The best running trails in the Südpfalz

The Landau Fort is an important part of the former French fortress, built between 1688 and 1691 by the fortress builder Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban. It is located north of the city on the Kaffenberg and is accessible today as a recreational area and historical monument. The fort was built as an independent outer work (Kronwerk) to protect the city fortress to the north. It is one of the largest and best-preserved fortifications of its time in the region. After the dismantling of the fortress from 1871 onwards, the area was converted around 1900 into a park, which was named Luitpoldpark in honor of Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria.

The monument zone "Queichkanal" includes not only the river course itself, but also the magnificent riverside development. Especially along the street "An 44" you can find impressive examples of late Wilhelminian architecture.

Since 2019, a very beautiful seating area has stood here, on the path up to the Hohenberg, donated by the "Weinfreunde Birkweiler". Many thanks! - It's a nice place to rest, even if the view into the Rhine plain is (nowadays) a bit restricted.

Idyllic resting place with a spectacular view over the sea of vines towards Birkweiler and into the Rhine plain!

There isn't much to see of it, but that's not the highlight of the tour.

Palatinate Hidden Gems – Landau – A Green Garden City in the South Landau, the metropolis of the Southern Palatinate, is primarily known as a fortress and university town. It is also called a garden city because of its expansive parks. The 2015 State Garden Show further emphasized this nickname, as the approximately 15-hectare South Park was newly created on land formerly used by the French military. This continued a tradition that began in 1949 with the "Süwega." The Southwest German Garden Show, or Southwest German Horticultural Exhibition, is considered the first garden show with supra-regional impact after the Second World War. At that time, not only were new parks created, but many were also extensively renovated. This includes Schiller Park, which stretches along the street "An 44." Here, impressive one-and-a-half to three-story villas and houses with original wrought-iron fences around their front gardens line the streets. In this historic district, with its typical 19th- and early 20th-century townhouses, a stroll through the verdant countryside of Landau is highly recommended. Here, the vibrant city center seamlessly transitions into an oasis of tranquility. The park, named after the poet Friedrich Schiller in 1905 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his death, is narrow yet covers approximately three hectares. It features a blend of Baroque garden elements and the style of English landscape gardens. For those wishing to extend their walk, the route from Schillerpark past the Strieffler House and allotment gardens towards the village of Godramstein is recommended. There, shaggy Highland cattle graze on the so-called "Rider's Meadows" along the Queich River. They help to control invasive plants such as Himalayan balsam and Japanese knotweed. Introduced as an ornamental plant in the 19th century, these plants had begun to spread rapidly, displacing the native flora typical of damp floodplains and riverbanks. During a walk, you can witness firsthand how four-legged landscapers help keep Landau a green garden city. Source: https://www.pfalz.de/de/sehenswuerdigkeit/schillerpark-landau

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's death, the former "Westpark" was renamed "Goethepark" in 1932. It is a park of approximately 5.5 hectares located very close to the city center, featuring expansive lawns and shady trees. Designed in the style of an English landscape garden, it is Landau's oldest park. Source: https://www.pfalz.de/de/sehenswuerdigkeit/goethepark-landau

Landau Fortress was a polygonal fortress in Landau in the Palatinate region of Germany. Construction work took place between 1688 and 1691. In 1871, the completely outdated fortress was demolished, having been downgraded to a depot in 1867. Almost all of the structures below street level have survived. Still visible today are several military buildings and many residential buildings in the city, the lock systems and walls along the rivers, and fortifications in parks, including the largest single structure, the walls of the fort built in 1702 (with a wall length of 3.3 km). After the Thirty Years' War, the Imperial City of Landau was placed under French protection by the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. After the end of the War of the Palatinate Succession in 1697, the town, along with ten other Alsatian imperial cities, was legally awarded to France in the Treaty of Rijswijk in 1697. France had already destroyed Landau's medieval city fortifications in 1673/4. With the Peace of Nijmegen, Landau became part of France and, with the simultaneous loss of the Philippsburg fortress on the right bank of the Rhine (1679), became its easternmost outpost, receiving a permanent French garrison in 1680. In September 1687, the fortress builder Vauban arrived in Landau to develop a fortification project. He submitted this to King Louis XIV on October 9, who approved it in November. Construction began on the 7 km long Albersweiler Canal that same year, allowing for the rapid transport of building materials such as timber, lime, and stone by barge. The foundation stone was laid at the end of April 1688 in the presence of the Minister of War, the Marquis de Louvois. Vauban initially oversaw construction, but handed it over to Jacques de Tarade in 1689. With the help of sixteen royal battalions under the command of General Montclar and approximately 14,000 construction workers (more recent studies cite a significantly smaller number) from the surrounding area, the fortification was built in the second Vauban style. On the night of June 23-24, 1689, a devastating fire destroyed most of the settlement and provided an opportunity to restructure the garrison town in a contemporary manner. This resulted in the creation of straight, wide streets and squares for troop deployments. ..... Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Festung_Landau#Weblinks