Spiegelau combines a striking gorge landscape with a long history of glassmaking. The Steinklamm Gorge, hiking trails with digital information and a Kneipp facility each offer a different focus. The area therefore brings together several clearly distinct themes: natural formations, local history and Kneipp treatments in the mountain waters of the Schwarzach.

Steinklamm Gorge and landscape

The Steinklamm Gorge in Spiegelau is a rocky gorge with the thundering waters of the Große Ohe. Its character also includes eroded potholes and diverse plant life. The potholes are hollows worn into the rock and illustrate the shaping force of water. The plant life adds another natural aspect to the geological formations. Water, rock and plants thus give the Steinklamm Gorge a range of facets that together make it a distinctive landscape feature of Spiegelau.

Glassmaking and local history

Since the 15th century, people in Spiegelau have used quartz deposits and wood from the Bavarian Forest for glassmaking. The local glassmaking tradition is defined by a specific period and two named materials. Quartz and wood represent different raw materials that came together in historic glassmaking. The history of glass therefore offers a different perspective on local history from the gorge landscape: here, the focus is on human craftsmanship and the use of materials; there, on the forms shaped by water and rock.

Hiking and Kneipp treatments

All hiking trails in Spiegelau are equipped with QR codes. Using a smartphone, you can access information about sights and Spiegelau's history. The digital content connects the trails with local topics. If this information is important to your plans, check before setting out whether the QR content you want is available.

The Spiegelau Nature Kneipp Facility offers Kneipp treatments in the mountain waters of the Schwarzach. A paved ramp also makes the facility suitable for wheelchair users. Unlike the Steinklamm Gorge, whose landscape is shaped by the Große Ohe and its rock formations, the Kneipp facility focuses on Kneipp treatments in the waters of the Schwarzach. These are two different ways water features in Spiegelau: once as part of a rocky gorge, and once as a Kneipp treatment.

Further nature and cultural perspectives in the wider travel destination of Freyung-Grafenau

The Bavarian Forest National Park extends into the Freyung-Grafenau district and opened on October 7, 1970, as Germany's first national park. According to the 2024 zoning map, 75.37 percent of its area belongs to the natural zones. This regional perspective complements the specific gorge character of the Steinklamm with the history and zoning of a national park, without confusing the two.

Another type of landscape in the wider travel destination of Freyung-Grafenau is the Buchberger Leite Wildbach Gorge. There, steep rock barriers force the gravel- and cascade-rich Wolfsteiner Ohe into a deeply constricted channel; remnants of primeval forest have survived in the moss- and fern-rich gorge forests. An eight-kilometre themed hiking trail, with information boards and an accompanying brochure, leads through the Buchberger Leite between Freyung and Ringelai. Historic timber-floating walls, tunnels cut into the rock and above-ground channels bear witness to centuries of human activity there. In the Buchberger Leite, geological formations and traces of historic use stand side by side.

The wider travel destination of Freyung-Grafenau also offers a distinct point of interest for those interested in cultural history: the Schramlhaus in Freyung, built around 1700. It is the oldest farmhouse in the town and, in its original condition, one of the oldest in the Freyung-Grafenau district. The Schramlhaus houses the Wolfstein Local History Museum as well as more than one hundred original examples of reverse glass painting, a form of religious folk art. Spiegelau's history of glassmaking and reverse glass painting in Freyung can therefore be viewed as distinct regional cultural themes.

More destinations

Discover more destinations: Oberkreuzberg, Ringelai, Hohenau, Saldenburg, Neureichenau, Haidmühle, Neuschönau, Grafenau.

Back to the main travel overview: Freyung-Grafenau.