Buchberg is a gentle, cone-shaped peak on the northern edge of the Zittau Mountains, entirely cloaked in forest and forming a striking twin-summit massif with the neighbouring Sonneberg. It's the perfect spot for hikers who want a peaceful walk away from the crowds, rewarded with lovely wooded scenery and a genuine sense of getting off the beaten track.

The mountain has a split personality: steep and dramatic on its eastern and northern flanks, rising abruptly above the village of Jonsdorf, yet gentle and sloping on the south side, where it tapers off toward a highland bog that feeds the Zwittebach stream. At the southeastern foot, near the Nonnenfelsen rocks, the Pochebach spring bubbles up. Thick forest cover keeps the trails shady and cool in summer, while autumn brings a beautiful show of colour, likely explaining the name Buchberg ('beech mountain').

How to reach the summit

• Jonsdorf — marked hiking trails head toward the summit, easy to moderate walk
• Waltersdorf — alternative starting point on the eastern side of the massif

Good to know

• No official hiking trail crosses directly over the summit itself
• Between 1949 and 1950, the Wismut AG company carried out uranium exploration on the northeastern slope, sinking five shafts and driving six tunnels — remnants of Cold War-era mining still mark the hillside

Today Buchberg is a quiet, forested hill, but its slopes once buzzed with Cold War uranium prospecting — a curious footnote hidden beneath the trees for those who know where to look.