Starting at the market square in the historic half-timbered town of Zierenberg, the Habichtswaldsteig winds its way up and down along a path, taking you through the Dörnberg with its Alpine trail, juniper heaths, the Naturparkzentrum, and the Hohen Dörnberg with its former Chatten settlement. The hike is interspersed with cattle pastures and a juniper heath with Buren goats. You'll reach the Silbersee and pass through beech forests that change colors with the seasons, eventually arriving at the Hute am Herkules. Here, standing below the Herkules monument, the symbol of Kassel, you'll be rewarded with a magnificent panorama of the largest European mountain park and the Kassel Basin.
The view of Kassel, known as the city of the Brothers Grimm, where Jacob and Wilhelm spent important years of their lives and collected a large portion of their fairy tales, transitions into a forested backdrop that holds the mythological roots of our ancestors and serves as the setting for the fairy tales. The landscape of the Habichtswald enchants with its sparkling streams that provide refreshment in the summer, ruined castles, and picturesque half-timbered buildings, inviting you to immerse yourself in the history of the region and inspiring cultural experiences. Fairy tale resting places and information boards highlighting natural and cultural features keep the fairy tale theme alive and connect the places along the trail.
Next, you'll pass through the idyllic Firnsbachtal with its gorge-like notches and ascend the Schauenburg. Along forest edges with fascinating views over the North Hessian basin to the south, the trail leads to the Falkenstein castle ruins and the Altenburg, a wall-like structure set in a beech forest that provides shade for a long stretch. Along the railway tracks of the Hessencourrier heritage railway and dipping in and out of forest edges, hikers make their way from Bad Emstal to Naumburg. A detour through the meadows of the Hessian Elbe valley, with clear weather, rewards you with breathtaking views from the Weidelsburg over the Wolfhager Becken to the Dörnberg in the east or even as far as the Kahlen Asten in the Sauerland to the west. The silhouette of Waldeck Castle on the horizon indicates the continuation of the trail.
Saying farewell to the Habichtswald Nature Park, you cross a historic mountain ridge, the former border between the Principality of Waldeck and that of the Landgraves of Kassel. Through tranquil valleys and across agricultural heights, the trail leads you to the Edersee with Waldeck Castle, the steep slopes of the Urwaldsteig in the Kellerwald-Edersee Nature Park, and the Edersee Sperrmauer (dam). Here, the Habichtswaldsteig intersects with the Urwaldsteig, which encompasses the Edersee as a circular route of 70 km.
