Kilometers walked: 1458 Nights in a tent: 35
Nights free camping with permission: 4; Adriaans horse stables, the castle gardens, the Hühnerhaus, Hermanns field
Nights in hotel: 27 Nights home hospitality: 1; Kreuzhaus
Days walked: 58
Zerodays: 6; Kleve, Aachen, Koblenz, Michelstadt, Dinkelsbühl, Regensburg
Local attitude towards free camping: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 out of 5) Very relaxed about the whole concept. Whey you ask at farm or stables, they are happy to let you camp on their terrain)
Local hospitality: ⭐⭐⭐ (3 out of 5) Friendly but reserved people. Not many spontaneous conversations, but whenever we asked something, the were always friendly and helpful. One exception in spontaneity was the man who randomly invited us on his party when he saw us walk by…😂
Local attitude of traffic towards hikers: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (5 out of 5) Very considerate and switch lanes to give you space. The E8 trail generally avoids busy roads, and often goes over fly overs of through pedestrian tunnels.
Trail conditions: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4 out of 5) Trails are mostly well maintained, with a few bushy exceptions.
Trail markings: ⭐⭐ (2 out of 5) Since you follow many different trails, E8 is diversely marked throughout Germany. Parts are marked really badly, like the first part from the Dutch border and the trail from Koblenz until the main Donau weg. The best marked trails were the parts of the Main Donau weg, the Jakobsweg and the Goldsteig. Trail markings didn’t always agree with the mapped trails of the gpx files. This added to the confusion and made for a lot of extra work in planning.
Trail views and impressions: ⭐⭐⭐ (3 out of 5) A very diverse trail, with a lot of forest, but also fields, villages and cities. Hiking this trail gives a good overview over the different landscapes throughout the country. The villages and cities make it possible to dive a bit into the German culture as well.
Favorite drink/snack/meal: Laugenecken and schorles!
Best memories: Our free camping nights with permission, the 2 weeks we hiked with our friends Marleen and Rein and Pepijn, the Kreuzhaus and the jagthorn blaser concert in Regensburg. Would do it again: Probably, parts of it definitely. With some E8 markers in my backpack 😁.
Would recommend this trail to: Hikers in general, for long or short parts of the trail. We already recommend complete trails we hiked part of, like the Weißweinwanderweg in the Saar region (of any weinwanderweg…) and the Goldsteig in Bavaria.
Tips if you go: Make sure you have a gpx file or map of the trail you want to follow. Hiking this trail on markers only is not possible. There are a few side options, so you Will have to make some decisions in ‘your’ E8. Bring enough water and check if cafes/ shops are open. Germany takes its restdays and holidays quite seriously.
Will do this after we get home because of the trail: Bake Laugenecken, make schorles and Schäufle. Drink more German wine 😉
