The best running trails around Rathjensdorf

Discover the Holstein Switzerland and enjoy your hike along the circular routes Kellersee, Plöner Seen and Segeberger Flüsse und Seen. Look out for our 20 stamp boxes and take a short break there. In the stamp boxes you will find a stamp with a motif from the Holstein Switzerland and a number as well as a stamp pad. Press the stamp onto the correspondingly numbered field in your hiking pass and continue to the next stamp box.

Unfortunately, we were here off-season...

The Holsteinische Schweiz Hiking Pass tempts with over 20 stamp boxes along three main hiking trails ("Kellersee", "Plöner Seen", "Segeberger Flüsse und Seen") to earn hiking pins. Hikers collect stamps in a free pass, available at the Tourist Information centers in Plön, Malente, Eutin, or Bad Segeberg. Tourist-Info Bad Segeberg Tourist-Info Bad Segeberg

The Schwentine River connects numerous lakes in the Holstein Switzerland region, here Lake Plön with Lake Höftsee.

The feeling: The scenery conveys a deep sense of peace and serenity. It is a moment in which the picturesque landscape of the lake district is particularly striking, and one can enjoy the silence far removed from the hustle and bustle.

Plön's town bay, located in the northern part of Lake Plön, features lakeside restaurants, a boat landing, and a marina. Plön's town bay has much to offer, most notably the magnificent view of Plön Castle. Along the bay, you'll find numerous restaurants, a beautiful, long lakeside promenade perfect for strolling, and the Marktbrücke landing stage for the Grand Plön Lake Tour. On Eutiner Straße, between the residential area and the sailing club, lies a fishing area with a jetty, an entry point for divers, and a launch and landing area for stand-up paddleboards (SUPs).

On the mirror-like surface of the lake, the shadows of the trees danced, while on the opposite shore, the first lights of the houses twinkled like tiny stars. A rowboat, moored all day, rocked almost imperceptibly. In that moment, time seemed to stand still, and the Dieksee became the perfect place to let the day end in peaceful serenity.

The lake, situated in a hilly landscape, is bordered by extensively managed grassland to the north and east, a mixed forest to the southeast, an allotment garden and a cemetery on the southern shore, as well as private gardens, a fishing club on the western shore, and a path running directly along the lake for approximately 800 meters. West of the cemetery is a large, unsupervised bathing meadow, and another bathing area can be found in the forest. Furthermore, it has three small, wooded islands (from west to east: Kleiner Warder, Mittelster Warder, Großer Warder). The lake level fluctuates between a maximum of 22.45 meters above sea level in spring and a minimum of 22.27 meters above sea level in late summer (data from 2001). During the winter months, Schöhsee is of regional importance for several waterfowl species, particularly for up to 2,000 tufted ducks. Furthermore, the lake is part of the hunting grounds of white-tailed eagles and a breeding ground for oystercatchers, great crested grebes, kingfishers, common goldeneyes, and many other waterfowl species. Due to the relatively small catchment area resulting from the lake's low nutrient content, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, and the consequently limited algae growth, Lake Schöhsee, with a summer visibility of over 3.5 meters, is one of the clearest lakes in Schleswig-Holstein. The use of motorboats and sailboats on the lake is generally prohibited, while canoes, rowboats, and paddleboats may use it with permission obtained from the angling club. The Max Planck Institute for Limnology (since April 2007, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology), which existed under this name until 2007 and is located on the shore of Lake Schöhsee, studied, among other things, the inland water ecosystem there. Since the lake, which is currently in good ecological condition, particularly with regard to underwater fauna and vegetation, and has only a limited capacity for regeneration due to the relatively long exchange time, it requires strict protection to maintain this condition. Any potential threat would arise from the intensification of agriculture and the use of fertilizers on fields or in gardens.