Pleystein: Rose Quartz, Town Museum and Cycling Routes

Pleystein is known as the Rose Quartz Town and combines distinctive geological features with a town museum that vividly conveys local history and everyday life. Its routes also offer different experiences: the Bockl is a railway-line cycling route, while the PleyStein Trail begins with a geology educational trail. If you’re looking for hotels in Pleystein, these highlights provide a concrete guide to choosing your destination.

Rose Quartz and History on the Kreuzberg

The Pleystein administrative community is located in the Northern Upper Palatinate Forest Nature Park. Pink rose quartz can be found in places on the Kreuzberg; rare phosphate minerals such as strengite, rockbridgeite and phosphosiderite are also found there. The Kreuzberg is one of Bavaria’s most beautiful geological sites.

Quartz from the Kreuzberg was mined from 1851 to 1920 and used as a raw material for making porcelain and glass. The dates place the mining within a clearly defined historical period; they also identify two distinct uses for the quartz.

Pleystein Town Museum: Mineralogy and Everyday Life

The Pleystein Town Museum presents the town’s history and vividly portrays civic life from 50 to 100 years ago. Its main focus is mineralogy: it provides an overview of the region’s pegmatite and mineral deposits and houses an information centre for the Bavaria-Bohemia Geopark.

Exhibits include Stone Age finds, special objects from the surrounding area and information about how these stones formed. You can also see a historically furnished kitchen dating from around 1920, along with objects relating to the local tradition of wood carving. Many everyday objects and furnishings from days gone by are on display in several rooms.

Geological features can be found in places on the Kreuzberg; the town museum provides an overview of the region’s pegmatite and mineral deposits. The historical exhibitions complement the focus on mineralogy with insights into everyday life in Pleystein in the past.

Cycling Route and Geology Trail

The Bockl is a 52-kilometre railway-line cycling route and the longest of its kind in Bavaria. It forms part of the Paneuropean Cycle Route from Paris to Prague. From Pleystein or Lohma, it follows the same route as the Green Roof Cycle Route or the Pfreimd Valley Cycle Route and continues to the Eslarn–Železná/Eisendorf border crossing on the Czech border.

In the wider destination of Neustadt An Der Waldnaab, the Bockl can also be used for walking or inline skating, as well as cycling. The PleyStein Trail is an adventure trail around the G´steinach near Pleystein and begins with a geology educational trail. There is a clear difference to consider when choosing between the routes: the Bockl focuses on the cycling route and its links to other named routes, while the PleyStein Trail starts with a geological introduction at the G´steinach.

The Regional Setting

The district of Neustadt an der Waldnaab is located in the Upper Palatinate Forest destination. Activities in the district of Neustadt an der Waldnaab, within the wider destination of Neustadt An Der Waldnaab, include hiking, cycling, museum visits and swimming in numerous bathing waters.

Discover more destinations: Kirchendemenreuth, Leuchtenberg, Trabitz, Vorbach, Grafenwöhr, Schirmitz, Kohlberg, Eslarn

Back to the overview of the wider destination: Neustadt An Der Waldnaab.