Germany observation tower
Schindhübel Tower
You can see 135 km from here, looking south.
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 135 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).
- 135 kmFarthest ridgelooking south
- 100%Open horizonof the circle where the horizon is below your eyes
- 304Peaks in viewnamed summits that rise above the relief in front
- 575 mAltitudeabove the sea, at the highest point of the viewpoint
The 304 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 sunset20%
- Febwest2 min before the sea-level sunset25%
- Marwest2 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Aprwest4 min before the sea-level sunset37%
- Maynorth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset31%
- Junnorth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset32%
- Julnorth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset36%
- Augwest4 min before the sea-level sunset36%
- Sepwest2 min before the sea-level sunset38%
- Octwest2 min before the sea-level sunset29%
- Novsouth-west4 min before the sea-level sunset20%
- Decsouth-west2 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
Schindhübel Tower.
Observation tower on Schíndhübel mountain near Elmstein
Schindhübel Tower is an observation tower in Germany, 575 m above the sea.
On a clear day the farthest ridge you can see is 135 km away, looking south.
304 named peaks rise above the relief in front; the most prominent is Großer Feldberg (879 m), 109 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.
- Gasthaus-Pension Waldesruhe Wohnmobilstellplatzcampsite · 3.3 km · 10 within 10 km
- Hotel Restaurant Waldschlösselplace to stay · 2.7 km · 38 within 10 km
- Elmsteinnearest town · 6.1 km in a straight linePlaces to stay in ElmsteinBooking.com · sponsored link↗
- Mannheim-City Airport (MHG)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 49 km in a straight lineCar hire at FKB airport (Rheinmünster)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
- 21other viewpoints within 5 kmRehfels, Ehrenfels, Schindhübelturm and 18 more
- 23named peaks within 5 kmKurfürstenstuhl, Eulenberg, Niederer Oselkopf and 20 more
- 28marked trails within 3 kmPfälzerwald Gelb-Roter Balken, Saar-Rhein-Main-Weg Teil 1, Pfälzerwald Blau-Roter Balken and 25 more
- 15shelters and huts within 5 kmGrillhütte, Schutzhütte Klaffental, Erhardshütte and 12 more
- 9car parks within 3 km
- 1visitor centres within 5 kmTouristinformation Elmstein
- 2restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- 10campsites within 10 kmGasthaus-Pension Waldesruhe Wohnmobilstellplatz, Biosphärenerlebniscamp Geiswiese, Elmstein and 7 more
- 38places to stay within 10 kmHotel Restaurant Waldschlössel, Gasthaus Pension Waldesruhe, Waldschänke Hornesselwiese and 35 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 Schindhübel Tower, and what is near.
Everything around this viewpoint — mountains, water, forests, birds, caves and the night sky — in the family's atlases.
Peakyas459 mountains within 25 km
Birdyas2 birding sites within 25 kmFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, OpenStreetMap, GBIF). Links open when each site is online.
Other viewpoints nearby.
Schindhübel Tower
Germany
- 75Viewyas Score
- 135 kmFarthest ridge
- 304Peaks in view
- 575 mAltitude
Eschkopf tower
Germany · 2 km
- 77Viewyas Score
- 161 kmFarthest ridge
- 385Peaks in view
- 612 mAltitude
Luitpold tower
Germany · 9 km
- 77Viewyas Score
- 154 kmFarthest ridge
- 361Peaks in view
- 611 mAltitude
Schänzel Tower
Germany · 11 km
- 77Viewyas Score
- 171 kmFarthest ridge
- 425Peaks in view
- 615 mAltitude
Where these figures come from
| Name and type | Wikidata (Q19964786) · 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, Forestyas, Birdyas |
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
Find your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit 
lakes
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