Germany observation tower
Hochheideturm
You can see 147 km from here, looking north-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 147 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).
- 147 kmFarthest ridgelooking north-east
- 100%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 887Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 828 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 887 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 sunset19%
- Febwest2 min before the sea-level sunset22%
- Marwest4 min before the sea-level sunset28%
- Aprwestsets on an open horizon34%
- Maynorth-west2 min before the sea-level sunset30%
- Junnorth-westsets on an open horizon28%
- Julnorth-west2 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Augnorth-westsets on an open horizon32%
- Sepwest2 min before the sea-level sunset33%
- Octwest2 min before the sea-level sunset28%
- Novsouth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset20%
- Decsouth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset19%
- 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
Hochheideturm.
Observation tower on Ettelsberg mountain
Hochheideturm is an observation tower in Germany, 828 m above the sea.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 147 km away, looking north-east.
887 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Großer Feldberg (879 m), 117 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 upfree entryOfficial site↗
- Sporthaus Kesper Skiverleihcampsite · 1.6 km · 32 within 10 km
- Zum Paradiesplace to stay · 1.5 km · 517 within 10 km
- Willingennearest town · 1.9 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in WillingenBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- Paderborn Lippstadt Airport (PAD)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 37 km in a straight lineCar hire at PAD airport (Büren)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
- 31other viewpoints within 5 kmEhrenmal and 30 more
- 46named peaks within 5 kmGoldstein, Feldstein, Istenberg and 43 more
- 16cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
- 28marked trails within 3 kmMedebacher Bergweg, Upland-Weserbergland-Weg, X25 Hunauweg and 25 more
- 58shelters and huts within 5 kmSchutzhütte Echternschlade, Am Krutenberg and 56 more
- 124car parks within 3 km
- 3visitor centres within 5 kmTourist-Information Willingen, Touristinformation
- 50restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 32campsites within 10 kmSporthaus Kesper Skiverleih, Ritzhagen bei Willingen, Diemelquelle and 29 more
- 517places to stay within 10 kmZum Paradies, Magdalenenhof, Sporthotel Zum Hohen Eimberg and 514 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 Hochheideturm, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Figures 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.

Gillerberg Observation Tower
Germany · 46 km
- 75Viewyas Score
- 140 kmFarthest ridge
- 322Peaks in view
- 653 mAltitude

Schomberg Observation Tower
Germany · 42 km
- 71Viewyas Score
- 118 kmFarthest ridge
- 383Peaks in view
- 638 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q1621883) · 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, Forestyas, Birdyas, Cavernyas, 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.




