Great bike ride south
The Thuringian Forest is easy to reach from Erfurt by car and train. But you can also do it by bike.
Variant 1
The path to the Thuringian Forest and thus also to the Hohe Warte leads via the Gera cycle path. Simply drive towards Bachstelzen Cafe/Möbisburg and we will be on the right path.
This then leads through Arnstadt/Plaue to the foot of the Thuringian Forest near Elgersburg. From there it goes steeply uphill. To reach the Hohe Warte, turn left off the actual cycle path.
You can then drive back “down” to Ilmenau. There you have the option of taking the train back to Erfurt.
Variant 2
At Arnstadt we take a “detour”. This leads to the Käfernburg near Angelhausen-Oberndorf, a district of Arnstadt. There is a nice view of the city here:
Then it goes through the city forest from Arnstadt to Dannheim. Over the ridge of the Reinsberge we then reach the Gera cycle path near Siegelbach. After enjoying these additional meters of altitude, we continue as in variant 1.
Variant 3
It doesn't matter whether you arrived in Ilmenau with option 1 or 2. Option 3 is about getting back to Erfurt by bike without any aid such as the train - on an attractive route.
We reach the Hayda dam via the Unterpörlitz district.
Then we head for the town of Reinsfeld to drive up into the Reinsberge. The view from up there is really beautiful in many places:
Now it's time to get down to Dosdorf. There you will meet again on the Gera cycle path and can easily get to Erfurt. If you think that variant 3 is okay, but that the claim to get back without any aids such as the train cannot be implemented quite so dogmatically, you can also go to the train station/Arnstadt. That would be variant 4 and there are many more. That's in your hands.
Conclusion:
Anyone who rides variant 3 with variant 2 will cover 105 km with an altitude difference of 1350 meters. Variant 2 is approx. 60 km. This is for orientation. There are several train stations along the route - so the tour can be customized in many different ways.