Germany observation tower
Kreuzchen
You can see 88 km from here, looking north.
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 88 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).
- 88 kmFarthest ridgelooking north
- 98%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 46Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 409 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 46 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 in 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-west14 min before the sea-level sunset20%
- Febwest16 min before the sea-level sunset23%
- Marwest20 min before the sea-level sunset28%
- Aprwest22 min before the sea-level sunset37%
- Maynorth-west24 min before the sea-level sunset31%
- Junnorth-west26 min before the sea-level sunset30%
- Julnorth-west24 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Augwest22 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Sepwest22 min before the sea-level sunset35%
- Octwest16 min before the sea-level sunset29%
- Novsouth-west14 min before the sea-level sunset22%
- Decsouth-west16 min before the sea-level sunset20%
- 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
Kreuzchen.
Small observation tower near Arnstadt
Kreuzchen is an observation tower in Germany, 409 m above the sea.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 88 km away, looking north.
46 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Großer Beerberg (983 m), 22 km away.
The horizon is open, below your eyes, over 98% of the circle.
The skies are clearest in April and in September.
Get there and stay
- Going upCheck the opening hours before you go: towers and decks close in bad weather.
- Stellplatz Sport- und Freizeitbad Arnstadtcampsite · 2.6 km · 3 within 10 km
- Hotelpark Stadtbrauerei Arnstadtplace to stay · 1.7 km · 45 within 10 km
- Arnstadtnearest town · 2.9 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in ArnstadtBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- Erfurt-Weimar Airport (ERF)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 18 km in a straight lineCar hire at LEJ airport (Schkeuditz)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
- 29other viewpoints within 5 kmKönigsstuhl, Schöne Aussicht, Bastei and 26 more
- 39named peaks within 5 kmHaartberg, Wachsenburg, Schloßberg and 36 more
- 10marked trails within 3 kmVon Bach zu Goethe, Jakobsweg Erfurt - Coburg, Hauptwanderweg Eisenach - Jena and 7 more
- 82shelters and huts within 5 kmWaldfrieden and 81 more
- 313car parks within 3 km
- 4visitor centres within 5 kmmoVeas - Servicezentrale Betriebshof, IOV Servicecenter, Tourist-Information Arnstadt and 1 more
- 40restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 3campsites within 10 kmStellplatz Sport- und Freizeitbad Arnstadt, Campingplatz Drei Gleichen, Kickelhähnchen
- 45places to stay within 10 kmHotelpark Stadtbrauerei Arnstadt, Haus Merten, Ferienwohnung Kensche and 42 more
- cable car and funicular stations within 5 km
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 Kreuzchen, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Peakyas240 mountains within 25 km
Birdyas6 birding sites within 25 km
Darkskyas2 dark-sky places within 30 km
Cavernyas1 caves within 20 km
Riveryasthe river nearbyFigures 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.
Kreuzchen
Germany
- 65Viewyas Score
- 88 kmFarthest ridge
- 46Peaks in view
- 409 mAltitude
Alteburg Tower
Germany · 1 km
- 69Viewyas Score
- 111 kmFarthest ridge
- 206Peaks in view
- 388 mAltitude
Fröbel-Tower
Germany · 31 km
- 75Viewyas Score
- 143 kmFarthest ridge
- 563Peaks in view
- 784 mAltitude
Luisen tower
Germany · 30 km
- 73Viewyas Score
- 127 kmFarthest ridge
- 442Peaks in view
- 509 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q22814267) · 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, Birdyas, Darkskyas, Cavernyas, Riveryas |
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?
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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 
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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 
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Every viewpoint with its real 360° panorama: the peaks you can name, how far you see and where the sun sets.You are herebirdwatching
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Every forest with its land-cover rings, what grows and lives in it, and the best months to walk it.Visit