Wandering around Forststeig Elbsandstein on the German-Czech border

5-day trek in the Elbe Sandstone region along the Forststeig Elbsandstein route

Starting point

In Prague we board the Berliner express train and after two hours we get off at the station in Bad Schandau, Germany. Most people do the trek from the other side (according to the official trek website) and start at the Schöna station near Hřensko, but we decided for the opposite option.
 

Description of the hike

1. day

Starting from the bank of the Elbe in Bad Schandau, the trail (completely marked in yellow) begins to climb slowly uphill towards the first table mountain Papstein (451 m). Right at the top there is a restaurant where you can refresh yourself while enjoying a spectacular view of the rolling landscape dominated by the other table mountains in the area. However, you can see as far as Dresden, while from the other side of the hill you can see, for example, Děčínský Sněžník.

No sooner do we go down the stairs, cross the road and we are climbing again (and in some places climbing up the ladders) to the next table mountain. Just 3 metres lower, Gohrisch offers similarly stunning views, only the lack of a restaurant and its less accessible location mean that we don't find as many day-trippers, especially retired Germans. On the way down, even we have a little trouble getting down the ladders with our big packs and especially getting through the narrow rock crevices.

At the bottom of the hill, you can decide whether to continue on the yellow trail and climb up to Pfaffenstein, or, like me, turn onto the Muselweg and walk up to Königstein (I needed to buy food and water here, but you can also visit the large rock fortress of the same name). I buy my supplies at the Edeka shop on the outskirts of town and then follow the marked trail up into the forest again to join our forest trail in the Quirl area. Around five o'clock we arrive at the first bivouac spot on the trail called Quirl-Biwak.

There are two picnic benches, five tent sites and a toilet. However, we rest only briefly and continue another 5 km to Nikolsdorf-Biwak, where we anchor for the night. Apart from one German with a tent, we are otherwise completely alone here, and there is also drinking water available from the tap. At the time of our visit, there is also a large wooden building almost finished, probably a future restaurant. We set up the tarp, make dinner, the ranger checks our filled out trekking tickets and before it starts to rain after dark, we lie down in our sleeping bags.
 

2. day

After a short climb, the trail leads us first to a beautiful rock theatre and then to a rock labyrinth. Here we meet two families with children who have a great time, but we adults also explore various hidden corners and paths between the rocks. From here, the yellow trail takes us on a short detour to Bernhardstein for the first view of the surrounding landscape of the day, and then continues southeast past the village of Bielatal.

We take a break for lunch on a bench overlooking the meadow and the village behind it and continue on into the forest, where we keep stopping to taste the local blueberries. Afterwards, there are three more four-hundred-metre rock outlooks to climb - from Lampertsstein, Spitzstein and Katzstein we enjoy, albeit in light rain, a view of the Saxon Table Mountains, where we were yesterday, and the entire Elbe Sandstone region. A little further on, a ladder can still be climbed to the several-metre-high rock column Katzfels with a viewing platform at the top, but the forest path from here already slopes down to the Rotsteinhütte hut.

We arrive at the hut after twenty kilometres already around four o'clock. The capacity of 12 beds in the hut is quickly filled within the next hour and other trekkers are already arriving with a cross on their fingers. In the remaining time, we take a short hike up the nearby Rotstein hill, after which the hut is named, and we also go to a nearby well where we can draw clean water.
 

3. day

From the Rotsteinhütte, follow the yellow trail through the forest up a slight hill and then follow the contour to the village of Ostrov, which lies along the main road just over the state border. We arrive at the Autocamp under the Emperor, where we quickly decide to spend the night here. During the afternoon we will make a leisurely hike from here to the nearby Děčínský Sněžník (723 m), 5 km away with a climb of about 300 m.

Follow the red hiking trail, first a short steep uphill climb on a rocky path, followed by a straight line through the forest and finally another short climb on an asphalt path to the Sněžník plateau. The relatively large sandstone table mountain offers amazing views of the Bohemian countryside from its rocky cliffs, but even the summit itself, covered with spruce, birch and cranes, is a feast for the eyes. We will also visit the stone lookout tower, which is 33 metres high and offers an amazing view of the surrounding countryside. Before heading down, we also go to the other end of the plateau to the so-called Dresden lookout point and then turn off the marked trail into the forest between the sandstone Ostrovské rocks just before Ostrov.

 

4. day

We wake up to a rainy morning and during breakfast in a local pub we finally decide to continue despite the bad weather. With a heavy heart, however, we have to skip the westernmost circular stage of the forest trail through the Kamphütte and around the Rájecké Rocks and the Tiske Walls.

Once the rain stops around 10:30, we set off from the campsite in a northeasterly direction and rejoin the yellow forest trail. It basically takes us all day long, steadily up and down the Czech-German border, through a mixed spruce-birch forest, but we enjoy it. However, during the journey we have to repeatedly take shelter from gusts of rain. Fortunately, we survive the first wave under a tourist shelter by the Fuchsteich pond and use it for a little refreshment, while a large rock overhang protects us from the second wave with its already audible thunder, although at this stage the sandstone rocks are already relatively scarce. Nevertheless, we reach our destination, which for tonight is Zschirnstein-Biwak, soaking wet.

It is a small hut for a maximum of 4 people, but fortunately we are alone and can hang out our wet things. After some rest we decide to climb the nearby Grosser Zschirnstein (561 m), the highest table mountain on the German side of the Elbe Sandstone, before 8 pm. We reach the top just in time, when the valley below us slowly sinks into an impenetrable fog and only the Děčín Sněžník with its visible lookout tower as a beacon emerges from the white sea of clouds.
 

5. day

On the last day, we have less than 10 kilometres to walk to the train to Dolní Žleb (officially, however, the trail ends a little further north at the Schöna station near Hřensko). The trail again continues along the border, where we alternately meet posts marked with the letters C and D, but basically it just keeps going down.

After about 4 kilometres we have to leave the yellow marked trail and turn to the green trail southwards to Žleb, but as many times before we easily miss the turn. This mistake will at least lead us to a rock lookout, from which we can see the Elbe valley below us for the first time. Soon wewill be rightly connected to the green trail, still leading along the state border down to the Elbe. This stretch leads through the picturesque valley of the Klopotský brook with small waterfalls, during which we have to jump across the water over stones several times. After the large Klopotsky waterfall, which flows into the artificial lake of the same name, we finally leave the common state border and walk along the Elbe River for the last two kilometres or so to Dolní Žleb.

 

Difficulty

During 5 days we have covered more than 100 kilometres and climbed almost 3,000 vertical metres on the Elbe Sandstone Forest Trail. It is therefore not just a boring plain, as it might seem at first glance, although the highest point on the route is Děčínský Sněžník, "only" 723 m high. The whole trail runs mostly through the forest on forest paths, here and there on paved roads. There are several table mountains along the trail, and some of their peaks have to be climbed on secured ladders through narrow rock crevices. Those who don't dare to climb (children, elderly people) can easily bypass these hills and skip them, but they will miss out on the amazing views.
 

Water availability

On the trail we came across only a couple of natural wells (in Nikolsdorf-Biwak, near the Rotsteinhütte), otherwise there are not many options where to get drinking water. You won't come across any shops in the villages along the trail (I had to make a detour to the centre of Königstein for bottled water). However, at all official bivouac sites there is a large barrel of water available, at least for hygiene and cooking.
 

Sleeping options

There are several huts and bivouac spots for overnight stays along the route, and camping is not allowed outside of them. For each overnight stay you need to have a completed trekking ticket, which costs €10 per person per night (regardless of whether you stay in a hut or under a tent). A local ranger will then come once a night to check the completed tickets. Tickets can be bought at various info centres or at Bad Schandau and Schöna train stations. The proceeds then pay for the maintenance of the trail, huts and bivouac sites. Each site has a composting toilet, picnic tables and a large barrel of water (for hygiene and cooking).

One night we stayed in a cabin in the Autokemp pod Císařem, which is an official partner of the Forest Trail and its trekkers (price 560 CZK per cabin and two people per night).
 

Mountain peaks

Along the way, there are a large number of table mountains (Papstein, Gohrisch, Pfaffenstein, Děčínský Sněžník, Grosser Zschirnstein) and other viewpoints (Bernhardstein, Lampertsstein, Spitzstein and Katzstein) from which there are nice panoramic views of the surrounding area.

An important vantage point is the lookout tower on Děčínský Sněžník, which offers a circular view of the entire area of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains and Czechoslovakian Switzerland, we can also see the distant peaks of Sněžka, Ještěd, Milešovka or Říp, of course there is a view of the nearby Děčín in the Elbe Valley or more distant Dresden.
 

Food

On the way you can eat in restaurants on the peaks of Papstein and Děčínský Sněžník or in the village of Ostrov. I used the pub in the Pod Císařem campsite for one dinner and breakfast, otherwise I had all the food for the trek with me in my backpack and used water for cooking at the bivouac sites. On the German side there are forests full of blueberries.
 

Attractions

The route runs through the Elbsandstein protected landscape area on the border of Saxony and Ústí nad Labem. The Elbe Sandstone Forest Trail (Forststeig Elbsandstein) was opened relatively recently (in 2018), but otherwise the whole area is criss-crossed by a dense network of various other trails.