With the challenging times of COVID, I had to get creative with travel. My goal was to stay within the state of Rhineland Palatinate. There were so many finds, that I couldn’t fit them all into the video. This video highlights my favorites & some lesser known gems of Rhineland Palatinate. I have a mix of hikes, castle ruin visits & village wanderings.
As a visual person, I have a very unscientific way of finding locations. I scour Facebook pages & Instagram accounts. When I find something I like, I click on the map to see how far it is. With this post, you won’t have to do that - lol!
These are my absolute favorite groups in the area for travel & hiking information:
Kaiserslautern Day Tripper
Ollie & Nellie are amazing! They run their blog, have an engaging Facebook community and even share their hikes on Komoot. I’ve been a follower since we first moved to the area. Not only do they supply so much information about the area, they will absolutely help out with questions & comments. They have weekly updates so it’s always easy to find some place to go.
The next 2 links are Facebook groups for the KMC area:
KMC Trail Adventures
Nature Strolls and Urban Hikes - KMC Germany
Please make sure to answer all the questions when you request membership and read the rules. The communities share photos, pins/maps for locations, parking info, all sorts of details about degree of difficulty, dog or stroller friendly, etc. I found several hikes & castle ruins with a combo of both pages.
Komoot: Komoot has been my app of choice for hiking. We started with the free version of the app and our family decided to upgrade. You are able to download a map with your route, which is great with the spotty phone service. You can plan hikes based on highlights (I did one on the Eagle Arch below), area, difficulty and duration. Besides hiking, the app has several types of biking tours & running. Germany has well marked trails & the app serves as a great overall map for me.
View of the town of Bacharach from the vineyard hike.
BACHARACH
Bacharach is about an hour and 15 minutes from Ramstein Air Base taking A63 to A61 then follow B9 to town. (The B9 is parallel to the Rhine River & a beautiful drive. You can continue on from here to other Rhine River towns Oberwesel and Sankt Gore. ) As you enter town there are parking lots on the right & a long row of spaces on the left. If you are looking for a quaint German town, Bacharach is it. I wandered through town & ended up hiking the vineyard side. I captured the most amazing photographs during both parts of my trip. My hope is to visit after COVID & enjoy a meal at a local restaurant. I also want to hike the other side of the town with the castle & chapel ruin.
MONREAL
Monreal is a hidden gem. I found this town via a sponsored post on Instagram - the algorithm apparently has me pegged! This town is amazing for photography. There is a river that flows straight through town with a few bridges for scenic views. While I visited to photograph the town, there is an opportunity to add a hike as part of the visit. There are 2 castle ruins on hills overlooking the town: Löwenburg and Philippsburg. Monreal hike possibilities
Monreal is about an hour & 49 minute drive north via A62 to A1. I ended up parking here and it’s a short trail walk into the middle of town. (The three photos are from the walk into town.) I am not sure what parking is like during “normal times”. It’s the train station lot. Also if you keep going till you reach the end you’ll come to a dirt lot for RV’s. It was perfect for my SUV. There are some parallel parking spots in town.
This church is Pfarrkirche Heiligste Dreifaltigkeit. You will walk right to it from the parking lot I mentioned. It is across from the Tourism Center & restrooms, which were closed when I visited. I was lucky enough that the church was open while I was there. During the time of my visit, masks were required to enter.
ALDERBOGEN HIKE IN DANNENFELS
I first heard of the hike with the “Eagle Arch” from the two Facebook communities above. People were posting the most amazing photos. There are so many variations of this hike. Ours included slides, swings, beautiful views of town, streams, & statues. I picked an easy hike as I was taking care of a back injury. In typical “Nerissa trip form” we had to detour due to downed trees. Depending on the time of year, you may have to do the same - another reason to have a map app! This was the hike we did. We parked in parking lot 7 next to the kindergarten.
Are you interested in a list of all the places I’ve explored in Rhineland Palatinate? I have a map with a list of all the places I’ve visited in state. I will continue to add to the list & notes. My hope is to write dedicated blog posts with info & photos for all. Enjoy!
During this time of COVID, please check with all local, state, & national rules while planning.
