Hiking the Central European Uplands

When to hike the Central European Uplands

From April to November, all 9 destinations clear our recommendation criteria. Not one of them does in January and February.

Averaged across the destinations, July is the warmest month at 19 degrees in the hiking window and January the coldest at 0.

How far apart the destinations are

The selected grid cells run from 314 metres at Saxon Switzerland to 956 metres at Black Forest, with a median of 770 metres. Saxon Switzerland clears the criteria in 9 months (all year except January, February and December), Black Forest in 8 months (from April to November).

The longest season belongs to Eifel and Ardennes, at 10 months each; the shortest to 4 destinations, including Bavarian Forest and Krkonoše, at 8 months each.

What closes the missing months

Where a destination loses months, a critical climate component falls below the threshold at which we stop recommending a month. The main reason is snow cover, for every one of the 9 destinations.

In January, the quietest month, every destination is closed, all of them by snow cover.

Conditions in September

September is when the open destinations score highest on average. Hiking-window temperature then runs from 13 degrees at Krkonoše to 16 at Saxon Switzerland, and rain falls on 39 to 48 percent of days depending on the destination.

What these figures cover

Each destination is described by one selected ERA5-Land grid cell, averaged over 1991 to 2025. The figures above summarise those 9 cells. They are not a map of the whole area or of any route, and they are not a forecast.