreuzmühle 2, 76829 Landau
Telefon +49 (0)6341 940-407
info (at) suedlicheweinstrasse.de
www.suedlicheweinstrasse.de

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