Discover Malsch: Views, museums and trails

Discover Malsch through several distinctive highlights: views from Mahlberg, local and craft history, and hiking and cycling routes. If you are looking for a hotel in Malsch, you can plan your trip around the activities that matter most to you—for example, a museum visit, a hike or a bike ride.

Views and local history

The Mahlberg Tower near Malsch-Völkersbach is 28.5 metres high; more than 160 steps lead to its viewing platform. From there, the view extends to the Hornisgrinde, the Rhine plain, the Vosges and the Palatinate. A signposted trail from the hiking car park to Mahlberg is about 1.2 kilometres long. This lets you combine the viewpoint with a specific trail distance without equating the distance with a walking time.

Local history can also be encountered in various places: Malsch and its districts have nearly 100 small monuments, mostly wayside crosses, wayside shrines, statues and other monuments. In the town centre, a sandstone sculpture group by Walter Grimm commemorates the former Waaghäusel. Information boards installed at four locations by the Black Forest Association are supported by the municipality and the Black Forest Central/North Nature Park. An overview map shows hiking trails, signpost locations and notable landmarks throughout the municipal area, including its districts.

Museums and craft traditions

The historic blacksmith and toy museum complex at Kreuzstraße 15 is one of the last surviving farmsteads within the town with a 19th-century craft workshop. It is a listed monument and is considered an important testament to regional building and craft history. Since September 2024, the upper floor of the blacksmith’s house has housed a toy museum featuring historic dolls, toy rooms and toy shops. Check the visiting arrangements before you travel.

At the Völkersbach local history museum, an original Völkersbach tailor’s workshop on the upper floor has been brought back to life. The history of milling also stretches back a long way: a mill in Malsch is mentioned in a letter as early as 1470; the first documented mention of the town mill dates from 1511. These two dates refer to different historical records.

Compare hiking trails

Around 100 kilometres of Nordic walking trails, comprising 13 different routes across three difficulty levels, are signposted in the Malsch municipal area. Two hikes have specific distances and different points of interest: the 5.7-kilometre Waldenfels Tour can start at the Rentnerhütte in Waldprechtsweier or at the Malsch swimming pool. It passes through the “Burgschlag” section and by the historic Waldenfels Castle. The 12.2-kilometre Panorama Trail has two starting points and offers views across the Rhine plain in many places. At the highest point, you can switch to routes 11 or 12.

The Malsch GeoTour, “Between the Black Forest and the Upper Rhine Graben,” is 5.8 kilometres long and starts and ends at the Rentnerhütte in Waldprechtsweier. Tour details may be updated, so check the route information in advance. The information boards and overview map supplement the route information with signpost locations and notable landmarks throughout the municipal area.

Cycling and the outdoor pool

Three paved cycle paths lead from Malsch: one runs parallel to the L607 to Sulzbach and on to Ettlingen; another follows the L608 to Neumalsch and on to Durmersheim; and the third follows the L607 to Muggensturm. The Nature Park Cycle Route reaches Malsch as the final town on the described stage; from there, the route can continue towards Gaggenau. When planning locally, these connections offer a different point of reference from the hiking trail information.

Malsch outdoor swimming pool is at Hinterbach 7, on the road from Malsch to Waldprechtsweier, on the left-hand side at the edge of the forest. Facilities include a non-swimmer pool with a wide-wave slide and a water mushroom, a children’s paddling pool with a water hedgehog, water cannon, baby slide and water play equipment, a swimming pool, and a pool with diving facilities. There is also a children’s playground, beach volleyball court, table tennis tables and a chessboard. Opening is seasonal; check the opening hours and individual facilities before your visit.

The wider Karlsruhe region

In the wider Karlsruhe destination area, the district stretches from the Rhine plain in the west, across the hilly Kraichgau region in the east, to the foothills of the northern Black Forest in the south. The district’s cycle network covers more than 1,500 kilometres. This regional perspective places Malsch’s specific routes in a broader landscape context.

Discover more destinations: Bruchsal, Philippsburg, Marxzell, Ettlingen, Pfinztal, Walzbachtal, Bad Schönborn, Ubstadt-Weiher.

Go to the main travel overview: Karlsruhe.