Roteweinwanderweg/ Red Wine Hiking Trail

Visited Oct. 20-21

Train Darmstadt – Ahrweiler Marktbahhof, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler

Stay in Prumer Gang Restaurant & Hotel

Bus from Bad Neuenahr to Dernau

Hike and drink wine in Dernau

Train Dernau- Darmstadt

I love to travel, and have been craving my travel experience to be like the life of a local. Going to events, or having more of a purpose when I travel.

The “Red Wine Hiking Trail” located in AHR Valley attracted me not just because it is quite literally a hiking trail where you drink wine, but it is a local festival and such a unique experience that I will never find anywhere else.

There are multiple hiking towns that are included in this Red Wine Hiking Trail, but due to time and limited hotel options, we opted to only hike Dernau. I have been told that the most beautiful sections are Mayshoss and Altenahr, but Dernau had the most wine stops on the hiking train, and was best for 1 day.

The trail’s towns had a massive flood in 2021, so this hiking trail festival was started to promote tourism back to the area, help out the locals, and to prove how strong they were.

Andrew and I ended up having long conversations with many Germans during this weekend that was a huge part of the experience. One German was telling us that they were at this event to spend their money in a way that really mattered and helped the locals. The flood was so bad and resources are limited, so embracing the delicious wine and stunning valley views to help the community is a great way to spend our money.

10/20

Train Darmstadt – Ahrweiler Marktbahhof, Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler

We had 4 separate trains/buses to ride to get here, so it was more complicated than going to other places for the same amount of distance traveled. One of the trains coasted along the Rhine River, so we had amazing views of it and towns along the water.

Stay in Prumer Gang Restaurant & Hotel

There were very limited options for lodging in the entire AHR valley. I thought it was because it was so popular that all of the hotels were booked. This hotel was quite literally the only one left in the valley without staying in Remagen. It was beautiful and breakfast was amazing. The hotel was situated in a town inside of medieval walls, where there were only 3 gates to enter and leave. There were restaurants, shops, beautiful buildings, and even a 24 hour vending machine shop. It surprised me how little people there were in the town. After walking around, it is clear that the flood damaged many hotels and they were still struggling.

We went out for dinner and beer at Marktbrunnen for flamkuchen and pumpkin soup. The online menu had an issue with translating “Pumpkin Creme Soup,” and instead translated it to “Pussy Creme Soup.”

10/21

Wake up in hotel and have free breakfast. It was pouring rain that woke me up in the morning, and the bed was so comfortable I felt as though I were sleeping on a cloud. The foggy skylight from the clouds was above our heads giving us glimpses of the day to come.

Andrew tried his “raw meat” delicacy for the first time at the breakfast. We thought it was a red flag that he was the only one to eat it!

Bus from Bad Neuenahr to Dernau

The bus is their “rail replacement service” since their rail service between towns was ruined in the flood. We met friends who ended up leading us from the bus stop, through town, to the start of the hike.

Hike and drink wine in Dernau

The best part! There were 8 wine stands along the trail in Dernau, but more on the entire trail, which extends into 4 or 5 other towns.

We actually started at stop number 8, but decided to go the other way and start with number 1. We opted to not get a drink at stop 8, but it was a cute winery with a great view!

At our first stop (1 on the map), we bought the glass, wine, and a wine holder that was the star of the show. We both ordered Rose here. Andrew also ordered a glass of Chardonnay before walking to number 2.

At the second stop, I ordered a halbtrochen (half dry) red and Andrew ordered their classic red. This one had music and barrels to stand around.

Number 3 was a halbtrochen for me and their “best” red (according to the worker) for Andrew. We are definitely feeling tipsy a this point. It was been about 3 euros per glass of wine. We order .1 L, but they fill it beyond that every time.

Number 4 was time to drink wine and eat! We ordered a Mediterranean flammkuchen (similar to a thin crust pizza; pictured below).

Stop 5 had a grill, but we opted to keep drinking wine.

Glass of wine 6 was at a busy stop with hay to sit on. This had a gorgeous view! I actually didn’t get a glass at this one, but Andrew got his classic red.

We ended up taking a detour and walking almost all the way to the next town, Rech. That trek was a hike, but after an hour, we realized where we needed to go for our next stop.

The last stop was red for us both. We handed in our stamp card hoping to win a prize! We have still not heard if we won.

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Time for more food! We left the trail and ate at Hofgarten for dinner.

Train Dernau- Darmstadt

We met a very chatty couple at the bus stop from near Hamburg. We talked about everything from how different and similar our lives in different countries are, school, the wine. Once we arrived at the train station, we said our goodbyes. Only to find 10 minutes later they were on our train. We got our wine glasses out and shared their wine while continuing to talk, and was then joined by a Swedish man who drank from the bottle.