Nordwaldkammweg Tour 7 Nebelstein - Nove Hrady

The Nordwaldkammweg is Austria’s oldest long-distance hiking trail. With its typical blue-white ridge marking in Austria, it is the successor and part of the Böhmerwaldbund ridge path from 1912, which originally started in Rosenberg an der Moldau and ran along the Czech border over the Ore and Giant Mountains to Poland.

In 2012, the classic Nordwaldkammweg was extended by a return path called Nordwaldkammweg II, from Dreisesselberg in Bavaria to the Nebelstein in the Waldviertel, which uses the Green Belt of Europe after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

The classic Nordwaldkammweg ended at the Nebelstein after 144 km. It was then extended by the Waldviertel section to the Mandelstein viewpoint (874 m) before, in 2007, as part of the EU-funded Interreg project IIIA “Trail construction and hiking info Nordwaldkammweg / Šumavská hřebenová cesta”, the Nordwaldkammweg was extended by the Waldviertel section to Pyhrabruck. In cooperation with the Czech tourist club, Nordwaldkammweg II was created as a return route via the Green Belt with variant III over the old starting point of the ridge path in Rozmberk an der Moldau.

The seventh day has another summit, the Mandelstein, on the way. Then it goes downhill to the Pyhrabruck border crossing with its Iron Curtain memorial. Here the Nordwaldkammweg ends and Nordwaldkammweg II begins. We are thus at the turning point. Right after Pyhrabruck comes a landscape of lakes in the Green Belt, leading into the charming town of Nove Hrady.

Accommodations, details about connecting paths, as well as the history of the Nordwaldkammweg and the region can be found in the new Nordwaldkammweg guidebook, which is available online through the publisher Pustet, in bookstores, at the tourism associations of the Mühlviertel and Waldviertel, and at some accommodations along the way.

Thanks to Michael Schwayda / ÖAV Horn for corrections to the Mandelstein approach from Harbach (December 2021).

For hiking the Nordwaldkammweg, there is the possibility to acquire a badge. For this, a stamp in the stamp book with confirmation including date and signature from the accommodation or tourist office is required at the control points. If no possibility for the stamp with confirmation exists, a selfie can be taken (GPS on and date displayed). If the hike is interrupted, the control point must be stamped again with the new date.

Control points Nordwaldkammweg Tour 7:

11. ÖAV - Nebelsteinhütte or in winter guesthouse in Harbach

12. Pyhrabruck: restaurant in the former border station or
Nove Hrady: tourist information in the town hall or accommodation in Nove Hrady