Minutes from Ramstein Air Base
Tiktok or Youtube fatigue? Kids and teens need to soak up Mother Nature to counteract screen time, but the loud complaints keep many of us parents from dealing with the protests of a “hike with nothing to do”.
Heck, us parents too. We’re all in some serious nature deficit disorder – aka, going slowly irritable, bored and lacking wonder in our lives.
Thankfully, just a few minutes from Ramstein Air Base in Germany, lies a smooth, easy “Skulpturenweg” or Sculpture Path – a hike dotted with 12 interesting and unusual stone sculptures to keep the engagement high and complaining to a low while delivering tranquility on this path through villages, farmlands and woods.
tl;dr
Mostly paved, family friendly hike just a few minutes from Ramstein Air Base with 12 interesting sculptures to meander amongst and great views.
Each hike includes detailed GPS guidance so it’s simple and not frustrating to find your way, food recommendations, and history highlights.
Skip directly to the Steinwenden Map.
How This KMC Trail Guide is Organized
- Trail Map Steinwenden Sculpture Hike
- Getting to Steinwenden & KMC Area Guide
- Steinwenden Stroller Hike Trail Guide
- Tips for Hiking Steinwenden Sculpture Path
- Beyond the Best Day Hikes in Germany: Dolomites in Summer
- Recommended Books and Guidebooks for European Hiking and Hut Hiking
This post links to products and services we love, which we may make a small commission from, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting our blog!! – Morgan
Trail Map Steinwenden Sculpture Stroller Hike – 4.5 Miles or 7.25 km
This hike is for you if you want somewhere to take the kids and hunt sculptures along the stroller friendly path.
Trail Name: Steinwenden Sculpture Stroller Hike
How to use this map: Use your computer mouse or fingers to zoom in and out. Click on the icons to get more information. Click the arrow on the top left corner for the written index. Click the star next to the title of the map to add this map to your google maps account. To view the saved map on your smartphone or PC, open google maps, click the menu button, and go to “your places”/ “maps.”
Getting to Steinwenden & KMC Area Guide
Skip Directly to Trail Guide
The trailhead is at the Protestant church in the center of the Steinwenden village.
The best way to access the Steinwenden Sculptures hikes is by train. The (only) train station in Steinwenden is located less than 1/4 mile from the Church and a flat easy walk.
The easiest way is to use a car and park directly behind or in front of the Protestant Church.
This quaint village houses multiple cemeteries, parks and an elementary school. Along with the Skulpturenweg, it’s popular for walkers and families both German and American alike and very accessible.
It doesn’t take long to get out of the village and look out over the gorgeous hills in the gorgeous patchwork farmland that sits in the lowlands between the Hunsruck forest and Pfälzerwald (Palatinate forest). Of note, the Pfälzerwald is the largest single patch of forest in Germany and part of a UNESCO world heritage site.
This sculpture path is part of a larger network of sculpture trails that stretch from Russia to Spain. Another section nearby is in the amazing town of St. Wendel or Sankt Wendel with it’s adventure races, tasty restaurants, pilgrimage paths, bones of a saint in the church and kick ass hiking trails.
Who is This Guide NOT for and What are the Alternatives for Exploring the KMC Outdoors?
This guide is for people who want a rolling, ambling walk and suitable for strollers. If you’re looking for something a bit more strenuous, check out the Breitenwald Fels Loop Hike just a few minutes away in Landstuhl. That will get your heart pumping and engage those quads!!
If you want to explore with more outdoor nature exhibits check out the Squirrel hike near Glan Munchweiler, it has a wonderful bee, bug and animal outdoor exhibit to learn from.
Steinwenden Sculpture Stroller Hike Trail Guide in Rheinland-Pfalz
Steinwenden Google Map of Hike
Komoot App with GPS Tracking: You get one free zone with this free app.
https://www.komoot.com/tour/629660772?ref=wtd
Location: Steinwenden, Germany
Trail Guide: Steinwenden Sculpture Stroller Hike
Type of Hike: 1 Loop
Distance: 4.5 miles, 7.25 km
Elevation: 250 ft up, 275 ft down
Duration: 1.25 – 1.5 hours
Difficulty: Easy
Start/end point: Protestant church
Kid-friendly: yes
Stroller-friendly: yes
Dog-friendly: yes
Fees: No
Camino de Santiago: No
Something Good to Eat: Sascha’s Doner: Amazing döner – salads, yogurt sauce highlights. Easy to split between two people, the yufka is like a burrito version.
Hint: ask for “wenig fleisch, viele gemuse” (ven-egg, feel geh-mooza) version – basically less meat with extra veggies. The amount of meat given is insane (like you could possibly process more than 25 gm of protein at once) and the veggies are soooo fresh and good, but Germany is the land of meeeeeeeeeat!
Coming from Out of Town? Best Places to Stay
Hotel Raisch: Quiet and clean with breakfast included, this guest house is right in the middle of town and welcoming as a family run establishment.
Tips for Steinwenden Sculpture Stroller Hike
These paths are really easy and very well marked and any shoes would be fine. However, it is 1-1.5 hours so make sure your feet are comfortable and your crocs don’t cause blisters. A vast majority of the time the path is paved, but about ⅓ is packed dirt.
Start by going out of town to the north following the cemetery on your left and the schools on your right. The first sculpture is really obvious and cool. Once you get into the farmland, you’ll make a left after the only hill. Then you’ll wind upward a bit and have great overlooks of the next village.
You’ll go through Obermohr and then cross through it towards the train tracks. After crossing the track, you’ll go left and follow a bike path (Barbarossa path) that is next to the woods and tracks. Do better than me with keeping your dog off the tracks. Gosh, he just doesn’t understand trains!
You’ll cross the train tracks toward the south and go into the village of Weltersbach. Then the trail takes a hard turn to the left and along a dirt path. My trail goes a bit into the backyards of the neighborhood so you can see the backyard gardens.
The trail ends, and you have to double back just a bit to the pedestrian overpass so that you can walk through the sporting club or sportverein and their beer garden (biergarten). We all need breaks.
Wind around the sport complex and get back on the roadside walking path back into town. Then you’ll walk on another dog/people path after taking a right. Once to the other main road you’ll turn hard left and just follow it back into town to the Protestant Church.
Despite being in Germany, please ensure proper sun protection during the summer months and protect your eyes from the damage inflicted by the sun, you don’t want to be like me doing all kinds of pre-cancer treatments because I thought my white skin was badass-strong (nope) in my 20s.
Bring your own water as buying water in Germany tends to be rather expensive both at restaurants and at convenience stores.
It is never free to get tap water in Germany unless you have a serious hook up with a restaurateur.
Beyond the Best Hikes in Germany: Dolomites in Summer
If you’re looking for some amazing mountain adventures with WWI history, check out the Alta Via 1 Hike in the Dolomites. Hike and scramble over the path of the Alpini soldiers and explore the bunkers, via ferratas and outdoor museums at Cinque Torri.
It’s a 2-3 hour drive from Venice or a 7-8 hour drive from Ramstein Air Base. Here’s a detailed packing list of everything you would need to complete a 5 day hut to hut hiking trip to explore the Italian front of WWI.
You’ll be immersed in the history of the Italian Front during this gorgeous hike. It’s only possible in summer between mid-June and mid-September. It’s absolutely necessary to plan 6 months ahead of time to get lodging at huts directly on the high elevation trails.
On a Journey: Best Hikes in Germany
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy rambling around Steinwenden and catching some outdoor history and culture with this sculpture walk. How cool is that?
Have you experienced a cool trail nearby? We would love to hear how it was over on our facebook group European Adventure Travel Planning.
Recommended Books and Guidebooks for Exploring Germany and Beyond: Hiking, Hut to Hut Hiking, and Coastal Walks
Rota Vicentina Cicerone guidebook
Headed to the Dolomites in Italy? Alta Via 1 Cicerone Guidebook
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Author profile: Morgan Fielder is a passionate hiker and writer, physical therapist, and European Cornhole Commissioner. She is living near Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany and featured giving science-based hiking tips and advice.
When not out exploring the mountains or sea, she’s writing articles and gear reviews to empower Outdoor Journeys that include family and good food. She is actively involved in the community and advocating for connection and sustainability with her community projects at Cornhole Europa and Sustainable Investors Group.