This stretch of Germany's great long-distance trail linking the Baltic Sea with the Saale reservoirs offers a genuine journey through the heart of Saxony and Thuringia. Spanning 269.9 km, this section carries the legacy of East German hiking culture, first laid out in the 1960s as the Hauptwanderweg Ostsee-Saaletalsperren.

The route begins in Freiberg, a historic Saxon mining town, and winds through the scenic foothills of the Erzgebirge and Thuringia before reaching Ziegenrück, a charming small town on the Saale reservoirs in the Thuringian Slate Mountains. Along the way, hikers pass through Oederan and Augustusburg, where the trail once carried the name Hauptwanderweg 1 Heringsdorf–Ziegenrück. The path is marked with a distinctive horizontal blue stripe on a white background (color #3182ce), making navigation straightforward throughout. The landscape shifts from gentle hills and mixed forests to deep river valleys, revealing countryside rarely touched by mass tourism.

• Moderate difficulty, suited to experienced hikers planning a multi-day trek
• Varied terrain: forest paths, country lanes, gentle hills, and stretches along river valleys

• Given its length (269.9 km), the route is best broken into several stages over multiple days
• The trail passes through Saxony and Thuringia, so plan overnight stays in towns along the way such as Oederan or Augustusburg

This section forms part of the much longer, roughly 1500 km Ostsee-Saaletalsperren trail, which begins at Cape Arkona on the island of Rügen and ends right here in Ziegenrück — a true challenge for long-distance hikers wanting to follow in the footsteps of East Germany's historic hiking tradition.