The nature park trail in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern starts in the Schaalsee biosphere reserve, a green mosaic of tranquil forests, clear lakes, moors, fields and pastures. The glaciers of the last ice age formed the Schaalsee. The state capital Schwerin and its imposing castle crown the first part of the route through the glacial hill country. From the smallest state capital in Germany, the trail leads directly into the tranquillity of the Sternberg Lake District Nature Park. This is characterised by the deeply cut through valley of the Warnow, numerous crystal-clear lakes and historical highlights such as the Groß Raden open-air archaeological museum with its faithful replicas of the homes and workshops of the north-west Slavic tribes a thousand years ago. Beyond the Nossentiner/Schwinzer Heide Nature Park with its ancient pine forests, the historic Dobbertin Monastery, stately manor houses and starry nights, the route splits into the north and south routes.
Southern route of the Nature Park Trail E9a - From lake to lake to the sea
The southern route runs for almost 700 kilometres through the inland area from the Schaalsee biosphere reserve to the island of Usedom and is designated as European long-distance hiking trail E9a as far as Altwarp. The centre of the southern route of the nature park trail is the Müritz - Germany's largest inland lake. The Müritz National Park and the tranquillity of the Mecklenburg Kleinseenplatte begin on the eastern shore of the "Little Sea", as the Müritz is also known.
Every autumn, thousands of cranes gather in the Müritz region to recharge their batteries before flying on to their wintering grounds. Loud trumpeting fills the air and in the evening the "birds of happiness" migrate in large and small flocks to their roosts. Crystal-clear lakes up to 60 metres deep, beech forests whose treetops have been towering into the sky for more than three centuries, small villages with ancient fieldstone churches and wonderfully cosy cafés characterise the Feldberg lake landscape. The Luzin ferry - one of the last hand-operated cable ferries in Europe - is well worth a trip across the turquoise-green shimmering narrow Luzin.
An impressive finale to the southern route is the sweeping view over the Szczecin Lagoon and the arrival on the sunny island of Usedom. In Heringsdorf, hikers can get eye-level with mighty treetops of primeval beech and pine trees on the treetop trail. The 33-meter-high observation tower offers an impressive panorama in all directions and shows the island in all its diversity - the wide fine-sand Baltic Sea beach, the imperial spas with their piers and the tranquil backwater with dreamy villages and blooming salt marshes.
You can find more information, sights, accommodations and routing features for the southern route onOutdooractive.
Northern route - quiet lakes and ice-age hill ranges
The northern route leads through the hilly landscape in the heart of Mecklenburg. It looks like a low mountain range and is therefore called "Mecklenburg Switzerland". It is considered a typical cultural landscape with rich natural features and many manor houses, castles and gardens. Already at the beginning of the northern route, the 96-meter high Röthelberg offers one of the most beautiful views of Mecklenburg Switzerland and Lake Kummerow Nature Park. Here, a landscape of flowing lines spreads out, interspersed with field copses, hedges, avenues and small villages. In between stand solitary oak trees, some as old as 600 years.
In autumn and spring, thousands of geese and hundreds of cranes rest in the fields. Impressive views of Lake Malchin and Lake Kummerow accompany the hiker on the way over the curved chains of hills.
The final stretch then leads north or south of the Peene Valley through the extraordinary river landscape to Demmin. The northern route will be completed piece by piece in the next few years in the Peene Valley River Landscape Nature Park and will then lead to the Island of Usedom in the future.
More information, sights, accommodations and routing features for the northern route can be found on Outdooractive.
+++ The signposting of the nature park trail in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is constantly being updated and completed. Until then, it is best to use the Outdooractive app for navigation. +++
We recommend the following maps for this tour:
- Hiking on the Nature Park Trail MV - Feldberger Seenlandschaft and Müritz National Park (pdf, 1.8 MB)
- Hiking on the Nature Park Trail MV - Mecklenburg Switzerland and Lake Kummerow (pdf, 1,58 MB)
- Hiking on the Nature Park Trail MV - Biosphere Reserve Schaalsee (pdf, 1,25 MB)
- Hiking on the Nature Park Trail MV - Peene Valley and Usdom Island (pdf, 1,53 MB)
- Hiking on the nature park trail - Sternberger Seenland (pdf, 0,8 MB)
- Hiking on the Nature Park Trail MV - At the Szczecin Lagoon (pdf, 0.9 MB)
- Hiking on the Nature Park Trail MV - Nossentiner/Schwinzer Heide (pdf, 0.86 MB)
Brochures with information on individual sections are available here.
