Border region route

From Schweigen-Rechtenbach, the gateway to the German Wine Route, we hike across the border into the French Alsace. Germany's oldest wine education trail, deep forests, and wonderful views over the vine-covered Rhine plain accompany us. We start our border region route at the German Wine Gate in Schweigen, the southern start of the German Wine Route. We head west and walk on Längelstraße and Bergstraße into the vineyards, where we encounter the wine education trail. We follow it to the right until we reach a crossroads at the forest edge.

Here we briefly keep right, then a meadow path branching off diagonally left leads us in a curve down to the cemetery of Rechtenbach, where we turn left onto the street "Am Weiher." At the pond, we walk straight ahead a few more meters, then decide on a forest path ascending to the left and again follow a small path diagonally right after a few meters. Our path soon leads into a wider forest road, which now takes us through the extensive forest. After a longer section, a narrow hiking trail marked with a "yellow dot" crosses our path. We follow it to the left but soon leave it again on the left side to ascend further on a small path to Wegscheid.

At the junction with a shelter, we go straight briefly and then turn right into the "Heiligenbachweg." After a few meters, a narrower path marked with a "yellow triangle" branches off to the right, which we now follow through the dense forest at Langenberg. This leads us to the German-French border. The yellow triangle leads us down to the Heiligenbach, which we cross on a bridge. We now orient ourselves on the markings "yellow triangle" and "yellow dot" until they separate and we choose the latter. The Chateau St. Paul, which lies on our path, and our destination, the Wine Gate in Schweigen, are already signposted here. On a beautiful hollow path with old cobblestones, we go uphill and then left through the forest until it opens before us and we can enjoy a magnificent view over the vineyards to Wissembourg and Schweigen-Rechtenbach.

The yellow dot leads us straight through the vineyard landscape back to Schweigen, where we pass the festival grounds at Sonnenberg and also meet the wine education trail again. Now we descend into the village and reach our starting point, the German Wine Gate, via the street "Sonnenberg," Paulinerstraße, and Hauptstraße.