St. Michael's Chapel, Deidesheim – Basalt Lake (Nordbruch) loop from Deidesheim

Hiking trails & Routes

Palatinate Forest

Landkreis Bad Dürkheim

Deidesheim

St. Michael's Chapel, Deidesheim – Basalt Lake (Nordbruch) loop from Deidesheim

Moderate

4.7

(193)

643

hikers

St. Michael's Chapel, Deidesheim – Basalt Lake (Nordbruch) loop from Deidesheim

02:42

9.17km

260m

Hiking

Moderate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.

Last updated: September 25, 2026

Tips

Your route passes through protected areas

Please check local regulations for:

Haardtrand - Am Bechsteinkopf

Biosphärenreservat Pfälzerwald-Vosges du Nord

Waypoints

Start point

Bus stop

Get Directions

1.68 km

Picnic Area With View of the Rhine Plain

Highlight • Viewpoint

Magnificent view over the vineyards into the Rhine plain

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2.20 km

View of Deidesheim

Highlight • Viewpoint

2.25 km

St. Michael's Chapel, Deidesheim

Highlight • Religious Site

From the Michael Chapel you have a beautiful view of the wine villages of Deidesheim and Forst. You can see the entire Rhine plain as far as Heidelberg and the Odenwald. When the weather is good you can even make out the mountain ridges of the Black Forest. The chapel is dedicated to the Archangel Michael. It was first built in 1470, but then fell into disrepair and was destroyed several times and was rebuilt in its current form in 1952. There are also services from time to time; information about this is available from the parish of Saint Michael Deidesheim.

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2.87 km

Heidenlöcher - 9th-10th century refuge (with knight's stone no. 260)

Highlight • Historical Site

The Heidenlöcher are the ruins of a hilltop castle near the small Palatinate town of Deidesheim in Rhineland-Palatinate. The remains point to a refuge castle from Carolingian, possibly also from Ottonian times.

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3.74 km

Pine Forest Trail in Pfälzerwald Biosphere Reserve

Highlight • Trail

Through the pine forest is great to hike. It's rare to meet people here. Here you can really enjoy the peace and quiet.

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4.03 km

Forest Trail in Biosphärenreservat Pfälzerwald-Vosges du Nord

Highlight • Trail

Actually a very nice path here.

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4.99 km

Basalt Lake South Quarry (Forst, Palatinate)

Highlight • Lake

This is the smaller, more accessible lake that emerged after the basalt quarries near Forst were abandoned in the 1980s. Today it's a nature reserve, so you'd better avoid swimming here. It's definitely worth seeing.

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5.31 km

Basalt Lake (Nordbruch)

Highlight • Lake

From the path, the ballast quarry offers an impressive view of the lake that has formed there.
It is located on the Pechsteinkopf, which takes its name from the basalt found there.
The ballast was mined in open-cast mining until the 1980s. In addition to a smaller crater in the southwest, a larger one was created in the northeast, which is 100 m deep and 200 m in diameter. Initially, the rock was transported by a circular cable car to a loading station with a grinding mill on the Neustadt-Bad Dürkheim railway line. The cable car was more than 2 km long and ran between Forst an der Weinstraße and Deidesheim across the German Wine Route.

After basalt mining was stopped, the grinding mill and cable car were dismantled and the edges of the craters were cordoned off to prevent access. Because the water escaping in the mining area is no longer pumped out as it was during mining times, two ponds formed on the bottom of the mining craters, which are now natural biotopes.

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9.17 km

End point

Bus stop

Way Types & Surfaces

Way Types

5.54 km

2.13 km

1.00 km

509 m

Surfaces

2.49 km

2.48 km

2.14 km

1.84 km

230 m

< 100 m

Elevation

Nothing selected – click and drag below to see the stats for a specific part of the route.

Weather

Friday 9 October

15°C

10°C

24 %

Additional weather tips

Max wind speed: 29.0 km/h

to get more detailed weather forecasts along your route

Comments

November 2, 2024,Michaelskapelle – Heidenlöcher am Kirchberg Runde von Deidesheim

Very impressive and varied hike

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March 4, 2025,Heidenlöcher, Basaltsee, Kapelle & keine Mandelblüten 😅

After the exhausting night shift it was time for a little sunny walk😊 I haven't been there since the viewing platform was built at the basalt lake. You finally have an official view of the deep lake and the former quarry 🤩. From the 2nd lake onwards the paths became really beautiful ☺️ The Heidenlöchern were quickly reached. For me …

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