The German Shoe Road (german: Deutsche Schuhstraße) is one of several

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism mo ...

-oriented, themed routes in southern

Rheinhessen Rhenish Hesse or Rhine HesseDickinson, Robert E (1964). ''Germany: A regional and economic geography'' (2nd ed.). London: Methuen, p. 542. . (german: Rheinhessen) is a region and a former government district () in the German state of Rhineland- ...

and in the

West Palatinate Western Palatinate or West Palatinate (german: Westpfalz) is a sub-region in the west of the Palatinate (region), Palatinate, a German cultural and historic region in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It includes the western part of the Palatine ...

in the German state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

. It is a circular route of more than 300 km largely running within the

Palatine Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve The Franco-German Palatinate Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve (german: Biosphärenreservat Pfälzerwald-Nordvogesen, french: Réserve de biosphère transfrontalière des Vosges du Nord-Forêt palatine) was created in 1998 as the first UNESCO t ...

often on scenic secondary roads.

Route

The German Shoe Road includes the following way stations:

Alzey Alzey () is a ''Verband''-free town – one belonging to no ''Verbandsgemeinde'' – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the fifth-largest town in Rhenish Hesse, after Mainz, Worms, Germany, Worms, Ingelheim am Rhein ...

Wendelsheim Wendelsheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a Municipalities of Germany, municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location As ...

Nack Nack is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location The municipality lies in Rhenish Hesse ...

Bechenheim Bechenheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Alzey-Land, wh ...

, Nieder-Wiesen,

Kriegsfeld Kriegsfeld is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe a ...

, Unterthierwasen, Bastenhaus-

Dannenfels Dannenfels is a municipality in the Donnersbergkreis district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe a ...

, Marienthal, Falkenstein,

Enkenbach-Alsenborn Enkenbach-Alsenborn is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the northern edge of the Palatinate forest, approx. 10 km north-east of Kaiserslautern. Enkenbach-Alsenborn is also ...

Hochspeyer Hochspeyer is a municipality in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate forest (Pfälzer Wald), approx. 10 km east of Kaiserslautern. Hochspeyer was the seat of the former Verban ...

Johanniskreuz Johanniskreuz is a tiny hamlet in the middle of the Palatine Forest in Germany and belongs to the municipality of Trippstadt in the district of Kaiserslautern in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Geography Location Johanniskreuz lies in ...

Hauenstein Hauenstein is a municipality in the Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate forest, approximately 20 km east of Pirmasens, and 20 km west of Landau. Hauenstein is the seat of the ''Ver ...

Dahn Dahn is a municipality in the Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated in the Palatinate Forest, approximately 15 km southeast of Pirmasens, and 25 km west of Landau. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeind ...

Busenberg Busenberg is a municipality in Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, western Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe a ...

, Fischbach, Eppenbrunn, Trulben,

Pirmasens Pirmasens (; pfl, Bärmesens (also ''Bermesens'' or ''Bärmasens'')) is an independent town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with France. It was famous for the manufacture of shoes. The surrounding rural district was called ''Lan ...

Walshausen Walshausen is a German village in the Zweibrücken-Land municipality, in the Südwestpfalz district in the Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a w ...

, Rieschweiler-Mühlbach, Wallhalben, Mittelbrunn,

Landstuhl Landstuhl () is a town in the Kaiserslautern district of Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It is the seat of ''Verbandsgemeinde Landstuhl'', a kind of "collective municipality." Landstuhl is situated on the north-west edge of the Palatinate F ...

, Miesenbach,

Altenglan Altenglan is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Kusel-Altenglan. Alten ...

, Aschbach,

Lauterecken Lauterecken () is a town in the Kusel district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Lauterecken-Wolfstein, to which it also belongs. Lauterecken bears the nickname ''Veldenzstadt'', after the comital family t ...

Meisenheim Meisenheim () is a town in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the like-named ''Verbandsgemeinde'', and is also its seat. Meisenheim is a state-recognized recreational resort (''Erholungsort'') and it is s ...

Fürfeld Fürfeld is an '' Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' of Bad Kreuznach, ...

Wonsheim Wonsheim is an ''Ortsgemeinde'' – a municipality belonging to a ''Verbandsgemeinde'', a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Geography Location As a winegrowing centre, Wonsheim ...

, Alzey Near Pirmasens the German Shoe Road divides into various branches that link e.g. Rodalben and

Waldfischbach-Burgalben Waldfischbach-Burgalben ( pfl, Waldfischbach-Bojalwe) is a municipality in the Südwestpfalz district, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the western edge of the Palatinate forest, approx. 10 km northeast of Pirmasens. Waldf ...

as well as

Lemberg Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

History

The German Shoe Road was established in 1977 by the Pirmasens Regional Association (''Großraum Pirmasens''), because the heart of the German

shoe A shoe is an item of footwear intended to protect and comfort the human foot. They are often worn with a sock. Shoes are also used as an item of decoration and fashion. The design of shoes has varied enormously through time and from culture t ...

industry was based here from the early 19th century. After many shoe factories in Germany closed or transferred their manufacturing overseas in the wake of

globalisation Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

, the German Shoe Road was not widely advertised and was one of less well known

tourist route A scenic route, tourist road, tourist route, tourist drive, holiday route, theme route, or scenic byway is a specially designated road or waterway that travels through an area of natural or cultural beauty. It often passes by scenic viewpoint ...

s by the early 21st century.

Sights

Lakes and rivers – east of Waldfischbach-Burgalben the route passes along the Schwarzbachtal valley and runs past the Clausensee lake. Almost all other sections of the German Shoe Road run along waterways in the region. In the area of Pirmasens these include the Schwarzbach Queich,

Wieslauter The Lauter (in its upper course also: ''Wieslauter'') is a river in Germany and France. The Lauter is a left tributary of the Rhine. Its length is , of which 39 km is in France and on the France–Germany border. It is formed by the confluence of ...

, Saarbach (with its ''Mühlweiher'' reservoir at the Saarbacherhammer),

Rodalb The Rodalb, also called the Rodalbe, is a stream, just under long, in West Palatinate in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is an orographically left tributary of the Schwarzbach. Course The Rodalb rises in the southwestern Palatin ...

and

Merzalbe The Merzalbe, also called the Merzalb, is a stream, over long, in the Western Palatinate in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is an orographically right tributary of the Rodalb. In its upper reaches it is also called Mühlgraben. Cou ...

. Rock formations – tourist destinations, some even for sports climbers, include the numerous

bunter sandstone The Buntsandstein (German for ''coloured'' or ''colourful sandstone'') or Bunter sandstone is a lithostratigraphic and allostratigraphic unit (a sequence of rock strata) in the subsurface of large parts of west and central Europe. The Buntsands ...

rock formations, especially in the

Wasgau The Wasgau (german: Wasgau, french: Vasgovie) is a Franco-German hill range in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the French departments of Bas-Rhin and Moselle. It is formed from the southern part of the Palatine Forest and the north ...

. These include the Devil's Table and the

Jungfernsprung The Jungfernsprung, is a precipitous rock formation in the small German town of Dahn in the county of Südwestpfalz. The rocks tower above the town by around 70 metres and are crowned by a type of summit cross at a height of . The rocks is t ...

in the

Dahner Felsenland The Dahner Felsenland, also referred to as the Dahn Rockland, is a landscape in the county of Südwestpfalz in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate. It is located in the middle section of the Wasgau, which in turn forms the southern ...

. Hills and mountains – in its northern section the road passes the highest mountain in the

Palatinate region The Palatinate (german: Pfalz; Palatine German: ''Palz'') is a region of Germany. In the Middle Ages it was known as the Rhenish Palatinate (''Rheinpfalz'') and Lower Palatinate (''Unterpfalz''), which strictly speaking designated only the wes ...

, the 689 metre high

Donnersberg The Donnersberg ("thunder mountain") is the highest peak of the Palatinate (german: Pfalz) region of Germany. The mountain lies between the towns of Rockenhausen and Kirchheimbolanden, in the Donnersbergkreis district, which is named after the ...

, which is surrounded by five ruined

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

s. Castles – other castles include Drachenfels, Berwartstein,

and Gräfenstein. The

Heidelsburg The Heidelsburg, also called the Bunenstein, is an old fortification in the western Palatine Forest in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate that goes back at least to the days of the Roman Empire. Today only the remains of two gates, together ...

even goes back to the days of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...

External links

''Deutsche Schuhstraße''
* SWR Fernsehen (SWR TV)
''Steine, Stiefel, Stöckelschuhe. Eine Winterreise durch den Wasgau''
(broadcast on 15 January 2008, 2200 hours) {{DEFAULTSORT:Shoe road, Germany German tourist routes Rhenish Hesse Western Palatinate Palatinate Forest Transport in Rhineland-Palatinate