One can spy on former earls in the forest of the Upper Palatinate on the round tour “On the trail of the Leuchtenberg family” [“Auf den Spuren der Leuchtenberger”]. The Leuchtenberger were the most important noble and ruling family of the Upper Palatinate in the Middle Ages. Reason enough to create a thematic cycle path in their tracks. It is shaped like a recumbent warped number eight and leads from Weiden in the Upper Palatinate first towards the north. From Marktredwitz it continues south again and with some bulges towards the east via Tirschenreuth, Flossenbürg, a castle ruin, that was owned by the Leuchtenberger, and Schönsee. After that one reaches Pfreimd, once the centre of the later landgravate Leuchtenberg and royal seat. Wernberg Castle, in which the Leuchtenberger resided from 1530 to 1640, today accommodates a hotel and a gourmet restaurant with two Michelin stars. And finally the medieval castle ruin of the Leuchtenberg with its keep residing on the 585 metre high peak of the same name spectacularly comes into view. It is the largest castle in the Upper Palatinate and was once the family seat of the earls. This tour has 345 kilometres steeped in history and ends where it began: in Weiden.

Judith Weibrecht

Information:

Tourismuszentrum Oberpfälzer Wald

Landkreis Neustadt a. d. Waldnaab

Stadtplatz 34

92660 Neustadt a. d. Waldnaab

Tel.: +49 9602 791 05