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Der Eselsweg

The Donkey Trail through the beautiful Spessart - after all, the largest contiguous forest area in Germany - with a length of 111 km leads from Schlüchtern in the Hessian Main-Kinzig district southward to the Bavarian Grossheubach near Miltenberg in the Miltenberg district. Most of the trail leads you through old beech and oak forests. The wood of the Spessart oak is highly valued and traded all over the world.

This long-distance hiking trail with a black E on a white background is maintained by the Spessartbund and is excellently marked along the entire route. It can be done in six daily stages. The special thing about the Eselsweg is that it is a so-called high-altitude trail that hardly touches any towns. Thus, the Eselsweg is almost continuously at an altitude of 400 - 500 m. The stage destinations are all in the valley about 1 - 3 km from the actual hiking trail. Thus, one finally gets a total length of about 128 km together. The individual stages range from 17.5 to 25.5 km in length and are easy to master due to their characteristics. Only the descents and ascents to and from the individual stage destinations sometimes give tired hikers' legs a hard time. Since there is little or no contact with towns - as in stages three to six - it is advisable to take provisions along the way. The guesthouses and hotels at the stage locations will be happy to help you with this.

Well-known places and stage destinations along the way are Schlüchtern and Mernes as well as Lettgenbrunn and Flörsbach, Heigenbrücken, Weibersbrunn, Echterspfahl, Rohrbrunn and Wildensee as well as the Engelberg monastery with Großheubach on the Main River and Miltenberg.

The name "Donkey Trail" comes from the salt caravans, which in the Middle Ages carried the salt from the salt works in Orb and Fulda on the backs of donkeys to Miltenberg, where it was shipped from Miltenberg on the Main River. To protect the salt from the impassable and damp valleys, where the famous Spessart robbers lived, the path was built on the ridges of the Spessart. Many cultural and historical sites line its path. In addition to the numerous wayside shrines, crosses and chapels, the monastery in Schlüchtern at the beginning and the Engelberg monastery high above the Main River at the end of the Eselsweg are particularly noteworthy.