Nister lies in the valley of the Great Nister. Marked circular walks in the Nauberg, local history and the Nister Cycle Route offer three different ways to shape a stay. When looking for a holiday apartment in Nister, you can first decide whether you would mainly like to hike, cycle or learn about local history.

Local History and Remembrance

Nister’s historical origins lie at Nistria Castle, near today’s Marienstatt Abbey. Around 1500, the settlement centre shifted about three kilometres east to its present location. The hammer and anvil in the coat of arms represent the hammer mills in Nister. Numerous mine tunnels in the northwestern Nister highlands point to the former importance of mining in this area.

The Nister Mill in the Nister valley is associated with an event from September 1944: Konrad Adenauer’s hiding place was there, and a commemorative plaque recalls the episode. The mill is privately owned and can be viewed from the surrounding hiking trails, but not from inside.

Landscape and Hiking Trails

The Nister highlands feature a steep, winding valley carved by the Nister. In the Kroppacher Schweiz, cliffs and ridges of resistant rock shape the landscape. Forest and open land each account for roughly half of the Nister highlands. The Nauberg is also linked to Nister’s local heritage and is a hiking area with wooded basalt hills.

Three marked circular walks through the Nauberg offer a choice of distances: X1 is 4.5 kilometres long, U1 runs 5.5 kilometres from Nister to Kellerhof in the Nauberg state forest, and X2 is 6.5 kilometres long. The routes differ by one kilometre each, making it easy to compare their lengths. Check the current signage before setting out. The Steinsel can only be reached on foot.

Cycling Along the Nister

The 67-kilometre Nister Cycle Route follows the river from west of the Fuchskaute to the Sieg near Wissen. Before the rivers converge near Heimborn-Ehrlich, the route passes Marienstatt Abbey and the Kroppacher Schweiz. There, the Kleine Nister flows into the Great Nister. Alongside the circular walks in the Nauberg, this offers a much longer river route as a separate option.

More Hiking Trails in the Westerwald

In the wider Westerwald destination, the WesterwaldSteig runs for 235 kilometres over 16 stages. Check the distance and stage breakdown in the current route planner before setting out. In the Westerwald, the Druidensteig covers 94 kilometres in seven day stages through seven river valleys; more than 30 geo-information points focus on geological features and mining history. These longer trails require a different level of planning than the circular walks in the Nauberg.

Discover more destinations: Neuhäusel, Westernohe, Seck, Caan, Neustadt/Westerwald, Rehe, Höhn, Wirges

Back to the wider travel guide: Westerwald.