Route des Vins d'Alsace Cycling Loop from Obernai
Obernai sits at the northern end of one of the world's great cycling routes — the Route des Vins d'Alsace — and a 35 km loop south through Barr, Mittelbergheim and Andlau delivers everything the Alsatian wine road promises: grand cru vineyards on gentle slopes, stork nests on church towers and a string of villages so pretty they feel like a film set.
The Route
Leave Obernai on the D253 cycle path heading south through the Zotzenberg grand cru vineyard toward Mittelbergheim, a village so perfectly preserved it is classified as one of the Plus Beaux Villages de France. The road rises gently through Sylvaner and Riesling vines before dropping into the village square — stop at one of the vignerons for a cellar tasting.
Continue south to Andlau, whose Romanesque abbey church of Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul contains a remarkable carved frieze of animals running the full length of the west portal — it is one of the finest pieces of 12th-century sculpture in Alsace and almost no one outside the region knows it exists.
Barr and the Return
The market town of Barr is the loop's southern anchor and a good lunch stop — the Tuesday morning market on Place de l'Hôtel de Ville sells local cheeses, charcuterie and freshly pressed apple juice from the Vosges foothills. The Musée de la Folie Marco in Barr, a restored 18th-century mansion, has an unexpectedly excellent collection of Alsatian furniture and faïence.
Return to Obernai via the flat cycle path that runs through the vineyard plain, passing through Heiligenstein — home of the rare Klevener de Heiligenstein grape variety, found nowhere else on earth — where a quick stop at a local domaine for a tasting of this floral, slightly spicy white is mandatory.
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