Cycling route: Alsace Vineyard Cycle Route: from Marlenheim to Thann

Running parallel, the Alsace Vineyard Cycle Route uses old railway lines, sections of the ancient Roman road, and many paths between the vines. It crosses a postcard landscape: medieval castle ruins, flowered villages, Romanesque abbeys, rolling vineyards, welcoming winstubs...

Throughout the route, take time to meet the winemakers, taste their wines, and get lost in the streets of medieval towns! Particularly charming towns and villages follow one another: Molsheim, birthplace of Bugatti, Rosheim with its Romanesque church Saint-Pierre-et-Paul, Obernai and its Belfry Square, Barr and its Renaissance Town Hall, Dambach-la-Ville and its fortified enclosure, Scherwiller where you can see the ruins of Ortenbourg, then Orschwiller at the foot of Haut-Koenigsbourg castle, one of the most visited monuments in Alsace.

The route continues through Bergheim surrounded by 14th-century ramparts and towers, Turckheim which invites you to follow its night watchman every summer evening, Colmar, Capital of Alsace Wines, and Eguisheim, the French people's favorite village! Straight on to Rouffach and its Witch Tower, the itinerary then winds through vineyards with Grand Cru appellations, from Soultzmatt to Orschwihr, to reach Guebwiller and the Dominican convent of Upper Alsace, a major musical center. Just above, you can clearly see the Grand Ballon, the highest point of the Vosges.

From Bucheneck castle in Soultz to the fortified cemetery of Hartmannswiller, then along the refreshing Thur river from Cernay and its Stork Park, you reach Thann and the southern gateway to the Alsace Wine Route, at the foot of the "Rangen", a very steep slope that is harvested by rappel.