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Old Town of Saverne in the Southern Vosges Mountains

Barr – Kaysersberg

Medieval Alsace 3: Southern Vosges

8 Days / 7 Nights
Walking
Old Town of Saverne in the Southern Vosges Mountains

The XII century castles chain prospered along the Southern Vosges. Your hike presents an exceptional panorama on the Rhine plain and on the Black Forest. Breathe the atmosphere of the Alsace region through its typical villages on the Wine Route, experience new feelings in one of its wine cellar, visit castles such as the Haut-Koenigsburg, and simply have a taste of Alsace local gastronomy and culture.

The Eurohike walking holiday to medieval Alsace starts with a full program. A total of three castles can be visited on Day 2 and this allows the enthusiastic hikers to delve into the medieval era. The next stages take you for several hours over the beautiful vineyards of the region up to the Haut-Königsbourg Castle. This castle is not only impressive but also has an exceptionally beautiful location. On a rock plateau at an altitude of 757 metres, it attracts around 600 000 visitors every year.

  • Wine village Dieffenthal: Between the towns of Willer and Dammbach-la-Ville lies a village, where great importance is attached to the juice of the grape. Ancient and known from Roman times, the pretty village offers a rich cultural life.
  • 13th century ramparts: from the Saint-Hippolyte wine route, you march to Ribeauvillé. In the middle of the Alsatian wine region is the village of Bergheim with its historic city walls.
  • Saint Alexis chapel: 100 steps lead up to the keep and give you a view of Mount Kayserberg just like on a picture-postcard.

Pleasure is highly regarded in Alsace. This is also the case on this Eurohike holiday. In addition to numerous cultural impressions, mostly easy to moderately difficult hiking trails lead through the wine-growing scenery on well-signposted paths. You walk around 5 to 6 hours per day, hence a good fitness level is required.

Itinerary at a glance

Culture, history, and winemaking await you on your tour through the Southern Vosges. Medieval sites meet charming wine villages, and in between, you can visit Haut-Koenigsbourg Castle and the Saint-Alexis Chapel.

Arrival in Barr, a very attractive village with beautiful and typical houses.

The path goes from the famous wine village of Barr to Andlau through the beautiful castles of Landsberg and Haut-Andlau, a castle with two characteristic towers dominating the Kirneck valley with Barr to the North and the Andlau valley to the South.

Today you pass by the Alsatian vineyard and the Wine Route. You walk around Ungersberg (901 m) and visit the castle of Bernstein before beginning the way down towards the wine grower village of Dieffenthal.

Paths go through woods and vineyards and lead to the landmark Castle of the Haut-Koenigsbourg. Reaching 750 metres at its highest point, the top of the Haut-Koenigsbourg castle looks majestically over the Wine Trail and the Alsace plain. This castle is one of the most popular monuments in France with 600.000 visitors a year. You arrive in Saint-Hippolyte, a typical wine-producing village famous for its Rouge de Saint Hippolyte (Pinot Noir).

The beautiful villages of the wine trail follow one another and lead you to Ribeauvillé. Situated amidst a pleasant, undulating landscape, Bergheim. A charming town right in the heart of the Alsace vineyards, is one of the rare Alsace towns to have almost completely preserved its medieval town walls (built in 1311).

In Ribeauvillé discover its three castles (the Saint-Ulrich, the Ribeaupierre and the Girsberg). You will arrive in Riquewihr, a magnificent medieval town that for centuries has managed to combine the quality of its architecture with the quality of its world-famous wines, therefore getting its nickname: “The Gem of the Alsace Vineyards”.

For your last stage, you will pass by the Chapel Saint Alexis before reaching the beautiful castle of Kaysersberg. Don’t forget to appreciate the magnificent view. Take the stairway with its 100 steps up to the top for an even more splendid panorama over Kaysersberg! If you want, you can continue to Kientzheim. You can visit the Alsatian Wine Museum to learn more about Alsace wine or walk around inside these almost completely intact city walls.

Day
08
Departure or extension

Route information

Walking

Easy to medium walking tour on well marked nature paths, sometimes asphalted, through undulating countryside. For the daily stages with walking times between 5 to 6 hours you need a basic fitness level.

Prices & Dates

Category: pretty 3***-hotels, 1x 2** hotel (French classifying)

Prices per person in EUR

Services & Information

Further details about this tour

Included

  • Accommodation as already mentioned
  • Breakfast
  • Luggage transfer
  • Carefully elaborated route description
  • Detailed travel documents 1x per room (German, English, French)
  • GPS-data
  • Service hotline

Optional extras

  • Return transfer from Kaysersberg to Colmar (from there by train to Barr), bookable on request.

Arrival / Parking / Departure

  • Arrival by train to Strasbourg. Further by train to Barr, approx. 1 hour.
  • Strasbourg or Basel-Mülhausen-Freiburg airport.
  • Parking: Free hotel parking spaces, no reservation possible.
  • Return journey by bus from Kaysersberg via Comar to Barr (several changes of buses necessary)

Things to note

  • Tourist tax, if due, is not included in the price
  • Further important information according to the package travel law can be found here!
  • This tour is a partner tour.
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