Germany’s Ahr Valley (Rotweinwanderweg)
Ad for Altenahr Wine Festival
In October, as the leaves started turning from green to brown in the Netherlands, we decided to leave the country to find some good old fashion fall colors. We took the train from Den Haag to Cologne, and from there took the regional train down to the Ahr Valley. The Ahr Valley’s main attraction is the wonderful “Rotweinwanderweg”, or the Red Wine Hiking Trail. This 35 kilometer (21 mile) long path winds through the vineyard terraces and connects the winegrower’s villages in the “Valley of the Red Grape”. The plan was to start in Altenahr, at the westernmost point of the trail, then hike our way eastward until we reached the town of Ahrweiler.
Lindsey looking at the trail map for the Red Wine Hiking Trail
We found a hotel in the town of Mayschoss, which happened to be having a wine festival that weekend. This small town, with a population of 1000, must have tripled in size that weekend for the numerous tourists coming to taste the wine. They had plenty of wine caves and tasting rooms to accommodate the wine purchasers.
One of the many wine cellars around the region
Upon arriving late Friday night we headed out to grab dinner at a local restaurant, but forgot to bring our German dictionary. The menu was entirely in German and the waiter didn’t speak any English, which made the experience that much more interesting. The next morning we got an early start in the town of Altenahr, then began hiking eastward.
A typical view in one of the many small villages we explored. This one is Altenahr.
The trail took us high up on the ridge lines, down to the local towns, right through the middle of the vineyards, and through wooded forests. Every turn surprised us with another fantastic view of a little town.
Many of the villages we passed through were small, picturesque villages. This one is Mayschoss.
We stopped plenty of times to take scenic pictures. Working on my modeling career here.
Posing, amongst the vines
There were plenty of stops along the trail, with the local wineries offering tastings for cheap prices. We often stopped to try out the Spatburgunder and Fruhburgunder wines. They always asked if you wanted the trocken, halbtrocken, or suss wein - translation: dry, half dry, or sweet wines.
They had wine tastings set up along the trail, and let you buy the bottles directly from them.
We found the quality of wines in the region to be fantastic, especially the slightly older and more expensive wines. We ended up buying (and hiking with) 6 bottles, most of them Spatburgunder trocken wines.
This wine is called "Spatburgunder", which basically means a late harvested burgundy grape. Delicious!
The colors throughout the hikes were gorgeous. The red grape leaves had started turning color to red, while the white grape leaves had started turning color to yellow.
The colorful changing leaves and delicious grapes
We ended our trip by hiking into the beautiful walled city, Ahrweiler. This town had plenty of areas to explore with numerous restaurants and shops.
We ended our trip by hiking into the town of Ahrweiler, an old walled city.
This was a fantastic trip, there might need to be a repeat next fall! Click here to see the entire album of pictures!