Northern Vosges: Fleckenstein and the Maginot Line at Schœnenbourg
Grand Est, France
Badge Unlock
Maginot Line Sentry
Complete this challenge to add this badge to your collection.
275
XP
+100 France
= 375 total
2 days
Northern Vosges: Fleckenstein and the Maginot Line at Schœnenbourg
275 + 100 XP
About thirty castles crown the pink sandstone bars of the Northern Vosges, and Fleckenstein, its stairs and rooms cut into the living rock, is the second most visited castle in Alsace after the Haut-Kœnigsbourg. In the fields below, the Maginot Line work of Schœnenbourg was begun in 1931 — eight blocks, six of them fighting blocks, linked to the barracks and magazines by more than 1,500 m of deeply buried gallery and an electric train — and is the largest work on the line open to the public in Alsace.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Climb Fleckenstein's stairs cut into the sandstone and find four things: the rock-hewn prison with its single small window and its wooden lid, the archive room door carrying the Fleckenstein shields, the arms of Frédéric de Fleckenstein and Catherine de Cronberg on the stair tower, and the slot beside the well for a squirrel-wheel windlass that had to raise water from 50 to 100 m down
2
of 4
Go down into Schœnenbourg and walk the 1,500 m of gallery from the entrance blocks to the fighting blocks — the garrison rode it on a 600-volt electric train — past the ammunition magazines, the barracks and the powerhouse with its four 165-horsepower Sulzer generator sets, up to the turret that carried two 81 mm mortars
3
of 4
Climb to the ruins of the Wasenbourg above Niederbronn-les-Bains and visit the Maison de l'Archéologie des Vosges du Nord in the town
4
of 4
Work out how two branches of one family lived in a castle this narrow: a castral peace charter divided Fleckenstein between them in the 15th century. Then find the rainwater system feeding the filtration cistern at the summit, and the walls the French pillaged in 1674 and blew up without a fight six years later
Climb Fleckenstein's stairs cut into the sandstone and find four things: the rock-hewn prison with its single small window and its wooden lid, the archive room door carrying the Fleckenstein shields, the arms of Frédéric de Fleckenstein and Catherine de Cronberg on the stair tower, and the slot beside the well for a squirrel-wheel windlass that had to raise water from 50 to 100 m down
Go down into Schœnenbourg and walk the 1,500 m of gallery from the entrance blocks to the fighting blocks — the garrison rode it on a 600-volt electric train — past the ammunition magazines, the barracks and the powerhouse with its four 165-horsepower Sulzer generator sets, up to the turret that carried two 81 mm mortars
Climb to the ruins of the Wasenbourg above Niederbronn-les-Bains and visit the Maison de l'Archéologie des Vosges du Nord in the town
Work out how two branches of one family lived in a castle this narrow: a castral peace charter divided Fleckenstein between them in the 15th century. Then find the rainwater system feeding the filtration cistern at the summit, and the walls the French pillaged in 1674 and blew up without a fight six years later
Before you go
Schœnenbourg is opened by an association on set days and the underground galleries hold a steady low temperature, so check the day's hours and take a jacket. Fleckenstein is reached by steep steps cut into the sandstone and is not suitable for pushchairs or poor heads for heights; it takes about 70,000 visitors a year, so go early in the holidays.
Hunspach, a Plus Beau Village de France and the French public's favourite village of 2020, is about 16 km east with its white half-timbered houses. Worth a stop on the way in or out, but not part of this day.
Finding nearby campsites...
About Grand Est
Loading region info…
Explore more about Grand Est:
Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
275 XP
France country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
375 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in France.
More challenges nearby
within 100km
The Dahner Felsenland: Castles Built Into the Rock
Germany · Rhineland-Palatinate
adventure
medium
1d
12 km away
Burg Trifels: The Imperial Regalia and Richard the Lionheart
Germany · Rhineland-Palatinate
history
medium
1d
23 km away
Bitche: The Citadel That Held Out in 1870
France · Grand Est
history
easy
1d
25 km away
Seltz and the Rhine: The Cable Ferry to Germany, Goethe's Sessenheim and the Customs Frontier
France · Grand Est
cultural
easy
1d
30 km away
The Palatinate Forest: One Upland, Two Countries
Germany · Rhineland-Palatinate
nature
medium
1d
33 km away
Rastatt: The Turkish Louis Builds a Residence
Germany · Baden-Württemberg
history
easy
1d
38 km away