The Malerweg is one of Germany’s most popular long-distance hiking routes for a reason. Located in one of its most well-known natural regions, Saxon Switzerland National Park, the Malerweg passes through gorgeous valleys and massive rock formations. The trail is easily the most beautiful I have ever been on. Every step of the Malerweg brings you to incredible highlights with a frequency unmatched by any other thru-hike. If you haven’t already, check out my first two days on this enchanting trail before continuing on to the next two days from Altendorf to the Neumannmühle to Schmilka.
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Day 3/Section 4: Altendorf to Neumannmühle – 18km
The days started with another great breakfast. From Altendorf, I hiked down the Dorfbachklamm, a gorgeous and steep little gorge. Sometimes I wasn’t even sure if I was on a path because the trail was so narrow. It was steep and slippery, and magical, like everything else here. Passing the campground at the lowest point of the valley, the trail headed upwards again.
Unless you’re interested in hiking more than thirty kilometers in a day, it isn’t possible to cut section 4 any other way. There are no places in between to sleep overnight.
More excellent trails in Germany: Premium Hikes and Quality Hikes
Is “Oldie Germans” offensive?
Along the way to the Schrammsteine, I met a couple who were hiking the Malerweg with a tent (apparently C isn’t the only crazy one to do this). We chatted a bit and came upon a group so loud it must have been a school trip. At closer inspection, it was a group of 50-ish year olds. I stopped to take their picture for them. One guy joked that I could do that for them for the rest of the day. I cheekily responded with, “but then you’ll have to keep up with me!”
My new friends and I hiked swiftly ahead of the oldies group and then stopped at an intersection without Malerweg symbols. The group overtook us, joking that they were in fact keeping up. They tried to help us out with the way, but in the end the oldie Germans and the Malerweg hikers took separate paths.
Don’t confuse the Malerweg with the Mauerweg. Malerweg: Germany’s most beautiful thru-hike, 116 km long, described here in this post and here. Mauerweg: a 150 km bike ride around the former West Berlin, all four posts here.
Schrammsteine
Soon we were at the Schrammsteine – what an amazing phenomena! As if a giant hand were sticking out of the earth, the knobby sandstone fingers reached out over the treetops. Getting on top of the formation is not a quick feat, but a fun one. Many different kinds of ladders and stairs, some out of metal or wood, some hewn into the stone, lead up to the top. The view is breathtaking. Over the edge of the railing I peered at the trees below. Other similar formations surrounded the one I was standing on top of. The camping pair and I took pictures for each other and then we parted ways, since they stayed at the top for a snack.
I felt so lucky that the weather wasn’t the greatest and that the summer holidays hadn’t yet begun. Even on a quieter day in Saxon Switzerland, I still had to wait for a ladder to be free in order to ascend, but the amount of people was manageable.
Making New Friends
When I got back to the base of the Schrammsteine, the German oldie group was having a break. “We’ve been waiting for you hear all along,” the one guy joked. Hah! Leaving the Schrammsteine there are more ladders and stairs and climbing on rocks to get up, down, and over the formations. Along the way, I met Kati and Maja, two young doctors who are childhood friends. It’s amazing how quickly you can make friends while hiking. We walked the rest of the day together and it passed by in the blink of an eye with all the chatting we did.
The Malerweg zigs and zags and eventually I had no idea anymore where we exactly were on the map. Did I take in the view at the Breite Kluft or the Kleiner Dom? I’m not sure, I was too busy chatting! Somewhere we stopped for a snack break with amazing view of a wide, featureless, tall wall, which I was aching to climb. After the break, we did walk along that very wall and I saw a bunch of old ring bolts in it.
Foraging
The hard part was mostly over and we descended into the valley. I mentioned how many Heidelbeer bushes (blueberries!) there were everywhere, but that I wasn’t 100% sure so I didn’t try them. Kati confirmed they were Heidelbeeren after inspecting the berries on the branches. So we began picking and eating. If anything went wrong, I was with two doctors 🙂 Some of the plants had sweeter berries than others and some were way too sour. Now and then when we saw the bushes again we would pick a few to eat. Then we hit the real jackpot! Kati spotted wild strawberries! WILD STRAWBERRIES! Tiny little red gnome hats growing at gnome level at the edge of the trail. We picked a few but they just tasted like water. I think I’m still excited to have even seen some.
Lichtenhainer Waterfall
Due to chatting and foraging, we were all of a sudden at the Haidemühle. There we saw the Lichtenhainer Wasserfall. It was really pretty! The guide book stated that usually the water is held back for a half hour and then released to make for a more impressive flow, but the water was gushing the whole time we sat by the fall.
Kuhstall
We felt like we should be nearly finished for the day, but there were still a few more kilometers to go. The trail headed uphill and then steeply uphill to the Kuhstall. Another cool set of stairs lead to the top are called the Himmelsleiter (heaven ladder or stairway to heaven). The stairs are built out of one continuous piece of metal that has been bent into the shape of stairs. It is less than 12 inches wide leading through a narrow crack in the rock to the top. Due to the weather, the view was just so-so, but I could imagine what the valley would be like on a sunny day. At the restaurant Bergwirtschaft am Kuhstall, I met the group of oldie Germans again. Too funny!
Neumannmühle
Now it was less than an hour to the Neumannmühle on the Malerweg and all easily downhill. It was a relief to arrive. We all had spots in the sleeping bag room. It looked like it slept at least 50 people. Luckily there would only be about nine of us for the night. Sometimes it was so easy to forget about COVID during the hike, but times like this made you wonder if that was such a good idea. Nadine was already there unpacking her bag. Two others who would join us were Hannes and Inge, another crazy camping pair.
The week before when I had booked my trip on the Malerweg, I studied the menu at the Neumannmühle, so I was really looking forward to dinner. I ordered a huge meal of herb crepes with veggies and sheep’s cheese with salad. Then came the part I had really been waiting for: the pumpkin seed ice cream bowl. Amaaaaazing! My hiker hunger conquered it all. Later the Malerweg hikers tried to watch the soccer game on a phone at the Neumannmühle (something about the European championships). I made it to half time and then went to bed. In the end Germany and Hungary tied 2-2.
Day 4: Neumannmühle to Krippen – 23 or 30 km
What a fun day!!! I sat at breakfast with Nadine, Maja, and Kati at the Neumannmühle before getting on the Malerweg on my own. Nearly as soon as I had left, I made a wrong turn and had to go back about 300m. I saw Nadine then ahead of me on the correct trail, hiking up the mountain. We waved to one another.
Section 5: Neumannmühle to Schmilka – 13.4 km
Section 5 from the Neumannmühle to Schmilka is the last of the “traditional Malerweg.” Malerweg means “painters’ way” in German and is called this because of the many painters from all over Europe who came between the 17th and 19th centuries to put these beautiful landscapes on canvas. The trail was later extended to include both sides of the Elbe River and complete more of a loop from Pirna. There is a marked difference in landscape between sections 1-5 and 6-8, but it is nonetheless still astounding.
Kleinsteinhöhle
At the Kleinsteinhöhle, I dropped my pack and headed up the stairs to check out the cave. No need to carry my bag up and down the stairs. On the way up, Nadine was coming down and we exchanged phone numbers to catch up later. The cave was totally cool even though the view was obscured by mist, though that also looked kinda cool. The cave is more of a big spade-shaped archway over a cliff. It’s quite remarkable.
Kleinsteinhöhle
Coming down from the Kleinsteinhöhle, I bumped into another hiker. Synching up the straps on my pack, I talked with Beate about her Malerweg journey. She was spending the week in Bad Schandau and doing the entire hike in day trips. We walked for a bit together before splitting.
“Life Threatening Danger”
Before getting to the Grosse Pohlhorn outlook, I noticed a sign for my trail which said “life threatening, choose another trail, danger of falling dead wood.” I figured I would take the detour to the view point and then deal with the sign when I got back. There was nothing to see due to fog at the outlook. I got back to the intersection and found Hannes and Inge and Armin (who I remembered meeting on day 1 near the Bastei) discussing the detour. Then Beate arrived too.
view at the lookout 
blueberry bushes and down trees
Detour
Since I hadn’t seen Nadine again and there was no “alternative trail” to choose from, I thought she had followed the trail anyways. I told the others I was going to go through and then they followed me. We climbed over, under, and around many trees before reaching some passable trail. The group of 5 continued jovially onwards. At one point I questioned “wait we’re on the right trail, right?” And the others assured me that there were no other trails coming into this one since we got on it. When we came to a road, someone checked their GPS as we saw no hiking signs whatsoever. It turned out that we had hiked nearly all the way back to the mill! Where the fallen trees had stopped was a tricky little trail to find and follow. We had missed it.
To rectify our mistake we followed the road and then the Kirnitzsch creek until it intersected with the Malerweg again. We were all still enjoying one another’s company and conversation, so the mood stayed light despite the 4 km/1 hour detour.
Zeughaus
Then we hiked up, up, up to the Zeughaus. Along the way, I hiked with Armin as the others stopped at various points for a rest. A kilometer later we stopped to check out the Goldsteinaussicht viewpoint where we caught up with Maja and Kati. Although they had left the Neumannmühle much later than we had, they successfully found the correct trail (perhaps learning from their own major hiking detour on day one). The view point was totally amazing, so we spent some time taking pictures.
Großer Winterberg
Now a group of four, we hiked to the Großer Winterberg. We went up the tower but didn’t have a view. When we came down Inge, Hannes, and Beate were there. We advised them against going up, and then we all continued hiking together, all 7 of us. On the way down, we took a detour to the Kipphornaussicht, where there actually was a view and even the sun started coming out. Unbelievably we saw a black stork fly around us! It was amazing!
Schmilka
Lastly came the long descent to Schmilka. It wasn’t as hard as I had expected from the Westweg, but the stones and steps were slippery due to all the moisture. At the bottom we took a group picture. I got a slice of cake and juice with Beate and Armin at the Mill in Scmilka while the others searched for their accommodations. Beate mentioned that with getting lost and the detours to the viewpoints, the hike was no longer the 13.4 km planned, but 20!
Schmilka
Section 6: Schmilka to Gohrisch – 17.2 km
It was 4pm and I still had 9 more kilometers to go! I said goodbye and got on the ferry to cross the river. On the other side, a steep incline awaited me. Sometimes the path was so overgrown I couldn’t believe I was really on the trail. At the top, I entered what felt like the middle of a field. When I reached the road though, I saw signs telling me that I was still on track. I wanted to hike up the Kaiserskrone rock formation, but I didn’t have time. The three formations each have their own separate stairs and ladders to get to the top and all have different view points.
view of Schmilka from the ferry
Rain
The trail was much different on this side now. I went mostly through little towns and hiked on the road. Parts of Schöne are tucked into the valley. The sky got darker and I heard thunder. I was worried it would rain. In Krippenberg it did start to rain, so I put on my rain cover and put away the camera even though some of the views were really great!
Zirkelstein 
Krippenberg
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Krippen
Lastly, I hiked through a nice section of woods before descending into Krippen. Luckily my accommodation wasn’t far from the trail, but I had to walk about a kilometer into town to get something to eat. I arrived at the hotel shortly after 6pm and was worried that restaurants would close by 7. But I had plenty of time.
To plan my trip on the Malerweg from Pirna to Hohnstein, the Neumannmühle and beyond, I used this guide from Hikeline.
On days 3 and 4, I made so many new friends, saw some incredible feats of nature, and experienced the two unique sides of the Elbe. What other surprises would the Malerweg have in store? More of the trail: coming soon!