Wilderness areas in Germany: where nature runs free

Germany’s wilderness areas are mainly the core zones of its national parks, a handful of large former military training areas and some old beech forests that are no longer used for timber. In all of them people have stepped back and let storms, bark beetles, floods and decay shape the land. What you will not find is untouched primeval forest: almost every German wood has been used at some point.

What ‘wilderness’ means in Germany

German conservation uses the word in a specific way. A wilderness area is a sufficiently large area in which nature can develop without human use or steering, permanently. That is why the term is about the future rather than the past: many of these forests were planted spruce or managed beech a few decades ago.

The national biodiversity strategy adopted in 2007 aimed to let nature develop freely on 2 per cent of Germany’s land area. That target has not been reached so far. Since 2019 the federal government has supported the purchase of land for wilderness through a dedicated wilderness fund, according to the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN).

Where to find wilderness

National parks with large hands-off zones

Germany’s national parks aim to let natural processes run on most of their area. The ones with the most forest wilderness are:

National park	Region	Character
Bavarian Forest	Bavaria, Czech border	Mountain spruce and mixed forest, long history of non-intervention
Harz	Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt	Spruce forest in transition, granite and moorland
Kellerwald-Edersee	Hesse	Old beech forests on steep slopes, part of UNESCO site
Hainich	Thuringia	Large beech forest, part of UNESCO site
Black Forest	Baden-Württemberg	Mountain forest, relatively young park
Hunsrück-Hochwald	Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland	Beech and spruce, quiet uplands
Eifel	North Rhine-Westphalia	Beech forests and reservoirs, former military area
Müritz	Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania	Lakes, pine and beech, the old beech forest of Serrahn
Jasmund	Rügen	Beech forest on chalk cliffs

Our detailed guide to the Bavarian Forest National Park covers the first and best-known example.

Old beech forests of the UNESCO site

Five German areas belong to the World Heritage site of ancient and primeval beech forests: Jasmund, Serrahn, Grumsin, Hainich and Kellerwald. They are not primeval, but they show what an old beech forest without felling looks like. Their Carpathian relatives are described in Carpathian beech forests.

Former military training areas

Some of Germany’s largest areas without roads are former military training areas, especially in Brandenburg and Saxony. Foundations and conservation organisations now let them develop as wilderness. Examples are heathlands and pine forests south of Berlin and the Königsbrück Heath north of Dresden. Important: unexploded ordnance can still be present. Only use marked paths and observe all signs.

How remote are these places?

Germany is densely populated and has a dense road network. Even in national parks you are rarely more than a couple of hours’ walk from the next road. The German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation tracks so-called unfragmented low-traffic areas, which shows how rare large road-free spaces have become. We look at this in Germany’s most remote spots.

The upside: almost all of these areas can be reached by train and bus, and some, like the Rhön and Westhavelland, are also known for dark night skies. See dark sky parks in Europe.

Rules for visitors

Rules differ by state and park, but some apply almost everywhere:

• Path requirement in core zones, often all year, sometimes seasonal.
• No camping, no fires inside national parks.
• Dogs on a lead.
• Deadwood stays. Taking wood, even small branches, is not allowed.
• Closures after storms or because of falling trees are common: dead trees can break without warning.

For a night outdoors, many regions have official trekking sites outside the parks where you can book a pitch. Our overview of trekking sites in Germany explains how they work.

A sensible first trip

If you are new to German wilderness, choose one park and give it two or three days. Start at the visitor centre, take one guided walk and then explore a marked circular trail through the core zone in the early morning. You will notice the difference: standing dead trees, young growth everywhere and a silence that managed forests rarely have.