Oberkail: Holiday Apartments and Holiday Homes

Anyone wishing to rent a holiday apartment in Oberkail can then continue their accommodation search. Oberkail lies amid meadows and forests at an elevation of 360 metres in the natural landscape of the southern Eifel.

Nature

Around 50 information boards along the Oberkail forest nature trail explain the native deciduous and coniferous trees. The names of the trees are given in German, English and the local dialect. The circular OK2 trail leads through the Kailbach valley to the restored Biermühle mill and reaches the Frohnert Chapel, from which visitors can enjoy panoramic views.

The Oberkail–Himmerod Loop is a 15.5-kilometre moderately difficult circular hike that starts and ends at the Oberkail community hall or at Himmerod Abbey. It alternates between forest and open terrain and includes narrow natural paths that run along streams. Its route follows the natural valley of the Salm stream. Himmerod Abbey is a highlight of the route; there you will find a monastery garden and historic waterways that once supplied the former fishpond system.

Culture

The Frohnert Chapel was built in 1646 on the hill between Oberkail and Schwarzenborn. It is an octagonal replica of the Chapel of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. The central building features late Gothic and Renaissance motifs; the Way of the Cross, which initially comprised seven stations, was expanded to 14 stations in 1892. The chapel was once a much-visited pilgrimage site.

The Catholic parish church of St Michael is a hall church dating from 1789; according to tradition, the west tower dates back to 1587. The tower and churchyard preserve grave slabs and crosses from the 18th and early 19th centuries. In the listed-monument zone of Kyllburger Straße, a row of five farmsteads has been preserved, characteristic of Oberkail’s expansion in the 19th century.

In the listed-monument zone, structural remains of a former four-winged moated castle belonging to the former Counts of Manderscheid’s Castle Kail have been preserved; they date mainly from the 17th century and around 1700. Oberkail also maintains the Eifel tradition of replacing church bells with children’s clappers during the Triduum, the days before Easter.

Bus route 405 runs from Bitburg to the Kindergarten stop in Oberkail. Municipal plans for Oberkail refer to a future footbridge over the Kailbach and to work along its banks.

More local pages: Neidenbach, Gransdorf, Orsfeld, Balesfeld, Steinborn, Neuheilenbach, Neustraßburg, Malberg

For the higher-level travel overview: Kyllburg.