Totenstein (483 m a.s.l.) is one of the highest points of the Erzgebirge foothills in Saxony, tucked inside the forested Rabensteiner Wald between Chemnitz and Limbach-Oberfrohna. It is a wonderfully accessible summit that rewards visitors with a sweeping panorama of the Erzgebirge mountains — and a fascinating slice of Cold War history thrown in for good measure.

The summit is largely wooded, giving the area a calm, sheltered feel in every season. In summer the forest keeps things cool and pleasant, autumn paints the hillsides in warm colours, and a winter walk through snow-dusted trails here is quietly magical. Clear days bring wide views over the Erzgebirge range and its rolling foothills from the top of the observation tower.

• Starting from Grüna (district of Chemnitz) or Pleißa (district of Limbach-Oberfrohna) — forest trails through Rabensteiner Wald, easy difficulty

• A free-to-climb 30-metre observation tower was built in 1998 and stands just below the true summit — no admission fee.
• Next to it stands a historic radio relay tower, formerly used as a directional radio hub by the SED party in the Karl-Marx-Stadt district during the GDR era.

The first lookout tower here was raised in 1886 by the local Erzgebirge Club and bore the name 'Maria-Josepha-Turm' — the current tower from 1998 was deliberately modelled on that original. A fun extra fact: the A4 motorway, which passes just a few hundred metres away, reaches its highest point anywhere in Germany right here at Totenstein.