The Buchenlochhöhle is located in the nature reserve of the Gerolstein Dolomites. The cave was washed out of the rock millions of years ago by the dissolving power of groundwater and is open all year round.
The Buchenloch Cave is located on the north side of the Munterley in the nature reserve of the Gerolsteiner Dolomites. It is open year-round but is only accessible via a ladder.
Stromatopores, long-extinct, colony-forming sponge-like marine animals, created the present reef of the Gerolsteiner Dolomites. In the center, there is a narrow, high opening: the Buchenloch Cave. The cave was carved out of the stone millions of years ago by the dissolving power of groundwater. It is thirty meters long and four meters wide - it received its name due to the predominant tree species in the surrounding forest.
In the course of time
Here, the indigenous people of the Eifel from the Neolithic era made themselves comfortable, as evidenced by the discovery of tools and bones in and around the cave. That was around 30,000 years ago. It was only 75 years ago that residents of the town of Gerolstein fled here to seek shelter from the bombs of the Allies. Today, bats find suitable quarters for hibernation and summer hunting pauses in the depths of the narrow, tall cave. Human visitors still come. If they wish to enter the cave, which is freely accessible year-round, they must climb a narrow, steep wooden ladder.
Stage 9 of the Eifelsteig leads over the Gerolsteiner Dolomites; one of its partner paths, the Rock Trail with the northern part of the "Gerolsteiner Dolomiten Acht," leads to the cave.
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