Best time to hike the Rennsteig
Best: May–June and September. Also good: April, July–August and October.
The Rennsteig is 169 km long, in 8 stages. Below is the average weather for every month at about 753 m, the middle height of the trail (197–968 m), from 10 years of daily data (2015–2024).
Weather month by month
| Month | High °C | Low °C | Rain mm | Rain days | Daylight h | Snow cm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 0° | −5° | 68 | 16 | 8.4 | 47 |
| February | 2° | −4° | 52 | 12 | 10.0 | 24 |
| March | 6° | −2° | 53 | 12 | 11.7 | 13 |
| April | 10° | 0° | 43 | 10 | 13.7 | 8 |
| May | 15° | 5° | 65 | 12 | 15.5 | 1 |
| June | 20° | 10° | 66 | 13 | 16.4 | 0 |
| July | 22° | 11° | 72 | 13 | 16.0 | 0 |
| August | 23° | 11° | 72 | 13 | 14.5 | 0 |
| September | 18° | 7° | 52 | 9 | 12.5 | 0 |
| October | 12° | 4° | 58 | 12 | 10.6 | 2 |
| November | 5° | −1° | 57 | 12 | 8.9 | 16 |
| December | 1° | −3° | 62 | 15 | 8.0 | 30 |
Season notes from our guide
The walking season runs from April to October. May, June and September are good months; mid-summer is warm but the ridge is usually a few degrees cooler than the valleys. In October some small inns close for holidays. From mid-November to the end of March the Rennsteig is often snow-covered and large parts are groomed as a cross-country ski trail, so walking it in winter is not recommended. Avoid the weekend of the Rennsteiglauf race, usually in May, when up to 15,000 runners are on the trail and beds are booked out.
Stages, map, elevation profile, places to stay and emergency help, free.
Read the full Rennsteig guideHike it with Outest
Offline maps, stages and places to stay on your phone.
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Weather: NASA POWER (MERRA-2 reanalysis), daily values 2015–2024 near 50.61, 10.90, adjusted to 753 m. Rain days: days with at least 1 mm. Daylight: sunrise to sunset on the 15th of the month.