Germany observation tower
Burgruine Schellenberg
You can see 131 km from here, looking south-east.
Calculating the panorama…
Drag to turn around. The relief is drawn 2.2 times taller so the ridges can be read; far ridges are paler, as in the real air.
The view
Up to 131 km away.
Calculated on the relief one degree at a time, up to 250 km, with the curvature of the Earth and the refraction of the air: what stands above the horizon from here.
Our own rating, from the relief and the climate only: open horizon (35 points), how far you see (25), sea and named peaks in view (20) and clear months (20).
- 131 kmFarthest ridgelooking south-east
- 100%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 357Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 820 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 357 peaks you can name from here
From west to east as you turn around: height, distance and direction. Each one links to its guide on Peakyas, our mountain atlas.
From the relief only: buildings, trees and haze are not in the model. On a hazy day you see much less; 250 km is the limit of our calculation.
The sun
The best sunsets are in April and from July to September.
When the sun really disappears from this viewpoint — behind the relief or into the sea — and in which direction, on the 15th of each month, in local time.
- Jansouth-west2 min before the sea-level sunset18%
- Febwest2 min before the sea-level sunset23%
- Marwest2 min before the sea-level sunset28%
- Aprwest4 min before the sea-level sunset35%
- Maynorth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset29%
- Junnorth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset30%
- Julnorth-west6 min before the sea-level sunset34%
- Augnorth-west2 min before the sea-level sunset35%
- Sepwest4 min before the sea-level sunset35%
- Octwest2 min before the sea-level sunset28%
- Novsouth-west2 min before the sea-level sunset18%
- Decsouth-west2 min before the sea-level sunset16%
- Time: when the sun goes behind the horizon you see from here.
- Minutes: how much earlier the relief hides the sun.
- %: share of clear sky that month (NASA, 2001–2020).
The highlighted months are the clearest. Golden hour starts about an hour before.
The place
Burgruine Schellenberg.
Ruined castle in Georgenberg, Upper Palatinate, Germany
Burgruine Schellenberg is an observation tower in Germany, 820 m above the sea.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 131 km away, looking south-east.
357 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Großer Arber (1,456 m), 87 km away.
The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 100% of the circle.
The skies are clearest in April and from July to September.
Get there and stay
- Going upCheck the opening hours before you go: towers and decks close in bad weather.
- Petrushüttecampsite · 3.8 km · 9 within 10 km
- Familie Schwanitzplace to stay · 3.6 km · 27 within 10 km
- Flossenbürgnearest town · 3.5 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in FlossenbürgBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- Karlovy Vary Airport (KLV)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 64 km in a straight lineCar hire at NUE airport (Nuremberg)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
A guided tour, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above
The viewpoint and its surroundings.
The satellite image of the 6 × 6 km around the viewpoint, with what OpenStreetMap shows nearby.
Around, in OpenStreetMap
- 7other viewpoints within 5 kmBurgweiher - Weg des Granits, Schöne Aussicht, Rozhledna Havran and 4 more
- 56named peaks within 5 kmHavran, Hohenstein, Kogeri and 53 more
- 6cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
- 32marked trails within 3 kmBuchnerweg, Nurtschweg, [Č] Broumov - Železná and 29 more
- 33shelters and huts within 5 kmFritz v. Schelling Hütte, Kreuzstein/Křížový kámen, Gaißloh-Hütte and 30 more
- 8car parks within 3 km
- 1visitor centres within 5 kmInfozentrum Granit
- 2restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 9campsites within 10 kmPetrushütte, Nocoviště Stoupa, Campingplatz Gaisweiher and 6 more
- 27places to stay within 10 kmFamilie Schwanitz, Jugendgästehaus Altglashütte, Biohotel Goldene Zeit and 24 more
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet.
In our other atlases
What you see from Burgruine Schellenberg, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Peakyas121 mountains within 25 km
Lakeyas2 lakes within 15 km
Birdyas2 birding sites within 25 km
Cascadyas1 waterfalls within 15 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.
Photographs
The view, as people saw it.
Other viewpoints nearby.
Burgruine Schellenberg
Germany
- 73Viewyas Score
- 131 kmFarthest ridge
- 357Peaks in view
- 820 mAltitude
Upper Palatinate Tower
Germany · 32 km
- 72Viewyas Score
- 124 kmFarthest ridge
- 636Peaks in view
- 955 mAltitude
Rödlasturm
Germany · 36 km
- 70Viewyas Score
- 112 kmFarthest ridge
- 250Peaks in view
- 575 mAltitude
Rýzmberk Castle
Czechia · 58 km
- 70Viewyas Score
- 111 kmFarthest ridge
- 178Peaks in view
- 640 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q1013867) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Sun | J. Meeus, Astronomical Algorithms |
| Peaks in view | Peakyas (Wikidata, CC0) |
| Panorama and altitude | Copernicus DEM GLO-90 / GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Clouds | NASA POWER (CERES SYN1deg, 2001–2020; MERRA-2) |
| What is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Sister atlases | Peakyas, Lakeyas, Birdyas, Cascadyas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, in seven languages.
beaches
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Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Visit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Visit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Visit 
rivers
Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.Visit 
canyons
Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Visit 
caves
Every cave with its real depth and length: the rock above, the temperature inside all year, and how to visit.Visit 
dark skies
Where the night is still dark: the sky of every place, the Milky Way month by month, the Moon, eclipses and auroras.Visit 
viewpoints
Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are herebirdwatching
Every bird sanctuary and wetland with the species recorded month by month: who is resident, who comes for the summer, who only passes through.Visit 
forests
Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Visit