Two Castles Tour | Lahn-Dill-Bergland Nature Park

Starting at the trailhead in Hohensolms, the Two Castles Extra Tour led me through varied forest sections and open stretches with fantastic panoramic views. Despite the mostly light rain, the tour was a wonderful experience. The combination of historical highlights and nature definitely makes this route recommendable!

The certified premium hiking trail Zweiburgentour lies at the intersection of the Gladenbacher Bergland and Hörre in the Lahn-Dill-Bergland in Hesse. The name of this Hessen extra tour refers to Hohensolms Castle and its predecessor, Altensolms Castle. The starting point of the two-castle tour is the Hohensolms youth castle on the Ramsberg (435m). Jugendburg because today the evangelical church is the owner of the former residential castle of the Counts of Solms-Hohensolms and uses it specifically for youth leisure and events. From the hiking portal at the castle park, you first head south. We are on the district boundary between the municipalities of Hohenahr and Biebertal in Gleiberger Land. Beautiful views of the Giessen basin open up again and again. Arrived on the Altenberg (442m) you can enjoy an excellent view of the Lahn-Dill-Bergland and the Hessian Westerwald from the site of the former Altensolms Castle. Only sparse remains of the castle can be seen today. In the first half of the 19th century, a formidable viewing tower was built on the Altenberg from the stones of Altensolms Castle, which was destroyed by Wetzlar troops in 1349. It continues west below the Eichelsberg (410m) to the westernmost point of the tour and from here northwards again towards large old towns. You pass two mills, the pepper mill belonging to the old towns and the Lohmühle belonging to Hohensolms. Below the large old towns, the two-castle tour in the Lahn-Dill mountains then leads back to Hohensolms Castle. Source: www.ich-geh-wandern.de

We must have hiked this tour a dozen times. But she is always beautiful.

There was still too much daylight left after this very beautiful round and the Aartalsee is not far. 🤭

Beautiful route that is also perfectly signposted. Absolutely recommended, as is a visit to Hohensolms Castle

Today we drove to the Hohensolms village community center. You can park your vehicle there. From the car park it is approx. 270 meters to the start of the "Two Castles Extra Tour". Hohensolms Castle and the remains of the castle on the Altenberg give this successful circular hiking trail its name. When the weather was quite foggy, we then walked the well-signposted hiking trail across a lot of open land. If the weather was nice without fog, you could certainly have enjoyed a beautiful view. Unfortunately, we were not able to do this today. There are plenty of benches and rest areas along the trail. There are gastronomic establishments unfortunately not on this route. More information is available at: https://www.lahn-dill-bergland.de

Today we walked the Premiumweg Zweiburgentour in the best conditions. Unfortunately we have the remains of the second one. Didn't see the castle at Altenberg 😎, we just walked past 😂😇. The Zwiburgentour is also a great one. Panorama path, ideal for this time of year. The section through the oak forest was also great 🌳

For our monthly hike today, we chose the "Two Castles Tour" as an extra option. This route is a certified premium hiking trail. It's varied and offers expansive views of the Lahn-Dill Uplands at several points. The forest features beautiful, natural paths. We had to find a suitable spot to cross a stream today. Elsewhere, there's a very nice trail where the most challenging sections are secured with railings or ropes.