Accessible holidays in the Eifel: what is really possible

“Accessible" is not a tick box: how to read the certificate

The nationwide accessibility labelling scheme is called “Reisen für Alle". What sets it apart from any self-declaration is that trained surveyors measure on site: door widths, gradients, turning space. There are three things you should be able to read from it.

First, the group of people. Certification is awarded separately for people with walking difficulties, for wheelchair users, for people with impaired vision, for blind people, for people with impaired hearing, for deaf people and for people with cognitive impairments. A destination can be surveyed for one group and not at all for the next.

Second, the level. “Accessibility surveyed" only means that data has been collected. “Partly accessible for …" means: with the limitations named. Only “accessible for …" is the full statement.

Third, the date. Certificates expire, usually after three years. That matters straight away for the most important path in the area.

The Laacher See: 2.1 of 8.4 kilometres

The circular lakeside path around the Laacher See is the best-known walk in the volcanic region and around 8.4 kilometres long. Travel articles regularly describe it as accessible. That is not quite right.

What has been surveyed and labelled is a section of around 2.1 kilometres: from the abbey car park at Maria Laach, past the boat hire, to the car park by the campsite. It is a there-and-back route, not a circuit, so you return the same way, which makes around 4.2 kilometres in total. The remaining six kilometres or so of the shore are not surveyed; there is no reliable information on their condition.

The label reads “accessibility surveyed, partly accessible for people with walking difficulties". The *wheelchair users* category is expressly not covered, even though many secondary sources say it is. It is valid from 1 November 2023 to 31 October 2026, so only a few weeks from the date of this article. Whether it will be extended is not confirmed.

What the survey report actually says: the path is step-free and at least 120 centimetres wide, usually wider. It is traffic-free, and you never have to cross a road. The surface alternates between compacted gravel, forest track and tarmac, and in places it is expressly described as “not easy to walk or wheel on". The critical point is two bridges with gradients of up to 18 per cent over two metres each. Eighteen per cent is steep. If you are travelling without help or without electric assistance, plan for it. There is no information on the cross slope.

At the Maria Laach tourist information there are accessible parking spaces measuring 285 × 582 centimetres; the sources contradict each other on whether there are three or nine. There is also a public accessible toilet, which opens only with a Euro key, the standard European key for accessible toilets. Turn up without one and you stay outside. A walking frame can be borrowed; wheelchair hire is not confirmed here.

There is more on the landscape and the paths themselves in our article on the Laacher See.

The destinations at a glance

As of August 2026 · Sources: reisen-fuer-alle.de, rlp-tourismus.com, eifel.info, maria-laach.de, mayen.de, lavadome.de, nuerburgring.de

Underground by lift: two accessible mines

This is the lovely surprise of the area: of all places, it is the two mines that are better set up than many a museum.

At the Lava-Dome Mendig you do not take stairs down into the lava cellars, you take the lift. Both the museum and the cellars are open to you, wheelchairs can be borrowed on site, and guide dogs and assistance dogs are expressly allowed. Visitors with a disability pay 9.00 € instead of 10.50 € for the combined ticket (as of August 2026, source lavadome.de). Down below it is 8 to 9 °C all year round, and if you use a wheelchair and move about less, you will feel the cold sooner than everyone else. Pack a jacket.

At the Deutsches Schieferbergwerk slate mine in Mayen, a glass lift takes you 16 metres down to the entrance of the gallery. Access is step-free, over a short ramp with an eight per cent gradient. The mine and the EifelTotal exhibition in the Genovevaburg together hold the “Reisen für Alle" certificate, which was renewed in June 2025.

Both are also the obvious places to head for when the weather turns; there are more ideas in our article on the Eifel in the rain.

Where it does not work, and why we say so

The Traumpfade and Traumpfädchen trails are not an option. In line with their own quality standards, they deliberately use narrow, natural paths; some routes call for sure-footedness and sturdy walking boots. According to the operator, the short Traumpfädchen are expressly not suitable for pushchairs or walking frames. If you read “premium walking trail" and picture a well-surfaced path, you will be disappointed here.

The interior of Eltz Castle is not accessible; the castle itself points to its medieval fabric as the reason. The 800-metre tarmacked access road can be managed with a wheelchair or a pushchair, so the view of the castle is within reach. The tour inside is not, because of the stairs and narrow passageways.

The outdoor site of the Erlebniswelten Grubenfeld in Mayen is, according to the town, “not suitable for wheelchair users": a former quarry in a nature reserve. The slate mine yes, the Grubenfeld no. The two are often mentioned in the same breath.

The beer cellar at the Vulkan Brauerei is 153 steps down. It is constantly confused with the Lava-Dome, but these are two different operators and two different tickets.

And a word about search engines: type in “accessible walking in the Eifel" and you almost always end up at the Wilder Kermeter or the Wilder Weg in the Eifel National Park. Both are excellent, but they are in North Rhine-Westphalia, around 45 kilometres away, and from Rieden they make a full day out rather than an afternoon.

Two accessible trails hardly anyone knows

Two alternatives with far fewer barriers are closer than the search results suggest.

The Mayen-Kürrenberg wheelchair trail is 3.2 kilometres long, climbs just 18 metres and is surfaced with heavily compacted basalt sand, wide and easy to wheel on. Halfway round there is a shelter with a barbecue area and an accessible portable toilet; the benches fold away so that wheelchair users can get to the table. The woodland is swept regularly so that twigs and beech mast do not roughen the surface. You park at the Reiningweg car park on the L 258. A “Reisen für Alle" certificate for this trail is not confirmed.

The accessible Nettepark circular trail in Plaidt is the shortest option at 1.6 kilometres and two metres of ascent, and it follows the river Nette past wood and stone sculptures. It is labelled “accessible for people with walking difficulties, partly accessible for wheelchair users", which is one level better than the Laacher See section. There is an accessible parking space at the Ententeich car park, and the Café am Park waits at the end.

Getting here: what is confirmed and what is not

Andernach station is the best choice: step-free access by lift to all five platforms, two lifts, although tactile guidance strips are only on platform 1. Platform heights vary between 38 and 76 centimetres, so depending on the track you will not board at the same level. Book boarding and alighting assistance in advance with the Deutsche Bahn Mobility Service: 030 65212888, available Mon–Fri 6:00 to 22:00, Sat/Sun/public holidays 8:00 to 20:00.

For Koblenz Hbf and Mayen Ost we have no platform-by-platform information. One secondary source describes Mayen Ost as step-free, but that is not confirmed. Do ask the Mobility Service.

Bus route 820 runs Kempenich – Rieden – Mayen and serves Rieden with several stops. Whether low-floor buses are used, whether there is a wheelchair ramp and whether you need to book ahead is not publicly documented, so please check with Verkehrsbetriebe Mittelrhein in advance. The routes from Rieden are described in our article on getting to Rieden.

The Riedener Waldsee: honestly, we do not know

The Riedener Waldsee has four hectares of water, two bathing jetties, a floating platform, lawns in sun and shade and a building with changing cubicles and toilets. The swimming season runs from 1 June to 31 August, there is no lifeguard, and a day ticket for the car park costs 6.00 €.

Whether there is an aid for getting into the water, whether the bathing jetties have railings or can be wheeled onto, whether any of the changing cubicles is accessible, whether there is an accessible toilet, whether there is an accessible parking space and what the ground is like along the shore — on all of this we do not have a single reliable piece of information. The national listings of accessible bathing spots do not include the lake either.

That does not mean there is nothing there. It means we do not know, and we are not going to guess. If you depend on it, the best thing is to ring the Verbandsgemeinde Mendig council office beforehand: 02652 98000.

FAQs

The holiday homes by the Riedener Waldsee

The three holiday homes are around 150 metres from the water, a good two minutes downhill on foot. The real advantage is how short the journeys are: the Laacher See thirteen kilometres, Mayen thirteen, Maria Laach sixteen, the Lava-Dome sixteen. If you have to cut a day out short because of a gradient or the weather, you are back in no time.

We deliberately make no further claims here about the fabric of the homes themselves. Thresholds, door widths, how the bathrooms are laid out and the path from the car park decide whether a trip is worth making, and we have nothing on that which we could vouch for. So please ring us before you book. Tell us exactly what you need: clear door width in centimetres, threshold height, a shower you can roll into, turning circle in the bathroom. An honest answer is worth more than any description on the internet.

What we can confirm about our own homes

Two structural details are documented, and those are the only two we will name. In Holiday Home Susi the entire living area is on one level, and the bathroom has a level-access shower. In Annika and Tommy, the living room, kitchen, one bathroom and two bedrooms are on the ground floor; the third bedroom and the second bathroom are up a wooden staircase. On one level does not mean wheelchair accessible, and none of the homes has been surveyed under “Reisen für Alle".

What has not been measured is exactly what makes the difference: clear door widths in centimetres, threshold heights, the turning circle in the bathroom, the width and gradient of the path from the car park. Nobody has measured any of it, and we are not going to estimate. So do ring us before you book one of the three holiday homes: +49 174 6579 422, daily from 9:00 to 18:00. Describe what you need as precisely as you can, and we will tell you whether it works or whether it does not.