Walking routes in the Palatine Forest

Walking routes in the Palatine Forest fall into two categories. The first are longer walking routes, most of which are maintained by the Palatine Forest Club (German: Pfälzerwald-Verein), or PWV, and which are linked to the national and international network of long distance paths. The second category are those local circular walks and themed walking routes, some of which are of wider regional importance, and which are maintained by municipal authorities. The Palatine Forest, as part of the Palatine Forest-North Vosges Biosphere Reserve, is an important conservation area. As a result, the Palatine Forest, the bunter sandstone landscape of the Palatine Forest Nature Park, the castles in the Dahner Felsenland and the cross-border paths into Alsace and the Vosges make the region particularly popular with ramblers and walkers.

This section lists those long distance paths that run through the Palatine Forest.

The Palatine Ways of St. James are two historic pilgrimage routes from Speyer to Santiago de Compostela, signed by waymarks with a white scallop on blue field (German: Weiße Muschel auf blauem Grund), the symbol of Saint James. The historic, northern route ran along the Speyerbach, through the Frankenweide and the Karlstal valley towards the Landstuhl Marsh, past the pilgrimage church in Vogelbach, via Karlsberg to Homburg and from there via Hornbach Abbey to France. The present-day, less well known southern route runs partly along the Klingbach stream, through the Wasgau, and along the French border to Hornbach Abbey.