The legend and the view

No German "Devil's Bridge" is complete without its tale, and Inzigkofen's runs like this: the master builder, handed the commission by the prince, threw up his hands and cried that the Devil himself might build the wretched thing—it would not be his hands doing it. The Devil obliged, on the condition that the soul of the first creature to cross would be his. When the arch was finished, the cunning builder sent a scruffy dog scampering over, and the Devil was cheated of his due. The story is retold on the information boards along the path and is part of the bridge's charm.↗↗

The real spectacle is the panorama. From the middle of the arch your eye follows the Danube out to the equally sheer cliffs on the far bank—scenery so evocative it inspired the 20th-century poet Josef Schatz. Seen from a distance, the bridge curves over the chasm "like the back of a dragon," as one hiker put it, with the river winding far below. After crossing, the path threads the Felsentor and opens onto further viewpoints, notably the west-facing Känzele rock ledge, prized for sunsets.↗↗↗

Walking the Princely Park and beyond

The bridge is the centrepiece of a web of waymarked trails rather than a drive-up stop. A light and very popular option is the roughly 4 km loop connecting the suspension footbridge over the Danube, the Amalienfelsen viewpoint, the grottoes and the Teufelsbrücke—an hour or so of gentle walking. For a fuller day, the premium Kloster-Felsenweg, part of the DonauFelsenLäufe network, circles some 13 km from the village of Laiz, linking the bridge with the Inzigkofer Grotten, the ruined castle of Gebrochen Gutenstein perched on its rock pinnacle, the wild little Schmeietal and a scatter of named rock formations.↗↗↗

The modern counterpart to the old arch is the Hängebrücke, a near-transparent, web-like pedestrian suspension bridge added as part of the Young Danube landscape park, swinging across the river between the park's two halves and offering its own fine angle on the Amalienfelsen and the gorge. Along the way you'll also pass the former Kloster Inzigkofen—a women's religious house founded in 1354, later Augustinian, secularised in 1803 and today home to a farm museum—set within a landscape park that, since the 1848–49 era, has been open to "every decent person" to stroll.↗↗

Making the visit

The park and bridge sit inside the Upper Danube Nature Park and are open around the clock; there is no gate or ticket at the bridge itself. The classic starting point is the hall car park in Laiz, reached by road over the Danube bridge from Sigmaringen, with a bus link from Sigmaringen station via the Leopoldplatz; the shorter park loop can also be started near the Römerhalle in Inzigkofen. For refreshments, the Parkstüble café in the grounds is typically open afternoons and Sunday mornings, with a bakery at the Laiz start point.↗↗

A few things to plan for: the footpaths are natural-surfaced and steep, with rock ledges and stairways that get slippery in the wet, so wear proper footwear and bring trekking poles if you have them. The bridge has a genuine exposure drop and only a low parapet—worth skipping if heights trouble you. The trails fall within a protected nature reserve, so stay on the waymarked routes, and note that the area around Gebrochen Gutenstein has had storm-damage closures in recent years, with signed diversions in place. Weekends, public holidays and sunny spells bring crowds; a weekday visit lets you cross the Teufelsbrücke more or less to yourself.↗↗↗

As a side trip, the bridge pairs well with the town of Sigmaringen and its hilltop castle, the sweeping Danube gorges of nearby premium walks, and the gentle river meadows of the Young Danube. If you have one aim only, make it the Höll gorge: stand at the top of the steps, cross the arch with the river far beneath you, and you'll understand why a 19th-century princess and a folk legend conspired to make this one small bridge unforgettable.↗