Esch: Starting the First Vulkan-Pfad Stage

If you are looking for a hotel in Esch, the Vulkan-Pfad offers a specific point of reference: its first stage runs from Esch to Steffeln. Features of the trail include lava outcrops, cinder cones, mineral springs, maars and caves.

Hiking from Esch

The first stage begins on Dahlemer Straße in Esch. For a point-to-point hike on the Vulkan-Pfad, you can start in Esch or at Jünkerath station and take the train back to Jünkerath after following the route from Gerolstein. Check current train connections before your hike, as timetables may change. This allows you to coordinate your chosen starting point for the hike and your return journey by train as separate parts of your trip planning.

The Vulkaneifel as a regional setting

The wider Vulkaneifel destination offers other hiking options in a range of formats. The Vulkaneifel-Pfade are marked and signposted; they offer half-day hikes, day hikes and multi-day hikes. The Vulcano-Pfad is a 26.2-kilometre circular route east of Schalkenmehren. The eleventh stage of the Eifelsteig runs from Daun to Manderscheid and is 23.4 kilometres long. The similar-sounding names refer to different routes: Vulkan-Pfad is the route whose first stage runs from Esch to Steffeln, Vulkaneifel-Pfade refers to the regional trail network, and Vulcano-Pfad is the circular route. If you would also like to include mountain biking in your plans for the wider Vulkaneifel destination, you can explore the Trailpark Vulkaneifel. Its mountain bike trail network covers around 750 kilometres and more than 17,500 metres of elevation gain. These figures should be read differently from the duration formats of the Vulkaneifel-Pfade: those offer half-day hikes, day hikes and multi-day hikes, while the Trailpark is measured by the size of its cycling network. This lets you assess the regional hiking formats and mountain biking options using different criteria for your trip planning.

The geological setting is also regionally diverse: 77 maars have been identified and 350 eruption centres counted in the Vulkaneifel to date, around 270 of them from the more recent phase. The Ulmener Maar marks the most recent volcanic eruption in the Vulkaneifel, which took place about 10,900 years ago. The Windsborn crater lake near Bettenfeld is the only natural crater lake north of the Alps. The Gemündener Maar has a water surface of around seven hectares and is the smallest of the three famous Eyes of the Eifel.

The museums of the Vulkaneifel each focus on different subjects. The Eifel Volcano Museum in Daun displays three-dimensional landscape models of cinder cones, maars and mineral springs, as well as exhibits on volcanism in the Western Eifel. The Strohn Volcano House is an interactive museum featuring a lava fissure wall around 30,000 years old, about six metres long and four metres high. The Natural History Museum in Gerolstein is considered the largest and oldest geo-museum in the Eifel and displays stone evidence of the region’s geological history across three floors.

Discover more destinations: Birgel, Scheid, Stadtkyll, Steffeln, Gönnersdorf, Schüller, Feusdorf, Hallschlag

Go to the wider travel overview: Obere Kyll.