Nonnweiler: Hiking, Nature and Celtic Heritage

When looking for a hotel in Nonnweiler, it helps to first decide what you want to focus on during your stay: hiking, nature by the water or Celtic history. The municipality’s destinations and trails offer a variety of options. Trail lengths, circular routes and guided tours give you useful points of reference for planning excursions to suit your plans.

Hiking trails for different day plans

Nonnweiler’s hiking options include four stages of the Saar-Hunsrück-Steig, which run through Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park. There are also local Traumschleifen circular trails ranging from 6 to 20 kilometres. This range makes trail length a useful point of comparison when choosing a route for your stay. Educational nature trails offer a different focus, sharing knowledge about nature along the way.

A themed alternative is the Sternen-Labyrinth, an accessible circular village trail with 16 stations about stars and constellations. The suggested route starts next to the town hall. Audio content and illuminated information panels complement the stations. The trail combines a walk through the village with an exploration of the night sky.

The reservoir and national park landscape

Around 985 hectares of the 10,000-hectare Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park lie within Nonnweiler and Nohfelden. The national park provides a habitat for black storks, black woodpeckers, wildcats and other rare or disturbance-sensitive species. You can also experience this natural environment through activities around the reservoir, including waterside walks, the Planet Trail and other opportunities to enjoy nature.

The Nonnweiler Reservoir is Saarland’s largest water storage reservoir. It has a capacity of around 20 million cubic metres and a water surface of about one square kilometre. A 12.8-kilometre circular route is intended for cycling, hiking and enjoying nature. It offers a clearly measured option alongside the shorter or longer Traumschleifen trails. Important for your visit: Access to the water surface is not permitted because the reservoir supplies drinking water.

An ecosystem has also developed along the Höckerlinie Otzenhausen Memorial Trail, providing a habitat for small animals, birds and insects. The trail adds an ecological perspective to a visit to the memorial site, without requiring the two subjects to be conflated.

Celtic history in Otzenhausen

The Hunnenring hillfort near Otzenhausen was founded around 400 BC as a place of refuge for the Treveri and later developed into a fortified central settlement. Remains of the walls survive; they were once about 20 metres high and 25 metres thick. The approximate founding date and the later dimensions of the walls convey two distinct aspects of the site: its early function and its subsequent fortification.

The Celtic Ring Wall at the National Park Gate Keltenpark in Nonnweiler-Otzenhausen is open to visitors free of charge all year round. Check the current visitor conditions before your visit. The Celtic village has ten residential, craft and storage buildings, designed based on historical evidence and architectural models. They give the subject of Celtic life a tangible architectural form.

Guided options include a 90-minute tour of the exhibition and Celtic village, which explains Celtic life. Another tour lasts about 2.5 hours and combines a nature walk with information about Celtic history and the ring wall. The two durations help you choose between these options according to the time you have available; tour formats may change. Check the latest tour details in advance.

Discover more destinations: Tholey, Eisen, Nohfelden, Alsweiler, Sankt Wendel, Theley, Bosen, Marpingen.

Back to the main travel overview: Sankt Wendel.