I have probably said it before, but am willing to say it again – and again: Germany is a paradise for ‘easy hikers’. Easy hikers, since you ask, are people like me who love the great outdoors but who prefer the crisp linen of a hotel bedroom to leaking tents, and a restaurant dinner, rounded off with one or two glasses of wine, to a cold can of baked beans. You sympathize? Then you may read on.

For novice ‘easy hikers’, I strongly recommend a trip to the Rhine. In terms of sheer value, of bang for your buck, a two-day or three-day hike from Koblenz southwards past the Loreley is hard to beat. Castles, vineyards, postcard views – this part of Germany really has it all.

Afterwards, relax for a few days in picturesque Bingen or the old Nibelungen capital of Worms (young Siegfried, Götterdämmerung and all that).

If, after your week in Germany, you do not ask yourself why the place is not literally flooded with tourists from all over the world, you may return to your barren wasteland of a Mediterranean holiday resort and your overpriced steak au poivre.

Intermediate ‘easy hikers’ should try out the Malerweg, literally the ‘Painters’ Route‘, a trail which, unsurprisingly, is strong on picturesque views. It was a source of inspiration for the romantic artist Caspar David Friedrich – his best known work, The Wanderer Above The Mist, gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect.

It was also inspirational for Karl May, Germany’s 19^th century ‘cowboy novelist’ who claimed to have been a famous trapper known as ‘Old Shatterhand’ all across North America. He was an impostor, of course: in truth, the cliffs and canyons of the local Elbsandsteingebirge (the so-called Saxon Switzerland) were the closest he ever got to the real Wild West.

Combine your trip with an excursion to Dresden, once the Florence of the Elbe, and reconstructed after the heavy bombings of WWII, or to Prague, little more than two hours away by train.

For the advanced ‘easy hiker’, I would suggest a trip to the Ruhr, Germany’s old industrial heartland north of Cologne. One word of warning, however: you will need to know where to go. If you simply walk up and down the high streets of the Ruhr’s major cities, chances are – let’s be honest – that you will not want to return, never ever.

Instead, you should leave the town centres behind you to stroll past amazingly picturesque industrial ruins, romantically dishevelled brownfield sites and landscapes that are slowly being reclaimed from man’s corrupting influence.

It’s nature – and Germany – but not as we know it.

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It’s not easy listing the mountain ranges in Germany; the Alps, yes, and the Harz. Possibly the Swabian Alps and the Eifel, although the latter’s volcanoes don’t actually look much like mountains. But there’s one other range that definitely looks mountainlike, although it rarely gets higher than 550 metres: Saxon Switzerland, the German section of the Elbe Sandstone Mountain range, which extends across the border into the Czech Republic.

What they lack in height, the sandstone peaks of Saxon Switzerland, southeast of Dresden, more than make up for in drama. They rise steeply in fingers and thumbs of bare rock, over 1,000 of them, several of them towering over the meandering river Elbe, which is partly responsible for carving them in the first place.

What they lack in height they more than make up for in drama

They make ideal climbing territory, and over the years Saxon Switzerland has become a magnet for the climbing community, thanks to the purist so-called ‘Saxon rules’ which were drawn up here limiting the amount of artificial assistance a climber may use. This has since become known as ‘free climbing’, with ropes and bolts only used for protection, but never as a means for climbing. One Saxon peculiarity is the concept of a Baustelle (literally ‘construction site’) where climbers pass a difficult part by climbing on top of each other’s shoulders.

Much of the unusual landscape is protected by the Saxon Switzerland National Park, one of whose aims is actually to limit the human presence in order to maintain one of Europe’s few pristine natural environments. In places its fissures and canyons make it look a bit like a more wooded version of Arizona’s Monument Valley, and it is almost as thinly populated.

Some buildings are in the most inaccessible places, such as the Felsenburg Neurathen castle, built in the 11th Century on the Bastei, natural stone towers above the Elbe, from where it dominated the landscape for three centuries until burned by a besieging army in 1484. Sadly there is little left but ruins, but people come here for the view, and a bridge has been built between the towers to accommodate the increasing tourist traffic.

The other big tourist attraction is the spa town of Bad Schandau, down on the banks of the Elbe, where thousands of visitors come for the mineral water and the invigorating climate. Bad Schandau is only 45 minutes from the centre of Dresden – or rather longer if you choose to make the journey on one of Dresden’s famous old paddlesteamers. A great way to arrive.

The Saxon Switzerland National Park.