“Hiker-friendly on the Painters' Way”
Here you’ll find all the information you need for your stay regarding accommodation along the Malerweg in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. Book your rooms locally ❤️: directly through the Saxon Switzerland Tourist Board. Whether you need accommodation for a single night’s stay or a central base for the whole route. ✔️ Click on the first link marked with this symbol 🛏️ to find Malerweg accommodation to suit every taste.
Hiking-friendly on the Malerweg
Quality criteria of the German Hiking Association as a benchmark
The Malerweg Elbsandsteingebirge hiking trail owes its overwhelming success primarily to the spectacular landscape experience it offers in all its diversity. An important role was also played by the consistent orientation towards the quality criteria of the German Hiking Association for the coveted "Quality Trail Wanderbares Deutschland" award. In the conception of the trail, the leading German quality system for hiking trails was taken as a benchmark. This resulted in a continuously marked, varied, and scenic hiking trail that hardly runs along roads.
The hosts on this website are certified with the "Hiker-Friendly on the Malerweg" award. They offer, among other things, single overnight stays, lunch packages, partial support for luggage transfer, and the provision of facilities for drying clothes.
In the certified restaurants along the hiking trail, you can get hot meals, including light dishes. Upon request, you can have drinks filled to take away. Each host has a postcard of the respective stage and a stamp for your hiking pass ready for you.
Collecting fun and award for Malerweg hikers
Art postcards and stamp passport
As a hiker on the Painter's Way, whether you complete one or all stages, you deserve an award.
On the one hand, you can collect free art postcards with historical views of Saxon Switzerland. Each stage offers a different motif from partners certified as "Hiker-friendly on the Painter's Way".
On the other hand, there is the option to get your hiking stamp card stamped for each stage at the same partners. As a reward, you will receive a certificate. If your stamp card is complete, you will additionally receive a small souvenir.
Award-winning hiking pleasure
Germany’s most beautiful hiking trail
In 2006, the Malerweg in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains was reconstructed using historical documents and re-signposted to meet the quality standards of today’s hikers. Just one year later, *Wandermagazin* named it “Germany’s most beautiful hiking trail”. A year later, it also won the online public vote for “Germany’s most popular hiking trail”. Countless travelogues, blog posts and press articles sing the praises of the Malerweg. They confirm that the Malerweg deserves the title of Germany’s most beautiful hiking trail. In 2016, readers of Globetrotter magazine voted the Malerweg into third place among the world’s most popular trips, behind Patagonia and Iceland. And in 2023, the Malerweg once again secured third place in the public competition “Germany’s Most Beautiful Hiking Trail”.
The Malerweg hiking trail owes its overwhelming success above all to the spectacular landscape of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, which it brings to life in all its diversity. The consistent adherence to the quality criteria of the German Hiking Association for the coveted “Qualitätsweg Wanderbares Deutschland” designation also played a key role.
When designing the trail, the Saxon Switzerland Tourist Board used the leading German quality system for hiking trails as its benchmark. The result is a consistently signposted, varied and scenic hiking trail that rarely runs alongside roads.
Painters' Way Adventure with Accommodation
Comfortable hiking on the Painters' Way with just one base accommodation? Advantages and tips for this can be found here.
Anyone planning a Malerweg hike will quickly realize that it is not always easy to find accommodation for just one night at the end of each stage, especially at short notice. In addition, heavy luggage often has to be carried for the entire duration. Those who want to approach the Malerweg Elbsandsteingebirge in a more relaxed manner book their overnight stay in a central accommodation.
Alternatively, a base camp for the entire Malerweg adventure is sufficient. The excellent public transport offer in the region allows you to start or end all daily stages by bus and train. If your vacation spot has the mobil guest card, this transfer is even included for you. However, overnight options where, for example, two or more stages are explored from one location are also possible. Last but not least, the mobil guest card, which overnight guests receive in almost all places in Saxon Switzerland, facilitates travel to and from the stage start or finish.
The guest card mobil including the use of buses, trains, and ferries in the VVO tariff zones as well as numerous advantages for leisure experiences are available to overnight guests directly from the landlord in the following locations:
Bad Schandau | Gohrisch | Hohnstein | Königstein | Lohmen | Rathmannsdorf | Pirna | Reinhardtsdorf-Schöna | Sebnitz | Stadt Wehlen | Bad Gottleuba - Berggießhübel | Rosenthal-Bielatal | Struppen
With this, you can use public transport in the tariff zones of the Verkehrsverbund Oberelbe (VVO) Pirna (70), Bad Gottleuba (71), Bad Schandau (72) and Neustadt (73) (all tariff zones in Saxon Switzerland), the Kirnitzschtalbahn as well as the cross-border Tisá line 217 during your holiday without an additional ticket.
Excluded are special transport means such as the excursion ship as well as transport means of other companies such as passenger shipping on the Elbe, the ferry in the spa town of Rathen and private bus services. Separate tickets are required for the transport of dogs, bicycles and beyond the tariff zones of the region.
The guest cards are issued directly by the host upon arrival and cannot be purchased.
Please note that the discounts with partners are not necessarily combinable with other offers and discounts.
Here you will find the detailed terms of use and transport conditions of the guest cards.
We particularly recommend Pirna (1st stage to 3rd stage and 8th stage) and Bad Schandau (4th stage to 7th stage). Of course, you can also book only Pirna or Bad Schandau for all 8 stages as the location for your base accommodation. Similarly, Elbe-adjacent locations such as Königstein, Kurort Rathen, Stadt Wehlen, or Schmilka are suitable due to their excellent S-Bahn and bus connections.
The castle town of Hohnstein can also be chosen as a central accommodation location thanks to improved connections and increased frequency in 2025. Even during the winter months from November to March.
The blog post lists the detailed bus and train connections that lead from Pirna, Bad Schandau, or Königstein to the stage starts or back from the stage destinations to the starting point.
You may not always find a room for just one night. Therefore, it is advisable to book a room in one place for two or more nights. This way, you can also walk individual stages "backwards." To make this possible, we present all the stages "backwards" in a blog series.
Our accommodation recommendations for 2 nights in one place:
1st Stage & 8th Stage: Central accommodation in Pirna or Stadt Wehlen
2nd Stage & 9th Stage: Central accommodation in Wehlen or Rathen
2nd Stage & 3rd Stage: Central accommodation in Hohnstein
3rd Stage & 4th Stage: Central accommodation in Bad Schandau or Kirnitzschtal
4th Stage & 5th Stage: Central accommodation in Hinterhermsdorf
5th Stage & 6th Stage: Central accommodation in Schmilka
6th Stage & 7th Stage: Central accommodation in Kurort Gohrisch
7th Stage & 8th Stage: Central accommodation in WeiĂźig
Tip: Accommodation partners "Wanderfreundlich am Malerweg" can be directly requested or booked through the Tourismusverband Sächsische Schweiz.
It is recommended to stay in the Elbe Valley. This is because the S-Bahn trains run every half hour all year round here. The cities of Pirna and Bad Schandau also have a bus station and bridges. The town of Königstein is also an ideal starting point for central accommodation, as many bus lines serve the city in addition to the S-Bahn. Of course, Stadt Wehlen, Kurort Rathen, and Schmilka are also suitable - all located directly on the Elbe and thus right on the S-Bahn route.
Located directly on the Painter's Way, Hohnstein is also suitable in combination with the hourly bus lines to Bad Schandau and Pirna.
Tip: Accommodation partners "Wanderfreundlich am Malerweg" can be requested or booked directly through the Tourismusverband Sächsische Schweiz.
Yes, that is possible! There are various campsites along the Malerweg. They are not always located exactly on the Malerweg. We recommend the following:
1. Stage: Start: Camping Pirna and at the stage destination: Herberge auf dem Kulm (approx. 50 min walk away) or Zeltwiese am Hinterland Hostel
2. Stage: Campingplatz Entenfarm
3. Stage: Zeltplatz Ostrauer MĂĽhle
4. Stage: Camping Thorwaldblick Hinterhermsdorf
5. Stage: no campsite nearby, we recommend Burg Schöna near Schmilka
6. Stage: Caravan Camping Gohrisch, Heymannbaude
7. Stage: Herberge auf dem Kulm & Zeltwiese am Hinterland Hostel
8. Stage: Camping Pirna
Important note: Wild camping is not allowed and can result in high fines!
Wilderness adventurers should take a look at the Forststeig. Here you will find bivouac sites and trekking huts. The cross-border multi-day hiking tour is spectacular in terms of landscape.
The Malerweg adventure is even more enjoyable with the support of a tour operator. The tour operators Corso...die reiseagentur and Augustus TOURS also offer all-inclusive packages for star-shaped hiking tours along the Malerweg.