Top 20 Caves around Weißenohe

It's quite a climb, but the effort is worth it! The Hollow Church, an impressive dolomite rock formation with a passage and viewpoint, is definitely a highlight of the area!

On the west side of the Strahlenfels Castle Hill, a rocky spur branches off about 100 meters to the west, which was used to build a castle. The north side of the rocky spur drops about 15 meters vertically, and the west and south sides also drop steeply, partly interspersed with rocks, also 15 meters. Only the east side is connected to the slightly raised castle hill and had to be protected accordingly. There you can see a presumably natural ditch, which may have served as a neck ditch. Of the castle on the rocky spur, only a six-meter-long and two-meter-high wall remains (image 4), which is in danger of falling away, and two smaller wall remains on the east side, which are only visible from below, remain. There is also a round cistern with a diameter of about half a meter on the castle plateau. It is still about half a meter deep and filled with leaves. In 1589, there was still a residential building, opposite which was a brick floor, also a building, in which there was a cellar, a chapel and above it a grain store. The entrance to the castle was on the south side of the rocky outcrop (image 2) via a seven-step staircase hewn out of the rock (image 3), from which a narrow path led upwards. You can probably imagine the entrance being like that of Pottenstein Castle. Wildenfels Castle and Wolfsberg Castle also had similar entrances. There may have been an outer bailey on a 15-meter lower level of the terrain to the south, but nothing of it remains. At the foot of the rocky outcrop on the northwest side outside the castle complex there is a small cave, the Strahlenfels Castle Cave (Cave Register of the Franconian Alb, D 516), which was closed off from the outside with walls. It probably served as a storage room for the castle residents. Source: Wikipedia

Think about the flashlight. A kind of rock cellar that can be visited

Stierberg castle ruins The castle and the town at its feet owed their importance to the junction here from the high road, the section of the “via imperii” between Nuremberg and Bayreuth. This north-south axis crossed in Stierberg with the Altstrasse, which ran from west to east. The name Stierberg first appeared in 1187 with the mention of Otnand de Stierberc and in 1188 by a Poppo von Stierberch, both of which were ministerial offices of the Bishopric of Bamberg. Before 1308, the castle, which was later owned by the diocese, passed to the noble lords of Schlüsselberg. In 1306, Landgrave Ulrich von Leuchtenberg entrusted the castle to the Bishopric of Trier. In 1356 the property passed as a fief to Emperor Charles IV and thus to Bohemia. In 1417 Stierberg was sold to John of Bavaria by Landgrave Leopold. After the Landshut War of Succession, Stierberg fell into the hands of the Nurembergs without a fight in 1504 and thus to the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg. Then regained in the same year by the Palatinate under Ludwig von Eyb, but apparently significantly damaged during these fighting. Retaken by the Nuremberg troops in 1505, Stierberg and Betzenstein became part of the imperial city of Nuremberg. In the second federal war in 1553, the village and Stierberg Castle were shelled and captured by margrave troops, and the castle burned down completely. The castle ruins lie on a dolomite rock reef that slopes down on three sides. The upper main castle (southwest of the natural cut) only has a few remains of walls. You can see a piece of wall about 8 meters high and 1.3 meters thick and, at the highest elevation, wall rubble and remains of the foundation wall. To the north of the cutting there is a well-preserved, extended round tower on an isolated rock, 6 meters high and with quarry stone walls up to 1.8 meters thick. To the southeast at a height of around 2 meters there is an arched entrance opening. The top of the wall is covered with cement and bears a restoration inscription from 1914. The former bailiwick house, built in 1778/79, stands on the sloping slope. Behind the house is access to a partly artificial cave that runs through the entire castle rock in a southwesterly direction. Source: information board

You can only find something like this in Franconian Switzerland, super narrow trails paired with a cave passage! A 400 km journey is worth it for a Saarlander, of course with a week's vacation 🚵‍♂️👍

Super nice view of the Trubachtal and great passage through the rock. Fun for smaller kids too. Well suited for a family hike.

Castle ruins above Stierberg without inspection. From Stierberg there are steep steps and on the other side you can descend to the Way of St. James from Betzenstein to Hiltpoltstein.

Passage rock in an exposed location. At the other end, a fantastic view of the valley surprises you. Very beautiful!