The Hunebourg forest circuit

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Fill up with calm and serenity while taking a forest bath around the Château de Hunebourg!

During this tour, you will discover the Château de Hunebourg, site occupied by Man for more than 4000 years, and its surrounding forest. Along the way, you can see through the foliage hills Vosges bristling with trees while enjoying the soothing calm of nature only punctuated by the song of birds and the rustle of leaves.

Description

Take the blue rectangle forest path to Johannisthal, located opposite the car park.

At the junction of Johannisthal, go straight on the paved road. At the next intersection, continue left on the road. Further, leave it to walk the forest path of Finkenthal. Then take the forest path that goes up. Continue climbing the trail after a hairpin turn to the right.
At GORNA, a wildlife care center, turn off before the building and take the discovery trail around the GORNA. At the D134, turn right and follow the road. Turn to the right and follow the white-barred blue rectangle markings for about 200 m before continuing along the road following the blue bridge markings to the Château de Hunebourg.
100 m after the Fischbaechel forest road, turn left and follow the blue ring markings to join the path leading to the Rocher de la Guérite. After admiring the impressive Rocher de la Guérite, retrace your steps and take a left to follow the blue trail.
Near the Château de Hunebourg, leave the blue trail and take the path on the right marked blue ring and red cross until you reach the Cave of Love. After admiring the rocks and the view through the trees, return to the Castle of Huneburg.

Departure : Parking at the foot of the Hunebourg Castle
Arrival : Parking at the foot of the Hunebourg Castle
Towns crossed : Dossenheim-sur-Zinsel, Neuwiller-lès-Saverne, and La Petite-Pierre

5 points of interest

La Grotte d'Amour - PNRVN - A.Serylo
Geology
Cave Grotte de l'Amour
Located near the Château de Hunebourg, the Grotte d'Amour was created in the 19th century when General Clarke transformed the estate into a park. Carved in the sandstone, it includes a picnic table.
La Croix de pierre - PNRVN - A.Serylo
Small patrimony
Pierre Cross
Dating from the 14/15th century, it would be the oldest monumental cross in the Northern Vosges. It is an expiatory monument indicating the location of a murder, that of Johannes Schliezeweck. A common practice in the Middle Ages in the Germanic world, the family of the victim of a murder could demand compensation. This compensation could be of various kinds and could take the form of a monument at the place of the murder. This practice disappeared after 1530.
Rocher de la Guérite - PNRVN - A.Serylo
Geology
Rocher de la Guérite
The cliffs and the sandstone peaks are strong elements of the landscape of the Northern Vosges. On the summits as well as on the walls of these rocks a very specific flora develops, such as Scots pine, mosses and lichens.
Borne aux trois épées - PNRVN - A.Serylo
Small patrimony
Three Swords milestone
A milestone delimiting the county, bearing the Hunebourg coat of arms: three gold-handled swords pointing to the chief.
Château de Hunebourg - PNRVN - A.Serylo
Castle-church-abbey
Hunebourg Chateau
The first castle was attested in 1125. Destroyed by the Strasbourg in 1378, it was rebuilt then punctually occupied or abandoned after 1464. Sold as a national good, the ruin was acquired by Napoleonic marshal Clarke in 1809, that Napoleon made Count of Huneburg. The medieval donjon was demolished and a hunting lodge built below the castle. Fritz Spieser acquired the ruins of the castle in 1932 and built new residential buildings and a dungeon in neo-Romanesque style.