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Malerweg (Painters' Way)

The Malerweg (Painters’ Way) is a circular trail of 116 kilometres in eight stages with around 3,600 metres of ascent: from Pirna-Liebethal on the right bank of the Elbe to Schmilka on the border, then along the left bank via Gohrisch, Königstein and Weißig back to Pirna. It follows the paths taken by the Romantic painters of the 18th and 19th centuries – Adrian Zingg, Caspar David Friedrich, Ludwig Richter and many others. In 2007 it was voted “Germany’s most beautiful hiking trail”.

How the trail came about

As early as the mid-18th century, Johann Alexander Thiele captured the Elbe valley and its rocks in his paintings. In 1766 the Swiss artists Adrian Zingg and Anton Graff came to the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts; the mountains reminded them of their homeland, so they spoke of “Saxon Switzerland” – before that the area had been called the Meissen Highlands. Travellers and painters then followed an established “Fremdenweg” (visitors’ route) through the rocks – and the stages on the right bank of the Elbe still largely follow it today. With the building of the railway, this route fell into oblivion. In 2006 it was waymarked anew as the Malerweg, supplemented with the stages on the left bank of the Elbe and closed into a loop.

The eight stages

Stage 1: Pirna-Liebethal – Stadt Wehlen, 11.5 km, easy, with the Liebethaler Grund, the Wagner monument and the Uttewalder Felsentor. Stage 2: Stadt Wehlen – Hohnstein, 10.9 km, with the Bastei, Amselgrund, Hockstein and Wolfsschlucht. Stage 3: Hohnstein – Altendorf, 14 km, with the Brand viewpoint and the Brandstufen steps. Stage 4: Altendorf – Neumannmühle, 18.3 km, with the Schrammsteine, the Lichtenhain waterfall and the Kuhstall. Stage 5: Neumannmühle – Schmilka, 13.6 km, via the Arnstein and the Großer Winterberg. Stage 6: Schmilka – Kurort Gohrisch, 17.3 km, with the Kaiserkrone, Zirkelstein and Papststein. Stage 7: Kurort Gohrisch – Weißig, 16.6 km, via the Pfaffenstein, Festung Königstein and Schloss Thürmsdorf. Stage 8: Weißig – Pirna, 13.8 km, via the Rauenstein and past the Robert-Sterl-Haus to the Canalettohaus in Pirna.

Picture boards along the trail

Since 2012, boards have stood at 18 points along the Malerweg showing pictures that were created on exactly that spot – in German, Czech and English. So you can hold the old picture up against today’s view: Ludwig Richter’s “Ottowalder Felsenthor” in the Uttewalder Grund, the Bastei with the Neurathen rock gate, Hohnstein, the Lichtenhain waterfall, the Festung Königstein or Canaletto’s view of Pirna with the Sonnenstein. The Caspar-David-Friedrich-Weg near Krippen has its own sketch boards.

A tip from the Jäger family

Tom and Katrin Jäger’s favourite recommendation is the section between Weißig and Thürmsdorf, the end of Stage 7 – around four kilometres, leisurely and with no ladders. Along the way you pass the Malerweg chapel with the Johann-Alexander-Thiele viewpoint, from which Thiele painted the Festung Königstein, and then Schloss Thürmsdorf with its park, which has a rose garden and a pond. And beneath the palace, in an old vaulted cellar, ADORATIO makes organic chocolate – with a chocolate café where you can stop for a treat. A stretch of the Malerweg with art, views and indulgence.

Links to other places

The Malerweg connects many places I know stories about: the Neurathen rock castle at the Bastei, Hohnstein castle, the Kuhstall with Wildenstein castle, Arnstein castle, the Zirkelstein and Kaiserkrone, the Pfaffenstein with the Barbarine, the Festung Königstein, Schloss Thürmsdorf and the old town of Pirna. The Caspar-David-Friedrich-Weg near Krippen meets the Malerweg at the Wolfsberg.

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As of: 10/2026

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