Haguenau forest: trails, wildlife and starting points

Undivided ownership is a legal peculiarity inherited from a royal ordinance of 1696, under Louis XIV, establishing joint ownership in equal shares between the town of Haguenau and the State. That rule has not moved since: the two owners share the forest without the land being split into separate plots, and management is entrusted to the French forestry office, the ONF. The undivided forest proper covers 13,400 hectares.

It belongs to a wider massif of about 21,000 hectares, presented by the ONF as the sixth largest lowland forest in France. The whole measures roughly 30 kilometres from west to east and 10 kilometres from north to south. The undivided forest carries the Forêt d’Exception label, obtained in January 2020 and renewed for 2025 to 2031, around three themes: environmental education, balance between forest and game, cross-border cooperation.

The Gros-Chêne clearing is the main visitor site. The ONF counts about 300,000 visits a year there, out of 600,000 for the forest as a whole. Most waymarked routes, cycle circuits and fitness trails start from it. The place takes its name from a remarkable oak of which a remnant survives, the tree having been struck by lightning in 1913. A historic forest inn stands on the site.

The site gathers several points of interest within a small area, which makes it a good start with children: play areas, picnic tables, discovery trails and a loop laid out for people with reduced mobility. You can also see the Saint-Arbogast chapel, reconstructed burial mounds and a contemporary monument by Gloria Friedmann. Allow half a day if you combine the walk with a stop.

The massif has about 200 kilometres of waymarked trails, alongside cycle circuits and fitness trails. Several routes are themed: the Schierlach circuit follows the water, the potters’ trail crosses wetlands, and a playful walk is laid out for families. There is next to no gradient and the soils are sandy: walking stays easy, but closed shoes are preferable after rain.

The trail map can be downloaded online and is available at the Pays de Haguenau tourist office. Pick it up before setting off: the waymarking is sound, but forest junctions look much alike and the canopy limits landmarks. Three places serve as practical anchors for building a loop, each reachable from the main paths and easy to locate on the paper map.

The make-up of the massif is what sets it apart: sessile and pedunculate oak and Scots pine grow naturally mixed there, on the plain. The ONF sees in it the only representative in France of central European mixed forests. The soil explains much: acid sand, dotted with clay lenses that hold water. Hence this mosaic of habitats within a few hundred metres, between marshes, inland dunes and more fertile alluvial areas.

As for wildlife, deer, wild boar and woodpeckers are the most common residents. The massif also shelters protected species monitored under Natura 2000: stag beetle, yellow-bellied toad, great crested newt, black woodpecker and Tengmalm’s owl. Six biological reserves totalling about 250 hectares complete the picture. To identify what you come across, the ONF offers a free app, Clés de forêt, covering 82 species.

The forest floor holds about 600 burial mounds from the Bronze and Iron Ages, spread across 23 necropolises. The ONF describes it as one of the most significant funerary ensembles in Europe. More than 750 burials have been excavated, and their contents are now shown at the Haguenau historical museum. The reconstructed mounds visible at the Gros-Chêne give an idea of what these hillocks looked like before erosion.

The more recent layers can be read too. The religious presence from the 5th century onwards earned the massif the nickname of holy forest. The Second World War left more than a hundred Maginot Line structures there. And the forest remains a place of production: about 40,000 cubic metres of timber a year, with very high grade cooperage oak, and sixteen oaks taken for the rebuilding of the spire of Notre-Dame in Paris.

The massif can be walked all year, with distinct moods by season. Spring brings out the wetlands and birdsong, the best time for the bird observatory. In summer, the mixed canopy of oak and pine holds the cool better than a pure stand. Autumn gives the colours and the rutting call. Winter opens up the views and makes the burial mounds easier to read, once the low vegetation has gone.

Each year the ONF puts together a programme of guided outings under the title Trésors cachés de la forêt indivise de Haguenau, spread from March to December. The themes turn on biodiversity, history and forest management. Booking is required for most outings, and the meeting point is given at the time of booking: it changes from one visit to the next. It is the best way in to understanding the massif beyond a walk.

Going back into town extends the outing rather well. The Alsatian museum occupies the former chancellery, a building put up around 1486 that housed the administration of the free town until 1790, completed with neo-Gothic towers in 1903. The collections cover everyday life in 19th-century Alsace: regional dress, painted furniture, reverse glass paintings, faience and cast-iron stoves. A potter’s workshop has been reconstructed there.

That detour throws light on the potters’ trail crossed in the forest: the local clay fed a long ceramic tradition, with Soufflenheim earthenware and Betschdorf stoneware, both represented in the cases. The museum also holds a replica of the astronomical clock built in Ulm in 1581 by the Swiss clockmaker Isaac Habrecht. The two municipal museums are a few minutes’ walk from each other, in the centre.