Halblech: Hiking Trails, Lakes and Mountain Views
Accommodation in Halblech
The Kenzenhütte is located in the Ammergebirge Nature Reserve, several named routes start at the Kenzen car park, and the Buchenberg offers views across the valley and its lakes. When planning your trip, the destinations differ mainly in their starting points, routes and stated durations.
Mountain Huts, Views and Lakes
At an altitude of 1,300 metres, the Kenzenhütte is located in the Ammergebirge Nature Reserve and is a popular destination in Halblech. You can reach it by hiking bus, mountain bike or on foot via an easy trail. If you plan to take the hiking bus, check the timetable in advance. The hut serves regional specialities.
The Buchenbergbahn is a double-chairlift in Buching, a district of Halblech, and takes you to an altitude of 1,142 metres. From there, you can look out across the valley around Lake Forggensee and eleven other lakes. The Buchenbergalm is also located on Buchenberg: you can reach it via the Bachweg in about an hour. The alpine hut offers views across the valley and its many lakes.
Wankerfleck is a high-altitude pasture with many ancient maple trees and a view of the striking peak of Geiselstein. The Bockstallsee is located just before this pasture on the hiking trail through the Lobental valley to the Kenzenhütte. The lake, high-altitude pasture and mountain views thus form a clearly identified sequence of landscape features.
The lakes also differ in character. Bannwaldsee lies at the foot of the Ammergebirge and is almost entirely surrounded by reed belts and wet meadows. It is home to the breeding grounds of rare bird species, and the lake and its surroundings are in a nature reserve. Bannwaldsee is one of the swimming lakes in the municipality of Halblech. The small Hegratsrieder See near the district of Greith is also a swimming lake.
Hiking Trails and Routes
The municipality of Halblech has 200 kilometres of clearly signposted hiking trails: 80 kilometres run through the valley and 120 kilometres through the mountains. The long-distance trails Wandertrilogie Allgäu, König-Ludwig-Weg, Lechhöhenweg, Maximiliansweg and Via Alpina also pass through Halblech. The selection therefore includes both valley and mountain trails, as well as several named long-distance trails.
The first stage of the Himmelsstürmer Route, part of the Wandertrilogie Allgäu, starts at the Kenzen car park. It leads through the Röthenbachtal, past Bockstallsee and Wankerfleck, and ends at the Kenzenhütte. The four-hour Panoramaschleife offers a different type of route: it also starts at the Kenzen car park, leads via the Mariengrotte to Trauchgau and returns to the starting point via the St. Peter viewpoint. One route ends at the hut, while the other is a loop back to the start.
To compare the durations, consider the approximately one-hour trail via the Bachweg to the Buchenbergalm and the four-hour Panoramaschleife. The destinations and routes are different: the alpine hut is the destination of the first trail, while the Panoramaschleife returns you to the starting point. You can consider the stated duration alongside the type of route.
Regional Cuisine and Craftsmanship
The Kenzenhütte serves regional specialities, so you can include local cuisine in your excursion plans. The production of whetstones offers another connection to the area: special limestone slabs were quarried and used for this purpose in Halblech. The landscape, hiking trails and this craft tradition offer different ways to explore the area.
Discover more destinations: Roßhaupten, Füssen, Seeg, Westendorf, Eggenthal, Biessenhofen, Unterthingau, Schwangau.
For the overview of the wider region: Ostallgäu.
