E11 hiking trail
Photo: Maximilian Dörrbecker (Chumwa), CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The E11 Hiking Trail is a 2,560 km hiking trail in Europe through the Netherlands, Germany and Poland. It is one of the eleven footpaths coordinated by the European Ramblers Organization (ERA), also known as (German) Europäische Wandervereinigung (EWV) and (French) Féderation Européenne de la Randonnée Pédestre (FERP).
The day-to-day management of the trail, from marking to re-routing, is performed by the Dutch national ramblers organization Wandelnet, a quango and umbrella organisation of Dutch rambling clubs, some German regional ramblers organizations and the Polish national hiking organization PTTK. In the Netherlands and western Germany, E11 follows regional footpaths (mostly unfit for other means of transport); east of the Harz mountains, E11 was designed after the fall of the Iron Curtain, and can also be covered by bicycle; and in Poland E11 is an amalgam of smaller and larger parts of local and regional trails which one could follow on foot or saddle.
Apart from the Harz mountains, E11 passes through flat or rolling land only. Many parts are covered with forest or at least commercial wood, but open agrarian and unused land is there. Western Germany is crossed on a range of low hills, which came into existence during the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago. After the Harz mountains, hardly any elevation is noticed. E11 often follows waterways for some time, crossing them with a ferry or a bridge, and at times lakes must be surrounded, for example in Masuria in Poland. Among the rivers followed and crossed are the IJssel in the Netherlands, the Elbe and Havel in Germany, the Oder or Odra on the border of Germany and Poland, and the Vistula (Wisła) in Poland.
UnderstandE11 originated in 1980 from a string of short German paths as an international trail between the sister cities of Haarlem in the Netherlands and Osnabrück in Germany and was immediately extended to the Harz mountains.
PrepareThe E11 requires standard long-distance hiking preparation. Ensure you are in peak physical condition and invest in high-quality equipment, specifically professional-grade walking boots and a durable backpack.
Get inThe start of E11 in Scheveningen is easily reached from all corners of the world: fly to Schiphol, the airport of Amsterdam, take one of the very frequent trains to "Den Haag CS", one of the railway stations of The…
WalkWith the exception of the article you are now reading, the precise routing of E11 is not at all documented in the English language.
Stay safeThe biggest danger along E11 is hardly visible: the tick. The danger is not so much in this tiny animal itself, although its bite might occasionally cause an infection. The danger is in the pathogens it may carry.
Go nextE11 ends at the Polish-Lithuanian border post at 3 km from Ogrodniki. The nearest lodgings are in Sejny, 11 km along the main road, or 13 km by following the black trail back and then the red trail to the right.
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "E11 hiking trail" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: Maximilian Dörrbecker (Chumwa), CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons