Goats in the Steffeln volcano garden

Some preserved crater filling, an extremely informative tour and goats as landscapers - the volcano garden Steffeln is worth your visit.

The inner life of the volcanoes is particularly impressive to experience in the Steffeln volcano garden. The excavation of the Steffelberg exposed the layers that formed during the eruptions in the volcanic crater.

The volcano Steffelberg, which was originally 609 metres high, has lost around sixty metres in a century due to the mining of volcanic slag. But the “hole in the landscape” revealed something else: the different layers of volcanic eruptions, which now show how complex the eruption was when looking into the crater. Fine and coarse material, lappilli and ash alternate. In the area of the former vent from which the glowing material rose, two basalt channels intersect – a unique characteristic of the Steffenkopf. It was formed when, after a first big eruption, hot lava rose again and formed a kind of lake.

During the high season, the Eifelverein offers guided tours every Wednesday from Steffeln, where the church and the former rectory stand on a lava tuff ring. In addition, there are geo-special excursions led by expert guides.


Here the goat becomes the gardener!

During your tour through the volcano garden you will learn many interesting facts at 15 information stations. In order to preserve the interesting geological findings in the volcanic garden and to prevent the plant from being completely overgrown by vegetation, a herd of goats is being used in the volcanic garden as a landscape gardener as part of an ecological grazing project.

The goat herd has only one mission: to feed to preserve biodiversity and landscape. And they do it really well!

Visitors are asked to close the gate when entering and leaving the volcano garden so that none of the four-legged friends leave the area.