"Germany's most beautiful hiking trail" - located in Saxony
"Germany's most beautiful hiking trail 2025": As of today, the Caspar David Friedrich Trail in Saxon Switzerland has been awarded this title. The trail between Krippen and Schöna emerged as the winner in the day tour category in a public competition organized by the hiking magazine.
After a break of 18 years, the title has once again gone to Saxony. The Malerweg Elbsandsteingebirge trail last won in the multi-day tour category in 2007.
The Caspar David Friedrich Trail is not only a tribute to Caspar David Friedrich (1774 - 1840), it is also closely linked to the life and work of the artist of the century. In the summer of 1813, the painter spent a few months at a friend's house in the tranquil fishing village of Krippen. It was an escape from Dresden, which the French dictator Napoleon had occupied with his troops. Caspar David Friedrich collects motifs for his later works while wandering through the surrounding area. Some of them can be found in "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog" (ca. 1818), which is today the most famous painting of German Romanticism.
The original version of the famous painting "Two Men Contemplating the Moon" and the drawing "Felsige Kuppe" can be seen in the Albertinum of the Dresden State Art Collections. Both works provide a deep insight into Friedrich's work and his close connection to the landscape of Saxon Switzerland.
Walk in the footsteps of the master, pause where he paused and perhaps even draw where he drew: The Caspar David Friedrich Trail invites you to do just that. The hiking trail is around 15 kilometers long, mostly easy and scenically varied, and leads from Krippen along the Elbe up to Schöna with the Kaiserkrone and then over the Wolfsberg and through Reinhardtsdorf back to the starting point. It is a route that the painter probably used often during his exile in Krippen. His locations and motifs can still be found today based on the drawings he made at the time. Information boards show the nature studies created at the respective locations.
The fundamental redesign and modernization of the Caspar David Friedrich Trail was one of the most elaborate anniversary projects in Saxon Switzerland to mark the painter's 250th birthday, alongside the creation of the new multimedia exhibition "CDFriedrich inspires" in Bad Schandau. The town of Bad Schandau, the municipality of Reinhardtsdorf-Schöna, the National Park and Forestry Administration of Sachsenforst and the Saxon Switzerland Tourism Association (TVSSW) as well as other supporters have jointly realized the project.
In addition to the Caspar David Friedrich Trail in Saxon Switzerland, two other hiking trails in Saxony made it into the selection of "Germany's most beautiful hiking trail 2025": the Erzgebirge-Vogtland ridge trail came 3rd in the multi-day routes category. And the Karras circular trail between Coswig and Moritzburg came 9th in the one-day tours category.
The public vote for "Germany's most beautiful hiking trail" has been organized by the specialist magazine "Wandermagazin" since 2006. It is one of the most renowned national competitions for hiking trails.