Feengrotten-Kyffhäuser Trail

The Feengrotten-Kyffhäuser-Weg starts at the Feengrotten in Saalfeld. From there it leads through the Saalfeld town center over the market square down to the Saale. Along this, it follows a cycle path to the village of Remschütz. Shortly after leaving the village, it branches into the Melktal and leads steeply up to the Kulm. From there it runs over Oberpreilipp back down to the Saale and along it to Rudolstadt and up to the Heidecksburg.

Here it leaves the Saale for a long time and leads in a large loop over Teichweiden, Großkochberg and the Luisenturm up to the Hohe Straße and along it down to Orlamünde. Here it crosses the Saale and leads in another loop over Freienorla, along the Sandweg, towards Hummelshain. Halfway there it branches left, crosses the Drehbachgrund and leads back towards the Saale, which it crosses again at Großeutersdorf. From here it goes over Kahla up to the Leuchtenburg.

At the Leuchtenburg the trail initially leaves the Saale and leads over Seitenroda, Seitenbrück and Unterbodnitz to Magersdorf. From here it follows the Scheibental to Rothenstein, where it meets the Saale again and follows its right bank to Jena-Lobeda. After passing under the A4 and crossing Lobeda, it leads up to the ruin of Lobdeburg. From here, it makes a large loop to the Sommerlinde and from there another loop over Burgrabis to the Fuchsturm.

From the Fuchsturm it goes down to Jena-Ost and immediately up again to the Jenzighaus. On the height, it then makes a large loop around the Laasan valley to the ruin of Kunitzburg. Here the descent to Golmsdorf begins, followed immediately by the ascent to the Hohe Lehde. After circling the Paterskappe, it goes down to Dorndorf-Steudnitz and after crossing the Saale again up to Dornburg to the Dornburg Castles.

From Dornburg it goes over Hirschroda to Camburg. From here the trail follows the Saale cycle path for long stretches. First, from Camburg to Kaatschen along the left bank of the Saale. After crossing the Saale, the path turns right and leads over Rödigen to the ruins of Saaleck and Rudelsburg. From here, following the cycle path again, it goes to Bad Kösen, back to the left side of the Saale and along vineyards in a large loop towards Roßbach.

On the way from Roßbach to Kleinjena, the path passes the confluence of the Unstrut into the Saale and crosses the Unstrut for the first time between Kleinjena and Großjena. From here it now goes along the Unstrut cycle path to Freyburg and up to the Neuenburg.

Now it goes along the Unstrut to Zscheiplitz. Past an old monastery, it goes in several loops through an old limestone quarry and around the Schafberg down to Weischütz. Along the Unstrut cycle path again, the trail leads to Laucha and over another Dorndorf to Burgscheidungen. Here it leaves the cycle path, crosses the Unstrut and leads past Tröbsdorf across the fields to Nebra.

From Nebra, it goes along the left Unstrut bank to Wangen. Here the trail turns into the Schwalbestal and leads up to Wippach and the height at Bockberg. Now it goes along the ridge by the forest and finally down to Memleben again. At the old monastery site of Memleben the Unstrut is crossed again, after which it goes along the embankment towards Wendelstein with its castle.

From Wendelstein, the trail heads straight to the Ziegelroda forest, passing the old Roßleben potash mine with its spoil heap and now landfill and composting plant. Once past this, it goes past the archaeological site of stone chest graves down to Roßleben. Incidentally, at the landfill there is for the first time a signpost indicating in the direction of Kyffhäuser the "Feengrotten-Kyffhäuser-Weg", but in the opposite direction the "Kyffhäuser-Feengrotten-Weg". This is consistently maintained until Bad Frankenhausen.

From Roßleben, it goes through fields towards Artern, which can be reached from Bottendorf following the Unstrut cycle path via Schönewerda, Kalbsrieth and Ritteburg. From there it goes over meadows and fields to Ichstedt and Udersleben. Along the edge of the Kyffhäuser mountains, it reaches Bad Frankenhausen at the southern edge.

From Bad Frankenhausen it now goes once more across the Kyffhäuser mountains towards Tilleda, past the Tilleda gate, Ameisental, Pfützental and Königsholz. Shortly before Tilleda, the trail turns sharply left and follows the Langen Tal to the branch to the ruin of the Kyffhausen Imperial Castle with the lower, middle and upper castles and the Kyffhäuser monument. The signpost there shows 207 km to Saalfeld, but the hiking distance should rather be about 230 km.