Allerheiligen Waterfalls

The Allerheiligen Waterfalls were actually a series of small all-season waterfalls tumbling over apparently seven drops within the Schwarzwald National Park. It’s said that the cumulative height of all these drops was about 83m. We were able to experience the falls along a steep but well-made series of steps that climbed alongside each of the waterfall’s drops.

From the spacious car park (see directions below), we crossed the road (being careful due to the blind hairpin turn), then proceeded beneath the procession of man-made archways before getting onto the trail.

The path followed along the Lierbach’s east bank for roughly the first 250m before encountering the first waterfall (or third if you count the two tiny cascades beneath it). Beyond this diminutive yet intimate waterfall, the path continued over a bridge across the front of this falls then continued up a steep series of steps on the west bank of the Lierbach.

Indeed, at the top of the steps, the path then rounded a bend and momentarily descended as it revealed the next waterfall drop as well as an even longer series of steps going up. On this next round of steps, we were able to glimpse more partial views of the Allerheiligen Waterfalls as it continued to reveal more even longer drops the higher we went.

It was hard to tell when one drop stopped and the next one started, but the highest drops of the waterfall series appeared to be more towards the upper middle of the entire waterfall ensemble. The uppermost pair of drops were each a bit shorter.

Once we beyond the top of the last two drops, the path flattened out and continued back along the east bank of the Lierbach along the so-called Legends Trail (because apparently this place had been steeped in legends over the centuries). Along the way, we noticed some wild strawberries growing within the greenery flanking the path. When we realized there were no more waterfalls continuing up this way, we decided to turn around and head back the way we came.

This entire excursion only took us an hour covering the entirety of the 0.4km stretch of trail alongside the waterfalls (or 0.8km round trip). It would have been an additional 1.3km further (one-way) to the Allerheiligen Closer Ruins further upstream, which itself had a separate car park and cafe in addition to the Roman ruins themselves.

As for other interesting facts about this waterfall, it turned out that the English translation of Allerheiligen meant “All Saints”. That was apparently due to the Allerheiligen Monastery that dated back to Roman times. Apparently, lots of stories and legends were said about the falls due to its inaccessibility as a result of the steep terrain. The steepness and the stair-stepped nature of the trail certainly attested to that.

This waterfall also assumed many different names over the years. Such names included Büttensteiner Wasserfälle (“Tub Stone Waterfalls”), die Sieben Bütten (“Seven Tubs”), Lierbachfälle, and of course die Wasserfälle Allerheiligen.