Why this ride
Rolling secondary roads, villages and strong food-and-culture stops. It also links naturally to Palatinate wine landscape.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
German Wine Route
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 86 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 25
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Access context
Check motorcycle weekend restrictions and noise-control closures on specific roads. Specific flag: seasonal traffic.
Seasonal context
Apr-Oct
Scenic road chapters
Deutsche Weinstrasse
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 16 km this is Deutsche Weinstrasse, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 16 km
- Named road
- Deutsche Weinstrasse
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Bockenheim
The northern end of the German Wine Road is Bockenheim, a village of around two thousand people in the Leiningerland, where the vineyards slope gently down towards the Rhine plain. It makes sense that it should be the gate, because here the hills of the Palatinate flatten out, and the long, warm ridge that has carried you north finally gives way to broader country. A small gateway and a modest museum mark the start, and the villagers are proud of both.
Read the complete Bockenheim write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bockenheim sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Bad Dürkheim.
2. Bad Dürkheim
The Palatinate has a way of making you hungry and thirsty at the same time, and Bad Dürkheim is where the effect is strongest. The town lies at the foot of the Haardt, the eastern edge of the Palatinate Forest, with vineyards climbing the slope behind it and the Rhine plain stretching flat to the east. It is one of the main stops on the German Wine Route, and it takes its wine very seriously, with a sense of humour attached.
Read the complete Bad Dürkheim write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Bad Dürkheim comes up 21 km in. Next is Neustadt.
3. Neustadt
Neustadt an der Weinstraße sits where the wooded hills of the Palatinate Forest drop down to the wide, sunny plain of the Rhine, and it is the unofficial capital of the German Wine Route, which runs for about eighty-five kilometres along the edge of the hills from the French border to the north. The town has an old centre of half-timbered houses, narrow lanes and wine taverns, and around it vineyards stretch in every direction, with small wine villages like Gimmeldingen and Haardt just above the town.
Read the complete Neustadt write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
43 km in you reach Neustadt. Next is Schweigen-Rechtenbach.
4. Schweigen-Rechtenbach
The German Wine Road starts at a gateway, and this is the gateway: the Deutsches Weintor, a stone arch built in the 1930s that spans the road at the border between Germany and France. Schweigen-Rechtenbach is the southernmost village in the Palatinate, its vineyards running right up to the frontier, and the French town of Wissembourg, with some nine thousand people, lies less than two kilometres away. The Weinstraße, the first signposted wine route in Germany, was opened in 1935, and its length is about eighty-five kilometres.
Read the complete Schweigen-Rechtenbach write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Schweigen-Rechtenbach, late in the day.