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Germany
North Rhine-Westphalia
Rhein-Erft-Kreis
Erftstadt

Lake Franziskus – Donatus Lake loop from Erftstadt

Moderate

4.7

(343)

976

hikers

Lake Franziskus – Donatus Lake loop from Erftstadt

03:20

12.8km

90m

Hiking

Moderate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.

Last updated: August 17, 2026

Tips

Your route passes through a protected area

Please check local regulations for:

Naturpark Rheinland

Waypoints

A

Start point

Train Station

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1

2.97 km

Lake Franziskus

Highlight • Lake

Lake Franziskus is one of more than two dozen bodies of water in the "Ville" region between Brühl and Liblar, offering hikers wonderful variety during walks in the woods. Historically, …

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2

4.33 km

Untersee (Ville Lake Chain)

Highlight • Lake

Unter -, Mittel- and Obersee Ville is a chain of three lakes separated by narrow dams in the large forest-lake landscape of the Ville. They are part of the subsequent …

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3

6.05 km

If you like walking on small paths and not on wide hiking trails, this is the place for you.

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4

8.55 km

For me, the Villenhofer Maar is the most beautiful Ville lake. Large areas of the maar are overgrown with water lilies. Dragonflies settle here. There are many large fish in …

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5

9.58 km

Donatus Lake

Highlight • Lake

The Donatussee belongs to the Villeseen area in the Rhineland Nature Park and is the deepest of all Villeseen. The chain of villas was created from the remaining holes in …

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6

10.9 km

View of the Untersee

Highlight • Viewpoint

From up here you have a great view of the Untersee!

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7

11.2 km

Bench with a View of the Mittelsee

Highlight • Viewpoint

The already rather wobbly bench has now tipped over and is no longer usable...
Access to the lake is still there...

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8

11.3 km

Wooden dock at Mittelsee

Highlight • Lake

In addition to a small bench, there is also this wooden footbridge on the Mittelsee, which invites you to linger.

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B

12.8 km

End point

Train Station

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Way Types & Surfaces

Way Types

9.41 km

2.59 km

629 m

144 m

Surfaces

8.02 km

2.35 km

1.17 km

726 m

510 m

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Elevation

Elevation

Nothing selected – click and drag below to see the stats for a specific part of the route.

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Weather

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Sunday 23 August

23°C

8°C

0 %

Additional weather tips

Max wind speed: 14.0 km/h

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Comments

April 20, 2024,Die Ville - Naturpark Rheinland
April does what it wants. Today it's wet from all sides, so this beautiful circular route in the Rhineland Nature Park is perfect. There are lakes every few meters, but the Obersee has a particularly idyllic atmosphere. I found this tour, whose route looks like a butterfly, as an April tip here at komoot. It goes from the Brühl climbing …

Showing Translation

Today on the day of hiking with the motto "Wanderzeit Brühl" my guided hike went around 8 Brühl Ville lakes.
11 participants, including 7 guests, set off from the Maiglerwiese.
It went past the Pingsdorfer See, Villenhofer Maar, Zwillingssee, here a short break at the Zwillingssee Hütte and at the Donatussee to the Huttanus Hütte.
Here we took a longer …

Showing Translation

The beautiful autumn weather yesterday tempted people to go hiking in the area. This tour went from Brühl to the Ville Lakes (former lignite opencast mines in the first half of the 20th century) in the vicinity of Brühl, of which not all but some were visited. From my point of view a varied tour with a lot of mixed …

Showing Translation

...we've known for a long time that we'd cover a few kilometers here at the various lakes today, and thanks in part to the great weather, it was another fantastic ride. We finished at the Brühler Wirtshaus by the train station... Thanks so much for the organization, Manu, and see you at the next Table 4 tour in August at …

Showing Translation

Today, 13 hiking enthusiasts joined us for our monthly half-day hike through the autumnal Ville region.

Starting from the water tower, we passed Lake Pingsdorf, Villenhofer Maar, and Lake Donatus.

We took a short break at the Zwillingssee Hut.

From there, we enjoyed a great view of the Zwillingssee (Twin Lake), which can only be appreciated in autumn and winter.

Showing Translation

Relaxed and easy hike with no elevation gain (but unfortunately also no places to stop for refreshments). The length of the route can be extended or shortened as desired, depending on how many lakes you want to hike to...
There are easily over 20 lakes in the Rhineland Nature Park (even if I didn't count them all). Here, nature is …

Showing Translation

Circular hike past seven Villeseen.
Hiking trails and paths alternate. Due to the vegetation on the path at Pingsdorfer See (bramble hedges), I advise against wearing shorts. However, this path can be circumvented.
A great varied hike.


Beginning at the Brühl water tower, the path leads past the Maigler meadow with free running areas for dogs in the direction of …

Showing Translation

The start of our Ville hike begins in the parking lot of the train station in Liblar. From here we turn left along the railway line until we reach it after about 500 m. Under the underpass, turn left onto the Schwarzer Weg. Our path then leads us along the left side of the Obersee and from the Mittelsee left …

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