Wilderness Trail

Look forward to challenging stretches and memorable natural experiences! Swap your everyday life for roaring rivers, fragrant floral meadows, dense forests and expansive panoramic views across the wilderness of tomorrow! The Wilderness Trail spans four daily stages and covers a total of 85 kilometres, passing through the wild beauty of the Eifel National Park. From Monschau-Höfen in the south to the northernmost point of the National Park at Hürtgenwald-Zerkall, the trail reveals the varied landscapes in the 11,000 hectare National Park. The daily stages each cover between 18 and 25 kilometres and can often be shortened if required.

The Eifel National Park, which was founded in 2004, is still classed as a “National Park in development”. Conservation areas within this category have thirty years to allow at least three quarters of the area to return to nature – it is only then that they fulfil the international National Park criteria. And over half of the area is already operating in line with the National Park motto “Let nature be nature”; in other words, humans are leaving nature to live by its own rules. Experience the fascinating process of the emerging wilderness at close hand on the Wilderness Trail!


Discover the region

As an alternative, or as an added extra to a continuous four-day walk, you can discover the region as part of a “lazy day”: swimming pools, friendly towns and attractions like the Eifel National Park Centre, with its 2,000 sq metre, barrier-free exhibition “Wildnis(t)räume” (Dreams of Wilderness/Wilderness Spaces), all await discovery by visitors.

You can find information, including about events, at the Vogelsang visitor centre and at the gates to the National Park, with the tourist service centres and small National Park displays. Entry is free and the gates are open from 10am to 1pm and from 1.30pm to 6pm April to October, and from 10am to 1pm and 1.30pm to 4pm from November to March.