Discover Osterby

Osterby combines a circular walking route, a possible starting point for Cycle Route 1 and archaeological traces. The village stretches along the Osterbek in a hilly landscape shaped by the ground moraine of the last Ice Age. This gives you a clear focus for your stay: a short walk, a cycling tour or a look at the area’s history.

Walking and cycling

The Osterby–Kochendorf route is a circular walking route and is considered suitable for a short walk. It starts in the village centre at the Schinkenkrog inn. The route first runs alongside meadows and fields before passing through a wooded area. At the bridge over the Osterbek, a shelter offers a place to rest. The circular route thus connects the starting point in the village with open stretches of path, a woodland section and a spot to rest by the water.

The Osterby–Kochendorf route is partly suitable for cycling. If you want to focus on cycling, you can also start Cycle Route 1 in Osterby. The choice therefore depends mainly on the kind of outing you want: a short walk on the circular route or a start on Cycle Route 1.

The Osterbek and the glacial landscape

Osterby stretches along the Osterbek through a hilly landscape shaped by the ground moraine of the last Ice Age. The stream and the moraine landscape provide a geological context for describing the village. The Osterbek tunnel valley is connected to the tunnel-valley landscape of the Hüttener Berge. Tunnel valleys were formed by meltwater flowing beneath the ice; this geological term adds another landform to the picture of hills shaped by ground moraines.

Archaeological traces

Near Osterby, three Bronze Age burial mounds are clearly visible in a field. A bog body’s head was found in the Köhlmoor. The hairstyle known as the Suebian knot is considered the first original example of a style previously known only from written accounts. The two finds offer different ways of looking at the past: the burial mounds are visible as features in the landscape, while a distinctive detail of the hairstyle is the focus of the bog find.

A cultural and historical perspective

The Osterwall is a four-kilometre-long section of the Danevirke, a defensive structure. The Osterwall and the Viking settlement of Haithabu were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. The cultural and historical perspective thus extends beyond the Bronze Age burial mounds and the find in the Köhlmoor to include a historic fortification and a Viking settlement.

Rendsburg-Eckernförde as the wider setting

The wider travel destination of Rendsburg-Eckernförde offers a broader scale for planning cycling and walking trips. The district has a signposted cycle network covering 1,000 kilometres. The 180-kilometre Nature Park Hiking Trail also passes through the district’s four nature parks. These district-wide options provide a regional perspective for travel planning alongside the specific starting points in Osterby.

Discover more destinations: Altenhof, Neudorf-Bornstein, Dätgen, Emkendorf, Achterwehr, Schlei-Ostsee, Hohner Harde, Dörphof.

Go to the wider travel overview: Rendsburg-Eckernförde.