About Hinanger Waterfall
The Hinanger Waterfall was an eccentric karstic limestone type waterfall featuing some interesting weeping rocks as well as a small natural arch.
Those additional features were what made this one of the most scenic waterfalls of the Allgäu Region.
While its main drop was said to be on the order of 12m or so, there was a long series of cascades (maybe 25m in height or so) throughout the stair-filled hike to get up to the main drop.
Beyond the waterfall, the trail skirted along some impressive overhanging cliffs, which was quite atmospheric.
Personally, I felt the extra scenery and exertion to be well worth the time and effort in addition to just the waterfall itself.
For nomenclature’s sake, I’ve referred to this waterfall as the Hinanger Waterfall (as opposed to the Hinang Waterfall).
That’s because it seemed to be most commonly referred to by its German genitive form of Hinanger Wasserfall.
Hinanger Waterfall Trail Description – ascending to the waterfall
From the parallel parking spots by the trailhead (see directions below), we followed a fairly obvious path towards some mill before crossing a bridge over the Hinangerbach.
Beyond the bridge, the trail would then climb and zig-zag its way across the creek a few times.
Along the way, the trail allowed us a chance to check out several intermediate cascades and waterfalls along the way.
There was no obvious way to take pictures that would convey the extensiveness of these percolating cascades over the limestone slope.
It really was one of those things where you were better off experiencing it in person than trying to take awkward pictures (though I did so anyways).
Eventually towards the top of the climb, the trail then fronted the main drop of the Hinanger Waterfall.
It was difficult even to capture its modest drop in its entirety because of how close the steel bridge was to the waterfall itself.
While examining the immediate area around the base of the falls, we saw that there were percolating springs and weeping rocks around it.
We also noticed some hidden tiny alcoves and even a small natural arch!
Hinanger Waterfall Trail Description – beyond the waterfall
Beyond the Hinanger Waterfall, I continued hiking alongside the base of some impressive overhanging cliffs.
The trail continued its gradual ascent towards the end of the cliffs, where the scenery opened up.
At this point, the trail joined up with other trails that appeared to pass through pastures and lightly forested terrain.
So that was my turnaround point of this out-and-back hike.
Overall, we spent about an hour away from the car.
According to my GPS logs, we hiked around 1.2km round trip.
This did not include the added hike along the base of the cliffs beyond the waterfall, which added another 400m round trip.
Authorities
The Hinanger Waterfall resides near the town of Sonthofen in the state of Bavaria (Bayern), Germany. It may be administered by the Sonthofen government. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you may try visiting their website.
Since the Hinganger Waterfall was roughly half-way between Lindau and Füssen, I’ll describe the driving directions from both of those towns.
Getting to the trailhead gets pretty tricky once you get close because the maps will deceivingly make it seem like you can get there directly from one of the main roads.
However, it’s actually not possible because the trailhead parking access passes beneath a bridge that can only be accessed from the village of Hinang.
Driving from Lindau to the Hinang
Starting from Lindau Island turnoff, we headed east on the Bregenzerstraße towards the roundabout with the B12.
Then, we continued east at that roundabout (first exit) as we drove another 2.5km or so towards the A96 autobahn ramp (following the signs along the way).
We then took the A96 autobahn due north for about 4.5km to the exit 4 (Weißensberg) turning right to go east onto the B12.
Next, we followed the B12 for about 55km towards its junction with B19 near Waltenhofen.
We then headed south (exit 3 on the right) for the B19 due south for another 21km.
At the town of Sonthofen, we took the Oberstdorfer Straße exit, where we then kept right at the fork to head west on Oberstdorferstraße.
Then, we immediately turned left onto Sinwagstraße which then took us about 600m to Stadionweg.
Turning left onto Stadionweg, we then went another 50m to the Freibadstrasße at a roundabout.
Taking the first exit at this roundabout, we then went about another 200m before turning right to go south on Altstädterstraße.
This became Sonthofer Straße as we continued going south on this road.
After 3km (or 600m past Altstädten), we then kept right at a small fork where a narrow road led into the village of Hinang.
Navigating Hinang to the Hinanger Waterfall
Do not make the mistake we made by staying on the left to remain on the main road.
This is the tricky part I was talking about earlier.
After following the narrow road into Hinang for about 500m, we then had to turn left on a very narrow street before the Kirche St Martin.
If you happen to cross the Hinanger Bach, then you missed the correct turnoff.
Use that as these as the landmarks because it’s not that obvious that you have to turn there.
Once on the correct turnoff, we then drove the remaining 400m to the parallel parking spots by the Hinanger Waterfall Trailhead.
This access road crosses under a bridge (that you would have been above if you didn’t go into Hinang).
Parking was limited when we showed up, but if you do score a spot, there was no fee to park here as of June 2018 when we did this hike.
Overall, this drive took us 90 minutes.
Driving from Fussen to Sonthofen
Conversely, if we were coming from Füssen, we’d go west on the A7 autobahn for about 31km before heading west on the A980.
Then after another 5km on the A980, we’d take the offramp to get onto the B19.
Then, we’d follow the directions as above to get from the B19 to Sonthofen and beyond.
For geographical context, Sonthofen was about 64km (an hour drive) east of Lindau, and 61km (under 45 minutes drive) west of Füssen.
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