About the Palatinate Wine Trail

The Pfälzer Weinsteig has an official total length of 185 kilometres, which can be walked in eleven daily stages. Opened in 2010, the long-distance hiking trail is the longest of the three certified hiking trails in the Palatinate Forest, ahead of the Palatinate Forest Trail and the Palatinate High Trail. The trail is marked with a red and white wave and runs in a north-south direction from Bockenheim near Grünstadt to Schweigen-Rechtenbach on the German-French border. It alternates repeatedly between the Palatinate wine-growing region on the German Wine Route and the heights of the Palatinate Forest. In total, there are about 6,000 metres of altitude difference to be climbed along the entire route. Highlights of the tour include the Kalmit, the Weinbiet, Bad Dürkheim, Annweiler with its Trifels group of castles, the Peace Monument and many small winegrowing villages along the way.

We were on the Palatinate Forest Trail in mid-March 2021 and decided to reduce the number of stages to seven, resulting in a daily stage length of about 25 kilometres. Due to the Covid-19 situation in 2021, all accommodation was closed and the nights were still too cool for bivouacking. So we were on the road with two vehicles and always parked one vehicle at the end point in the morning and drove to the starting point with the second vehicle. We spent the night in the vehicle, some of which had very nice places to stay overnight. Have we aroused your interest? Then come with us on our journey along the Palatinate Forest Trail!

Day 6 - From Eußerthal to Klingenmünster

Today the penultimate stage on the Weinsteig from Bockenheim to Schweigen and so we went to the Trifelsland near Annweiler with its many castles and castle ruins. We started in the best spring hiking weather with a deep blue sky. Finally, after the rather overcast and cold weather of the last few days.

From Eußerthal we went straight up steeply into the mountains, past the donkey watering place, which first brought us refreshment ourselves. Fresh spring water can really be very tasty! On the way to Gräfenhausen, we took a short break at Drei-Burgen-Blick. Here we had our first great view of the green meadow landscapes and the Trifelsland.

After Gräfenhausen, the next decent climb was up to Holderquelle and Krappenfels. The vantage point offers a great view over the valley near Annweiler. We continued downhill to Annweiler, with its beautiful old half-timbered houses. We treated ourselves to a delicious ice cream at the Eiswerk (highly recommended) and continued on to Burgenland. We missed Trifels Castle due to complete disorientation. All the signposts pointed to some castle or other, so we lost track of where we were. Also, the official path of the Weinsteig only passes the edge of the castles, so that a detour has to be made to the respective castle or castle ruin. Further on, Münz Castle and Scharfenberg Castle were closed for renovation work, Madenburg Castle and Landeck Castle were generally closed. So we were left almost castle-less and a little disappointed on this day, had it not been for the ruins of Neukastel Castle later on. It offered us a magnificent view of the entire surroundings. The final destination of today's tour was the car park at Landeck Castle near Klingenmünster.

Watch the video of the sixth day on the Pfälzer Weinsteig here

The tour on Komoot