Round the Laacher See from Maria Laach

The walk starts from the Maria Laach car park, by the abbey on the south-west shore of the Laacher See in the Eifel. It passes the boat hire and follows the shore path north along the west side, through meadows and woods close to the water, goes round the north shore on tracks, comes down the east side on forest tracks a little above the lake, and returns by tracks along the south side of the lake, with a short stretch of road, to the abbey.

It is 8.3 km with 34 m of ascent; allow about 2¼ hours. The grade is Easy: the ground is flat, on paths and forest tracks, with about a fifth on roads and service tracks near the abbey. The abbey's own page gives its shore circuit (Uferrundweg) as about 8.4 km and about 2 hours.

The lake fills the crater of a volcano that erupted some 13,000 years ago, and carbon dioxide still rises in mofettes near the south-eastern shore. It is a nature reserve whose protection order forbids leaving the signposted shore path or entering the shore zone outside marked viewpoints, so stay on the paths. The Vulkanregion Laacher See asks visitors to use only the marked car parks. By the abbey the small wooden bridges now have steps instead of ramps, so that part is not step-free. The English eifel.info page for the shore path carries an undated warning that, due to heavy rainfall, the shore path is not passable in places; the Vulkanregion's own page does not say so; if in doubt, ask at the Tourist-Info at Maria Laach.

The Maria Laach car park is mapped as charged in OpenStreetMap.

Route drawn by Global Adventurer along OpenStreetMap paths (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), with figures worked out from it. Check the forecast and the ground on the day: paths change.