Schernfeld: Forest Adventures and Panoramic Views

Explore the Forest Adventure Trails Without a Guide

The four adventure trails at the Schernfeld Forest Experience Centre are freely accessible and can be explored without a guide. This gives your visit a clear framework: you are not tied to a guided tour and can explore the trails independently. If you are particularly interested in the forest, you will find a fitting focus for a stay in Schernfeld here.

The Schernfeld loop offers a different perspective on the landscape. It runs across the Jura plateau around Schernfeld, passes the Eichhorn sheep farm and leads to the Leitenbuck. The route therefore combines several distinct impressions: the plateau, the section by the sheep farm and the view from the Leitenbuck. You can choose this route separately from the adventure trails if you would like your stay to focus more on a landscape walk.

Views of the Altmühltal from the Leitenbuck

The Leitenbuck is a grass-covered slope with views south across the Altmühltal and north towards the village of Schernfeld. These two directions make the viewpoint a distinctive part of the loop: the Altmühltal lies in view on one side, and Schernfeld on the other. On the same route, you can therefore enjoy both a wide-ranging landscape view and a view of the village.

The adventure trails and the loop offer different highlights, without requiring you to limit yourself to just one kind of nature experience. When choosing a holiday apartment in Schernfeld, it may therefore help to consider whether the forest and independent exploration or the route across the Jura plateau should play a bigger role in your stay.

Culture and Nature in the Wider Destination of Eichstätt

In the wider destination of Eichstätt, the Jura Museum Eichstätt focuses on fossils from the Solnhofen Plattenkalk. The exhibition also features the original Eichstätt specimen of Archaeopteryx. These offer different ways to explore the collections: the fossils from the Plattenkalk are the exhibition’s main focus, while the original specimen is a specific item in the collection.

The Willibaldsburg Castle in Eichstätt also offers historical and architectural points of interest. Bishop Berthold Burggraf von Zollern had it built in 1355; it served as the bishop’s residence until 1725. Parts of the 420-metre-long castle that have been preserved include walls and bastions, the armoury, the 63-metre-long gate hall and the Gemmingen building with its two towers. These structures provide a tangible way to follow the castle’s history.

The 1,500-square-metre bastion garden is also located at Willibaldsburg Castle. There, the Hortus Eystettensis, destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War, was brought back to life after 400 years. Visitors can discover many of the garden’s original plant species. Another historic point of interest in Eichstätt is Cathedral Square, which lies on the oldest inhabited ground in the city.

More Excursions and Culinary Experiences

The Eichstätt Fossil Trail is designated as a moderately difficult, nine-kilometre circular route suitable for families. Its classification as a circular route and its stated length offer a different kind of guidance from Schernfeld’s four adventure trails or the loop across the Jura plateau. This lets you take different types of walks into account when planning, without confusing their individual details.

Culinary experiences are also part of the wider destination of Eichstätt: several times a year, the Eichstätt culinary hosts offer special dishes under the motto “Eichstätt cooks...”, including hearty Altmühltal lamb dishes. The range thus extends from forest and landscape experiences in Schernfeld to museum, architectural, garden and culinary highlights in Eichstätt. You can choose a holiday apartment in Schernfeld to suit the focus you have in mind.

Discover more destinations: Gaimersheim, Altmannstein, Lenting, Wellheim, Titting, Oberdolling, Kinding, Dollnstein.

Go to the wider travel overview: Eichstätt.