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Tourist-Information Hocheifel-Nürburgring
Kirchstraße 15 - 19
53518 Adenau
Fon: +49(0)2691/305-122
Fax: +49(0)2691/305-196
E-Mail:
Öffnungszeiten
April - September:
Montag - Freitag:
09.00 Uhr bis 17.00 Uhr
Oktober - März:
Montag - Freitag:
09.00 Uhr bis 16.00 Uhr
Samstags
Februar - März:
Sa.: 10.00 Uhr bis 12.00 Uhr
April - Oktober:
Sa.: 10.00 Uhr bis 13.00 Uhr
November - Januar:
Sa.: Samstag geschlossen
Kirchstraße 15 - 19
53518 Adenau
Fon: +49(0)2691/305-122
Fax: +49(0)2691/305-196
E-Mail:
Öffnungszeiten
April - September:
Montag - Freitag:
09.00 Uhr bis 17.00 Uhr
Oktober - März:
Montag - Freitag:
09.00 Uhr bis 16.00 Uhr
Samstags
Februar - März:
Sa.: 10.00 Uhr bis 12.00 Uhr
April - Oktober:
Sa.: 10.00 Uhr bis 13.00 Uhr
November - Januar:
Sa.: Samstag geschlossen
Wetter
The Hocheifel region
Experiencing nature
The Adenau region
If you want to circle the Adenau region on a map, you start with the rivers Rhine and Mosel, was well as Cologne, Bonn, Aachen, Trier and Koblenz, which together make up major parts of the region. To find the Hocheifel and Ahreifel regions, just look at the triangle made up by Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Blankenheim and Mayen.
This is where the Adenau region is located, bordering the Pellenz district and the Königsfelder Ländchen region to the east, and the volcanic Westeifel and the Kalkeifel regions to the west. In the north, the area stretches all the way to the Oberahr region and to the Moseleifel region in the south. Distinguishing features of the Adenau region are the mountains Hohe Acht (747m), Arenberg and Nürburg, the latter known for lending its name to the Nürburgring. The borders of the Adenau municipalities are similar to the borders of the Adenau region itself. Within the 257 square kilometre land area, sparsely populated with around 14,000 inhabitants in 37 local communities, you will find contrasts that only the Adenau region can offer. |
The secrets of the Hocheifel region
Densely wooded highlands, large meadows, small streams, wonderful vistas – that’s the Adenau region. The region itself and its people have been shaped by hundreds of years of history. There is a lot of evidence of the primordial volcanic force that shaped the Hocheifel region in a very special way: volcanic cones that have worn down long ago and today are the highest elevations in the entire Eifel region give the observer a sense of how high the region once really was. There is a lot of speculation about where the name Eifel originates. One theory is that it comes from the Latin aquilinse, which then turned into efilinse and describes today’s Eifel region as ‘land of water’? The many headwater and riparian areas in the Eifel region and the old Roman aqueduct, which ran from the Eifel region to Cologne, could be seen as indications of this – even the Celts might have called the region ‘land of water’. To this day, water is a predominant feature of the Eifel region, including that of the Hocheifel and Ahreifel regions and the Adenau region. |
Another possible explanation for the mysterious name refers to the cognate connection between the Germanic word aik for oak (which became eih in Old High German) and the Indo-European pel for ‘wide and flat’ – referring to the Ville, which became aik-fil. If that’s true, the Eifel region gets its name from its oak-covered plateaus. Given today’s forests, this is also feasible …
Be it as it may, the Eifel region still has a reputation of having a harsh climate, unfertile soil and being rainy. Compared with the valleys of the rivers Rhine and Mosel, the temperature differences in the Hocheifel region are indeed more significant, with the winters being colder and the nights cooler. But when it comes to rain, the Adenau region does have something rather special to show, even if some Nürburgring visitors claim the opposite is true …
Be it as it may, the Eifel region still has a reputation of having a harsh climate, unfertile soil and being rainy. Compared with the valleys of the rivers Rhine and Mosel, the temperature differences in the Hocheifel region are indeed more significant, with the winters being colder and the nights cooler. But when it comes to rain, the Adenau region does have something rather special to show, even if some Nürburgring visitors claim the opposite is true …
A wealth of colours
The Adenau region experiences the seasons in all their true colours.
In winter the temperatures can easily fall to double digits below zero, while in summer the evenings are refreshingly cool after a warm day. Sweltering heat, like you get only a short distance away by the rivers Rhine and Mosel, only rarely finds its way into the valleys of the Hocheifel region. While in springtime nature awakens and dresses the mountain range in light shades of green, the autumn brings rich and colourful cheerfulness. The different types of woodland in the Hocheifel region are the reason for such an infinite diversity of colours. Visitors marvel at the wealth of impressions as the seasons change. There’s one colour that's more typical than any other for the Adenau region: a lush, dense green. |
The weather station in Barweiler at an altitude of 485 metres tells you all about the weather in the Adenau region. It is a department of the German weather service (Deutscher Wetterdienst) and is given a high priority listing in the international metrological network. Here you can find out that the rainfall in the Adenau region together with that of Bad Münstereifel at the bottom end of the scale can be found throughout the Eifel region. Rain is sparse in the Adenau region, and evidence for that has been found. |
Text and photos: Katja Kerschgens, author of the book ‘Geliebte Eifelbilder’ (beloved images from the Eifel region) (available from the tourist information centre Hocheifel-Nürburgring)