Black Moor (Schwarzes Moor), Rhön

A wooden boardwalk leads through a landscape that looks more like Lapland than Franconia: small pines and gnarled birches, red peat mosses, dark pools and cotton grass. The Black Moor in the Bavarian Rhön, near the point where Bavaria, Hesse and Thuringia meet, covers 66.4 hectares, making it the largest bog complex in the Rhön and one of the most important raised bogs in Central Europe. It lies at 770 to 782 metres, right on the watershed between the Rhine and the Weser, and is free to visit.

How the bog formed

The bog began to form about 12,000 years ago, after the last Ice Age, in a shallow hollow sealed by clay sediments and weathered basalt. Plenty of rain and cool soils allowed the peat mosses to grow, and in the centre the peat is in places more than eight metres deep. The surface is domed, similar to bogs in Scandinavia. Peat was cut here on and off from 1770 to 1939, and in 1905 it was even briefly supplied as bath peat to Bad Kissingen. On 6 January 1939 the area was placed under protection. Because day-trippers in the 1960s trampled paths across the bog and even swam in its pools, it was fenced off in 1976 and opened to visitors first along a path and later on boardwalks.

What to see

• The boardwalk: Since 1987 Bavaria's first bog nature trail has led across the bog on oak planks. It is 2.7 km in total; the first section is walked there and back, the rest as a loop. Information boards explain the plants and animals.
• The bog pools: The largest of the three pools near the boardwalk covers almost 500 m² and is about 2.5 m deep. Also typical of the Black Moor are flarks, long cracks in the surface caused by movement of the peat body.
• Plants: Look for round-leaved sundew and butterwort, which catch insects, as well as cranberry, bog rosemary and the reddish Magellanic bog moss. Eleven of the 30 Central European peat moss species grow here.
• Carpathian birches: The gnarled trees at the edge of the bog are a mountain form of the downy birch.
• The lookout tower: The 17 m tower on the northern edge, built in 2007, overlooks the central plateau.

Visiting, getting there and parking (as of October 2026)

The bog is free to enter and the boardwalk is wheelchair accessible. The nature trail is closed from mid-November to mid-March. From May to October guided walks are offered several times a week.

The bog lies on the Hochrhönstraße and the ST 2287 road from Seiferts, about six kilometres from Fladungen. Some 300 metres to the north-east, on the road to Seiferts, there is a large car park with the Haus zum Schwarzen Moor (information centre, kiosk, snack bar and toilets). Each year 100,000 to 150,000 people visit, making it the second most popular destination in the Bavarian Rhön after the Kreuzberg, so come early at weekends.

Tripto tip

Allow about one to one and a half hours for the loop and the tower. The bog is at its most atmospheric in autumn, when the heather and birches change colour, or early in the morning when mist lies over the moor. Always stay on the boardwalk, as the bog is a core zone of the Rhön Biosphere Reserve. The Hochrhöner long-distance trail passes the bog, so you can combine your visit with a longer hike across the Lange Rhön.