Lake Laach and Maria Laach

The Lava Dome is a very special museum in the Volcano Park in the East Eifel. On 700 square metres it is not "museum-like", but spectacular - for children and adults, for absolute newcomers and for those who are pre-informed about volcanism. In the "Land of Volcanoes", a multimedia show tells the story of two violent volcanic eruptions. Images, sounds and projections let you relive them - up close and intense, but fortunately virtual. The "volcano workshop" is a genuine small science centre. At experimental stations, visitors gain a vivid impression of the processes inside the earth. The "Time of the Volcanoes" lets stones speak: Anyone who touches them can hear and see the great eruptions of times gone by. Current seismological data and images from webcams around the world are particularly exciting. And in the round cinema, a fictitious news programme takes your breath away, because here it becomes clear what another eruption of the Laacher See volcano would mean.

Soil outcrops on the Wingertsbergwand near Mendig allow science to explain the history of the Laacher See eruption through comparisons with currently active volcanoes.

Maria Laach is one of the most famous sights in the Laacher See Volcano Park. The abbey church is the most famous building in the Eifel.

Start at the parking lot opposite the restaurant "Waldfrieden" near Wassenach, approx. 14 km, marked: Geo-L

The sky in the Brohl valley darkened when the Laacher See volcano erupted just five kilometers away. The once loose materials from the glowing avalanche have caked over time to form a rock that is called “trass” in our region.

Circular hike along Lake Laach: unique insights into the volcanic past on the Eppelsberg, volcanism live on Lake Laach with a view of Maria Laach Monastery, magnificent views of the Krufter Waldsee and wonderful views of the Pellenz.

In the Roman mine at Meurin, visitors enter an underground world where Roman miners and soldiers worked.

With around 3.3 km² and a depth of 53 m, Laacher See is the largest lake in Rhineland-Palatinate. The area around the lake has been a nature reserve for almost 80 years. The last eruption of the former “Laacher volcano” occurred around 10,930 BC. B.C., about 13,000 years ago. Traces of volcanic activity can still be found in the form of volcanic outgassing, the so-called mofettes, on the eastern shore of the lake. The total ejection quantity of the outbreak at that time was about 16 km³. The eruption was one and a half times as strong as that of Pinatubo in 1991, or 6 times as strong as the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980. Although Laacher See is widely regarded as the largest maar in the Vulkaneifel, it is scientifically not a maar and also not a real crater lake, but a water-filled caldera - a burglary crater that resulted from a collapse after the magma chamber was emptied below the volcanic cone. The volcanic mountain collapses and only the ring bead on the outer edge remains. Over time, the remaining boiler fills up with water. The Laacher See is in the Eifel, next to the neighboring Wehrer Kessel, the largest caldera and the only water-filled one in Central Europe.

In summer the lake is used by tourists as a local recreation area. On warm days the Laacher See invites many bathers to swim or rent a boat.

Let's go... The monastery rally starts at the tourist information office at the large car park at Lake Laach. Visitors young and old playfully discover interesting facts about Maria Laach Monastery. There will be puzzling, guessing, planning and improvising. In this way, children and adults learn a lot about Maria Laach Monastery.

Creative dishes. Seasonal and regional ingredients: See. Taste. Enjoy.The Tausend93 restaurant in the Seehotel Maria Laach is one of the monastery businesses of the Benedictine Abbey. Benedictine hospitality is our model and our standard; sustainability in everything we do is a mission we are happy to fulfil and actively live by. We get our fish from the monastery fishery - directly from Lake Laach. We also get the beef and pork we offer from the organic Maria Laach monastery estate.Only in Tausend93 do you dine from tableware exclusively made in the Benedictine Abbey's ceramic manufactory. Hand-painted fine earthenware follows the Bauhaus idea, which is omnipresent in the Maria Laach monastery: Simple. Functional. Beautiful.Of course, the Tausend93 is also available for your celebration, wedding, event or conference. Just get in touch with us.

The mascot of the volcanic region "Laachus", the floating pumice stone, accompanies the children on the 300m long stone adventure trail on the monastery wall of Maria Laach and brings them closer to volcanism with riddles and child-friendly boards.

Shop directly at the organic farmers between cow pastures, chicken mobiles and grain fields on Lake Laacher.