Papststein, Mountain summit in Saxon Switzerland, Germany

Papststein is a sandstone summit reaching 451 meters in Saxon Switzerland, rising distinctly from the surrounding forest. The peak features a mountain inn and accessible trails from the nearby village below.

Papststein was first documented in 1496 as "Bogerßdorfer Stein". A path existed by 1780, and in 1829 the royal Saxon forest administration cleared part of the summit plateau to improve the view. Prince Friedrich August climbed it in 1830, and the mountain inn followed in 1862.

The name Papststein only became usual in the early 19th century; earlier records call it Bogerßdorfer Stein (1496), Babsdorffer Stein and Pabstdorffer Stein. The three climbing summits here are Große Hunskirche, Kleine Hunskirche and Papst, with over 120 routes; Große Hunskirche was first climbed in 1880 and Kleine Hunskirche in 1893 by a rope team around Oscar Schuster.

Three marked ascents reach the summit: from the west, east and north. The west-to-east route over the plateau is marked with a red dot and runs from Königstein via the Gohrisch toward Krippen; since 2006 it forms part of the Malerweg and since 2018 of the Forststeig Elbsandstein. The old 1780 path, the "Alter Weg", is no longer walkable.

The 1972 rockfall on the south side sent a 15-metre-high, 12-metre-wide wall of up to 4,000 cubic metres crashing down, leaving a clearing over 30 metres wide that is still visible in the forest today.