Via Velo

Start your bike route at the Eifel Nature Center in Nettersheim. From there, cycle southwards along the Urft stream towards the Archaeological Landscape Park. Here you will learn interesting facts about the former Roman settlement "Marcomagus", which was reconstructed a few years ago.

Further on, follow the Urft through the Eifel forests of the Urfttal and Haubachtal nature reserves.

Via Blankenheimerdorf, you eventually reach Blankenheim about halfway. It is well worth taking a detour to the Roman villa Blankenheim. The "villa rustica" was once a large estate with stables, servant quarters, and residential buildings. Today, a modern reconstruction of the "porticus" illustrates the size of the former complex and invites exploration.

Next, visit the historic town center of Blankenheim with the Ahr spring, Eifel Museum and Gildehaus. The Gildehaus houses an information center for the "VIA Erlebnisraum Römerstraße" project with an exhibition dedicated to the history of the Romans and their impact on Blankenheim and the entire northern Eifel.

Take a short break here before the path leads up to Grafenburg with the Tiergartentunnel. The castle was built in the 15th century by the counts of Blankenheim-Manderscheid and today serves as a youth hostel. Very close to the castle is the Tiergartentunnel. This is a medieval water conduit, which the counts had painstakingly constructed through the mountain of the Tiergartentunnel to supply the castle with fresh water. The Tiergartentunnel is a technological monument of the Middle Ages.

Further on, cycle through the Hohes Venn Nature Park to the lovingly restored Ahe Chapel in the Genfbach valley, before the route leads back to Nettersheim. Take this opportunity to explore the Eifel Nature Center with another documentation center. It focuses particularly on the mobility of the Romans and the Eifel as an economic area.

The "Via Velo" is fully signposted.