Stage start
Heidelberg
Town
The start, below the castle above Heidelberg's old town. The trail body's stage 1 tour starts at the castle's entrance gate.
A town or village: find accommodation yourself. TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Heidelberg to Neckargemünd
Neckarsteig · Stage 1
Walking time as outdooractive.com states it for this stage; measured on the mapped line: 3 h 57. Climb measured on the mapped line, on terrain heights. Outdooractive.com
11.7 kmStage distance
608 mAscent, measured
4 h 10Official time
1Stage number
From the castle in Heidelberg to Neckargemünd: 12.1 km, 4 h 10, 476 m up and 621 m down by the trail body's tour, which starts at the castle's entrance gate. Early on the stage climbs the Himmelsleiter, about 1,200 stone steps; the tour offers the historic Bergbahn (funicular) instead. This is not the Himmelsleiter at Gundelsheim, which is closed.
Best season: No published season; a low river-valley trail. Touristikgemeinschaft Odenwald, the trail body, publishes no walking season, and its stage tours single out no month. The trail stays low, between about 110 and 580 m. Some services are seasonal: the NeO-BUS from Eberbach to Amorbach runs at weekends and on holidays from 3 April to 1 November 2026, and the campsite in Eberbach opens only in season. Before you go
Loading topographic map…
Flat (<5%) Gentle (5–10%) Moderate (10–15%) Steep (15–25%) Very steep (>25%)
Green: Heidelberg to Neckargemünd. Grey: full trail. Elevation follows this mapped track.
Heidelberg to Neckargemünd
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Where this stage starts and ends
Facts read from the guide's sources and OpenStreetMap on 13 October 2026. A page can change after we read it, so confirm with your accommodation before you rely on a date or a bed.
Stage end · overnight
Neckargemünd
Town
A small town on the Neckar with a station. The youth hostel in Dilsberg is on the trail 7 km on, on stage 2.
A town or village: find accommodation yourself. TrailSplits has not checked what is open.
Walking time for this leg
- Heidelberg to Neckargemünd: 4 h 10. Measured on the mapped line: 3 h 57. outdooractive.com, read 13 October 2026
Make it your trip
Book your nights ahead
Book each night with the host, on its own website or through the region's booking service, which the trail body's lists of hosts link to; the walk itself needs no booking. The lists have no host in Hirschhorn, the end of stage 3: sleep in Neckarsteinach or Eberbach, which are on the same railway along the valley, and take the train back in the morning. Mosbach has the widest choice.
Heidelberg to Bad Wimpfen
The trail body's nine stages, a night at the end of each.
Plan this journeyHeidelberg to Eberbach
Four stages past the castles of the lower Neckar valley, with a station at every stage end.
Plan this journeyEberbach to Mosbach
Three stages through the Odenwald: the Wilder Waibelsberg and the Margaretenschlucht.
Plan this journeyMosbach to Bad Wimpfen
The last two stages, by Haßmersheim, Gundelsheim and Bad Rappenau.
Plan this journeyWeather this week
Loading the forecast for low point (120 m) and high point (580 m)…
Weather by month
Typical weather on this stage: at the lowest point (120 m) and the highest point (580 m). Select a month to see why it is rated as it is.
| Month | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weather | Poor | Mixed | Mixed | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Mixed | Mixed |
| High point, day / night | 3°/-2° | 4°/-2° | 8°/1° | 13°/4° | 17°/8° | 21°/11° | 22°/13° | 22°/13° | 17°/9° | 12°/6° | 7°/2° | 4°/-1° |
| Low point, day / night | 5°/0° | 7°/0° | 11°/3° | 16°/6° | 20°/10° | 23°/13° | 25°/15° | 25°/14° | 20°/11° | 15°/7° | 9°/4° | 6°/1° |
| Rain, mm | 94 | 80 | 84 | 53 | 90 | 77 | 94 | 65 | 82 | 90 | 89 | 108 |
| Snow at high point | Possible | Possible | Possible | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | Frost | Possible |
| Daylight | 8 h 36 | 10 h 06 | 11 h 47 | 13 h 40 | 15 h 18 | 16 h 14 | 15 h 53 | 14 h 30 | 12 h 42 | 10 h 53 | 9 h 10 | 8 h 13 |
Source: TerraClimate 1991–2020 monthly averages. Averages for the area at each point’s elevation (4 km grid, corrected for height). Not a forecast or a report of current trail conditions. Snow at the high point is estimated with a simple snowpack model from these temperatures and precipitation, not observed; steep islands and high summits can hold more snow than it shows. Daylight is for the 15th of each month. Hut, transport and park seasons are separate: check them for your dates.
Before you go
Prepare for the Neckarsteig
Arrange your stays, food and travel first, then check conditions again near departure.
Closures and detours now
Two closed sections are on the trail on 13 October 2026, each with a signed detour: the steep climb above Schloss Hirschhorn (stage 4), closed until further notice because a railing is broken, and the Himmelsleiter down into Gundelsheim (stage 8), impassable after an earth and wall slip. The direct path from the Hinterburg to the Schadeck ruin, a side trip on stage 3, is closed too. Building work by the lock in Neckarsteinach, announced from May to about August 2026, is still listed. The notices carry no dates: read them before you set off.
Neckarsteig: current route noticesA demanding trail
The trail body calls the Neckarsteig demanding and in parts wild. It is not barrier-free, and bikes are not allowed. On the Wilder Waibelsberg (stage 5) and in the Margaretenschlucht (stage 7) the path is split into rescue sectors, because rescuers find it hard to reach: note which sector you are in. The Margaretenschlucht has a signed bad-weather detour.
Neckarsteig: safety notesThe longest stages
Stages 5 and 6, Eberbach to Neunkirchen and Neunkirchen to Neckargerach, are the longest, about 18 km each, and stage 5 has the most climbing: 671 m up by the trail body's tour. The official times, 3 to 5 h 45 a stage, are walking time only.
Neckarsteig: Eberbach to NeunkirchenBoats and ferries
The ferry at Neckarhausen, across the river to the Neckarhäuser Hof on stage 3, is out of service after an accident. The trail body's boat page lists the Weiße Flotte between Heidelberg, Neckargemünd and Neckarsteinach, and boats at Haßmersheim and Bad Wimpfen; check their own timetables.
Neckarsteig: boats on the NeckarGetting there
Connect your journey
Travel around Heidelberg to Neckargemünd.
Google Maps journey searches, not confirmed services. A mountain endpoint may need a booked transfer or an additional walk.
To the start in Heidelberg
Trains reach Heidelberg. The trail body's first stage starts at the entrance gate of the castle, above the old town.
Neckarsteig: by bus and trainOn the way
The railway along the Neckar valley stops at Neckargemünd, Neckarsteinach, Hirschhorn (Neckar), Eberbach, Neckargerach and Mosbach, so most stage ends have a station. From Eberbach, the NeO-BUS runs to Amorbach at weekends and on holidays until 1 November 2026, first from the station at 8:35; in the Neckar-Odenwald district a call taxi (Ruftaxi) also runs: call ahead to book it.
Neckarsteig: the NeO-BUSHome from Bad Wimpfen
The trail ends by Bad Wimpfen station; Gundelsheim, the end of stage 8, has a station too.
Deutsche Bahn: journey plannerTake your trip with you
Offline maps
Prepare each stage while you still have a connection, so the map, the stage ends and the detours stay on your phone in the forest.
Keep your route and maps on your phone for places without a signal. For multi-day trips, prepare them in the installed TrailSplits app.
- Open this trail in the app. Install TrailSplits, then open this trail there. On iPhone, downloads in a browser may not be available in the installed app.
- Choose your route or stages. Choose Prepare offline above. Wait for the route and maps to finish downloading.
- Try it before leaving coverage. Switch offline, close and reopen the app, then use My Hikes to start navigation. Repeat for every part you will need.
Saving a bookmark is not a map download. Storage can be cleared by your device; keep a backup map for remote trips.
Route & sources
Route map & sources
Touristikgemeinschaft Odenwald, the trail body, divides the Neckarsteig into nine stages (Etappen), from the castle in Heidelberg to Bad Wimpfen, with an official stage time for each from its own stage tours, shown beside ours on every stage. The tours add up to 126.7 km and about 38 h 25 of walking; the trail's home page says 128 km. The line here is the Odenwaldklub's route on OpenStreetMap (three section relations, from the planet of 11 October 2026): 126.3 km, cut at the nine stage ends, and every stage is within 0.6 km of the official figure. Two closed sections are still on the line, each with a signed detour: the steep climb above Schloss Hirschhorn (stage 4) and the Himmelsleiter down into Gundelsheim (stage 8). Our climb is measured on terrain heights, so short steep steps are smoothed out.
Official guidance and mapped-source comparison checked 13 October 2026. Map data is a route reference, not confirmation of today's path, weather or accommodation availability.
Touristikgemeinschaft Odenwald: Neckarsteig stagesMap data © OpenStreetMap contributors · Source relation