Category Archives: Germany

Germany, Hiking, Nutshell

Wuerttembergischer Weinwanderweg: Trail in a Nutshell

 

Trail Name: Wuerttembergischer Weinwanderweg

Trail Type: Long distance; often but not always paved, fairly well maintained, but the route itself is not always marked in critical places.

Length:

(Total: 470 kilometers / 292 miles)

Segments Covered in this Post: circa 27 kilometers / 17.5 miles

Convenient to: Stuttgart, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany

Marking: Red grape bunch on a white background (on a sign, painted on walls or trees, on stickers adhering to posts)

W4 Trail Marking
W4 Trail Marking

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Germany, Hiking

Training to Hike

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Stuttgart is a huge metropolis, connected by an extensive rail system. Using Stuttgart’s subway/urban rail system trains, the “S-Bahn” in German, I hiked along the southern end of the 470 kilometer-long (292 miles) wine hiking trail known as the Wuerttembergischer Weinwanderweg. The W4, I as refer to it below for expeditious reasons, wends its way through the quiet, green belt surrounding the Stuttgart region, encompassing its vineyards in the Neckar and Rems Valleys.

Stuttgart’s public transportation system is extremely efficient, and unbelievably inexpensive with a tourist pass. To prove the point, over two weekends there I decided to hike the southern-most sections of the W4, using my three-day, all-network passes. Leaving from downtown Stuttgart, I headed to the town of  Marbach on the  the S-4 line. Famous as the home of the great German author Schiller, Marbach is the site of the northern-most conjunction of Stuttgart’s S-Bahn system and the W4. About 30 minutes later, I was on the trail, passing through the charming old town, high above the Neckar River.

Old Marbach
Old Marbach

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Germany, Wines

Wine Notes: Wuerttemberg’s Unterland

 

What I Learned

Wuerttemberg is a large and diverse wine region. Throughout the region red varietals tend to predominate, especially the Trollinger variety. The Wuerttembergische Weinwanderweg trail through greater Stuttgart essentially covered two of Wuerttemberg’s six wine districts. This post covers the first one, to the north of Stuttgart.

Wuerttembergisch Unterland is the name of the wine district around Marbach and Benningen facing each other on opposite sides of the Neckar. Then Hoheneck (part of Ludwigsburg) and its counterparts on the opposite shore, Neckarweiher and Poppenweiler. The southern-most section of this district continues to around Affalterbach.

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Germany, Hiking, Nutshell

Wuerttembergischer Weinwanderweg: Trail in a Nutshell

 

Trail Name: Wuerttembergischer Weinwanderweg

Trail Type: Long distance; almost exclusively paved, fairly well maintained, but the route itself is not always marked in critical places.

Length:

(Total: 470 kilometers / 292 miles)

Segments Covered in this Post: 47 km / 29 miles

Convenient to: Stuttgart, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany

Marking: Red grape bunch on a white background (on a sign, painted on walls or trees, on stickers adhering to posts)

W4 Trail Marking
W4 Trail Marking

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Germany, Hiking

Hiking, Wine, and Christmas Markets

 

December: Often a cold month, and the month with the shortest days of the year. But along the Moselle, temperatures can be mild in December, and the short days are celebrated, as they are throughout Germany, with Christmas Markets! Anyone who has been to Germany during December knows what fun these can be.

Traditionally, Christmas Markets open at the beginning of Advent, (usually around the last weekend of November), and run until Christmas Eve. Usually set up in the town square (or squares!), they offer hand-made crafts, Christmas items (such as tree decorations, Christmas-themed table linens, nutcrackers and smoker men), live entertainment, and food and drink. Wine plays a role here too, as Gluehwein, or warm mulled wine, is a popular drink. Red or white, the Gluehwein not only helps warm chilled hands and feet, it also helps warm the heart. At Christmas Markets, Christmas cheer is evident, even if the weather can be cold.

Christmas Market Gluehwein Stall
Christmas Market Gluehwein Stall

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Germany, Wines

Wine Notes: Mittelmosel’s Bernkastel

 

What I Learned:

Along the Moselle River valley wine region, there are three sections: The Upper Moselle area, the Middle Moselle area, and the Lower Moselle. This post addresses wines and wine production in a small area of the right bank of the Middle Moselle, between Bernkastel and Trarbach. (For more information about this region’s wines, read here: http://www.winecountrywandering.com/wine-notes-moselles-bernkastel-district/.)

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Germany, Hiking, Nutshell

Bernkastel to Trarbach: Trail in a Nutshell

 

Trail Name: Bernkastel-Kues to Traben-Trarbach

Trail Type: Short distance trail; much of it paved, some of it grassy, the rest is dirt trail; well maintained, but the markings are not exclusive to this route, and change in places.

Length: total: 6.5 kilometers/ 4 miles

Convenient to: Koblenz or Trier, Germany

Marking: Multiple signs indicate the direction to “Traben-Trarbach” (or “Bernkastel” if going the opposite way); Gold lizards on a red heart on a red square marked this trail the first part of the way; Once atop the hill, “T-6”  and “Mosel Erlebnis Route”, were also signs on this same trail all the way to Trarbach. (See the featured photograph above, and red sign in the first photo below.)

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Biking, Germany

From the Rhine to the Wine

I loved this trail even before I rode it. The name says it all. And what could be better than an afternoon on the Rhine, with a glass of wine in hand?

The Suedliche Weinstrasse in the southern Pfalz is one of my favorite regions in Germany. It is a small area, bounded by the Rhine to the east, and the Haardt Mountains to the west, with little wine villages studding the countryside in between. Therefore, this trail covers it all for cycling families looking for the quintessential wine-themed bike ride in Germany.

From the Mountains, to the Plains
From the Mountains, to the Plains

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