Hike to the Windsborn crater lake in the Eifel: on the trail of volcanic origins

There is a soft crackling in the air as you take the first step from the parking lot at Windsborn Kratersee. This hike is more than just a walk through the volcanic Eifel - it is a journey of discovery through the geological history of the earth.

The trail first winds its way around the Hinkelsmaar, a small dry maar that is a nature reserve and whose gentle depression silently bears witness to the former bubbling beneath the earth's crust.

Soon after, the trail runs along field and forest paths that gently but steadily wind their way uphill. With every metre you climb, you get closer to the Mosenberg, which towers 512 meters above the surrounding landscape.

The descent takes you to the Mosenberg Volcano Adventure Park, a former quarry site that now tells the stories of the earth's fire. Along impressive panels, you will learn how the forces of nature once sent lava flows across the land. The cliff face left behind after mining allows you to virtually look into the volcano.

Finally, the path leads you past 2 more geological features and back into the silence. Hidden away, as if to protect itself from prying eyes, the Windsborn Crater Lake slumbers in the heart of an extinct volcano. The only true mountain crater lake north of the Alps lends the landscape a very special atmosphere.

This short, approximately 5-kilometre hike combines the essence of the volcanic Eifel in a compact space: tranquil natural beauty, wild originality and a geological heritage that can still be grasped and experienced today.