Adventure hike Birresborn ice caves

Circular trail, car park & start/finish: village centre or barbecue hut 54574 Birresborn, length: 5 km, duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

The short circular route leads to the Birresborn ice caves. Millstones were once mined there. The cold caves serve as winter quarters for bats from October to April.

The village of Birresborn - from the Old High German for "homestead of Birgis" - is one of the oldest settlements in the wild Eifel. The Kalem volcano towering to the west of Birresborn is one of the largest and oldest volcanoes in the Volcanic Eifel and is a good 600,000 years old. At that time, a mighty, red-hot lava flow rolled down from the lava vent at the summit of Kalem into the primeval valley of the Kyll. Looking into the lava quarries, you can see both dense columnar basalt and porous basalt slag, from which millstones were extracted until the 19th century.

The hike takes you to the legendary Birresborn ice caves with their cold air. The ice caves are located above the village. These are several caves, some of which are connected to each other. The temperature there ranges from -1 to +6 degrees throughout the year. These caves, which extend deep into the mountain, owe their name to the fact that the icicles that have formed on the ceilings and floors can remain there well into the summer after a cold winter.

Today, bats use the caves as winter quarters. For nature conservation reasons, the ice caves in Birresborn are therefore only open from 15 April to 15 October. In the summer months, you can explore the caves on your own. We recommend sturdy shoes, a torch and a helmet for visiting the caves.

There is also a forest adventure trail on the hiking trail. Here you can learn lots of interesting facts about trees, animals and nature.

Our tip: Be sure to make a detour to the XXL bench above the caves.