Felsenmeer (Sea of Rocks)

On the slopes of the Felsberg above Lautertal-Reichenbach lies a river of stone: thousands of dark-grey, rounded boulders spill through the beech forest like a frozen stream. The Felsenmeer (“sea of rocks”) in the Odenwald is just over 2 km long, up to 100 m wide and drops about 200 m in height. Scramble from boulder to boulder and you will find a surprise in the middle: blocks that Roman stonemasons worked on some 1,700 years ago and then abandoned.

How it formed: woolsacks from the deep

The boulders are quartz diorite, a granite-like rock that later stonemasons called “Felsberg granite”. It formed 12 to 15 km underground and cracked as it cooled over millions of years. In a subtropical climate, weathering ate into these cracks and rounded the edges, a process geologists call woolsack weathering. During the last Ice Age meltwater washed out the gravel between the blocks, and the exposed boulders slid downhill into the small valley of the Felsenmeer stream. In 2006 the Felsenmeer was named a National Geotope; it belongs to the Bergstraße-Odenwald UNESCO Geopark and lies inside the Felsberg bei Reichenbach nature reserve.

The Romans on the Felsberg

What sets this boulder field apart are its Roman workshops. Almost 300 unfinished or damaged pieces survive at 15 work sites, dated to the 2nd to 4th centuries. The masons split blocks with iron wedges and ground them with saws set up right over the rocks. If a flaw in the stone showed up just before a piece was finished, it was left behind. Those failures are what you can see today.

What to see

• Riesensäule (Giant's Column): 9.3 m long, about 27.5 tonnes, fully finished. Three started saw cuts show that someone tried to cut it up. A fire on 1 May 1980 broke a piece off.
• Altarstein (Altar Stone): A clear example of slabs being sawn first and then split off with wedges, including one split that went wrong.
• Pyramid, Ship and Coffin: The “Ship” has the longest continuous worked edge on the hill at 12.35 m; the “Coffin” was ruined by a bad cut.
• Siegfried's Spring: At the foot of the Felsenmeer, it is said to be one of the possible places where Siegfried was murdered in the Nibelungenlied.
• Information centre: Opened in 2007, it explains geology, the Roman period and local legends in a small museum.

The legend of the two giants

People in the Lautertal had their own explanation: two giants, one on the Felsberg and one on the Hohenstein across the valley, fell out and hurled rocks at each other. The Felsberg giant lost and still lies buried under the boulders. Some say you can sometimes hear him roar.

Visiting and timing

The classic route climbs straight up through the boulders from the car park at the information centre to the Giant's Column. Allow at least 1.5 to 2 hours for the climb and descent with breaks, half a day with the centre and a loop walk. An easier start is from the top at the Römersteine in Beedenkirchen, where the 2.5 km geological and historical trail begins. The site itself is free; you only pay for parking.

Wear sturdy shoes with good grip, as wet rock gets slippery. The boulder field is not suitable for pushchairs or wheelchairs. Please stay on the paths on the way down: shortcuts damage the forest, which is why the state forestry service fenced off extra areas for regeneration in autumn 2026.

Information centre hours (as of October 2026)

• 5 to 17 October: Wednesday to Sunday 10:00–17:00
• 18 to 30 October: Wednesday to Friday 11:00–16:00, Saturday and Sunday 10:00–17:00
• November: Saturday and Sunday only, 11:00–16:00

The centre has a shop and the self-service bistro “Koboldklause” with a beer garden; the kiosk at the Giant's Column is also open on many weekends.

Getting there and parking

Drive via Beedenkirchener Straße to the Felsenmeer car park. Do not approach via Auerbach-Hochstädten: Felsbergstraße is closed to vehicles there and turns into a footpath, even if navigation apps suggest it. Parking costs €5 per day for cars, €3 for motorbikes and €10 for campervans. Bring the right coins, as notes are not accepted. On sunny weekends the car park fills fast; overflow parking is available at the Ohlyturm on the Felsberg and at the Lautertalhalle.