Elgersburg – Spring Trails and Edvard Munch’s Footsteps

Spring Trails and Local History

When planning a day hike in Elgersburg, you can choose between two spring trails of different lengths. The Small Spring Hike around Elgersburg is 7 km long and takes about 2.5 hours. The Large Spring Circular Hike covers 14.5 km and offers places to stop at three forest inns. If you plan to take a break there, check in advance whether the forest inns are open.

Another notable chapter in the town’s history began in 1828, when Germany’s first cold-water spa was founded in Elgersburg. Today, it is commemorated by a water-treading pool, a cold-water shower, and numerous bubbling springs and fountains along the Spring Circular Trail. This trail brings together local history and water features.

Edvard Munch’s Footsteps

The Edvard Munch Circular Trail offers a different focus: it leads to the places where Edvard Munch made sketches for his paintings of Elgersburg. The trail is thus linked to a specific part of his artistic work and offers a different perspective from the spring hikes.

From April to November, a guided Munch hike was scheduled for 10 a.m. on the first Sunday of each month. Before your trip, check the current dates before making firm plans to take the hike.

More Perspectives in the Wider Ilm District Destination

The wider Ilm district destination offers other hiking routes with a range of thematic focuses. The Goethe Hiking Trail connects landscapes of the Thuringian Forest with places where Goethe worked in Ilmenau and the surrounding area as far as Stützerbach. The 21-kilometer Pilzsteig trail leads from Gehren via the Lange Berg to the European Mushroom Park in Gillersdorf, then continues through the Reicheltal valley to Neustadt am Rennsteig. The Lange Berg itself is a 808-meter-high, seven-kilometer-long and approximately two-kilometer-wide ridge in the northern Thuringian Forest. It forms the watershed between the Ilm to the west and the Saale to the east.

The Ilm district also offers a range of points of interest for cycling tours. The Ilm-Rennsteig Cycle Route follows a former railway line from Ilmenau to Großbreitenbach or Neustadt am Rennsteig. It connects the Ilmtal Cycle Route with the Rennsteig Cycle Route, is almost entirely paved, and is signposted as a cycle street. The Ilmtal Cycle Route is 123 kilometers long in total, 45 kilometers of which run through the Ilm district. These figures therefore refer to different sections: the route’s total length and the part within the district.

Cultural attractions in the wider Ilm district destination include the Baroque doll town “Mon plaisir” in the Neues Palais in Arnstadt and the Thuringian Forest Creative Museum in Großbreitenbach, which houses the 1st German Dumpling Press Museum. In Gehren, the Town and Castle Museum presents the history of the princely house and the castle.

Discover more destinations: Gehren, Ichtershausen, Möhrenbach, Behringen, Frauenwald, Altenfeld, Geraberg, Großbreitenbach.

Back to the main travel overview: Ilm District.