Westweg

Westweg is a north–south long-distance hiking trail in Germany that runs from Pforzheim to Basel, passing through the Black Forest. The overall length is about 285 km, and the trail was founded in 1900; today it’s maintained under the Black Forest Club. The route is marked with a red lozenge on a white background, and it forms part of the European Long-distance Trail E1 (North Cape–Sicily).

The trail is set up for multi-day walking and is commonly planned as a sequence of 12–13 day stages. Town-to-town access along the way makes it practical to arrange overnight accommodation and meals without relying on camping, and there are options that can transport luggage to the next accommodation so hikers can carry daypacks for the walking day.

Terrain is a mix of valleys and higher ridges across the Black Forest: it leads through the Enz valley toward Dobel, continues across forests and moors toward the Hohloh, and then descends into the Murg valley. After climbing to the Hornisgrinde (the highest point in the northern Black Forest), the route follows the Schwarzwaldhochstraße toward Alexanderschanze and continues through the Kinzig valley to Hausach.

A central feature of the route is its climb to the European continental divide around Kalte Herberge, where the watershed is between the Rhine and Danube river systems (the divide is described at Martinskapelle near the spring of the Breg). After reaching the Feldberg saddle, the trail splits into an eastern and a western variant, which then take different high-mountain lines down toward Basel.

Variation A (western route) runs over the Feldberg, Belchen, and Blauen toward Kandern, then goes through the Wolfschlucht and on to Basel. Variation B (eastern route) takes a more easterly line via the Herzogenhorn, then along the pass between the Wehra and Wiese valleys toward Hohe Möhr, and finally follows the Rhine valley toward Basel.

If you want a concrete stage structure to plan around, the trail’s major days include, among others: Pforzheim–Dobel (about 24 km), Dobel–Forbach (about 25 km), Forbach–Unterstmatt (about 19 km), Unterstmatt–Alexanderschanze (about 27.5 km), and several later stages through the Hausach area up to Kalte Herberge and then onward through the Feldberg saddle toward the split routes. The route is also known for being accessible at multiple points along its length, so you can walk it in sections rather than as one continuous thru-hike.

More information: Wikipedia, All You Need to Hike the Westweg | chris-crossing germany, Westweg: Trekking in the Black Forest National Park - Thru-hiking