Forst an der Weinstraße: Wine, Trails and History

Forst an der Weinstraße combines wine-growing sites and winemaking culture with traces of history. There are several ways to shape your stay: explore the vineyards on foot, sample wines with winemakers, or discover the village’s history through its church architecture, customs and memorial sites.

Wine-Growing Sites and Trails

The vineyard walk invites you to explore Forst’s wine-growing sites. The Grand Vineyard Walk is a circular route of about three kilometres through Forst’s wine-growing sites. Circular vineyard trails pass through the Kirchenstück, Freundstück, Ungeheuer and Pechstein sites. From the vineyard walks, views stretch towards the Haardtrand, the Palatinate Forest, the Rhine plain and the Odenwald. When planning, you can consider the type of route, approximate distance and direction of the views as different points of reference.

The German Wine Route Cycle Path passes through Forst between Wachenheim and Deidesheim. When choosing your route, you can therefore distinguish between a cycling route and circular trails through the wine-growing sites.

Wine Direct from the Winemakers

In Forst, wineries and historic wine estates invite visitors to sample wines directly with the winemakers. This adds another way to experience wine culture to exploring the wine-growing sites: on a walk, the sites and landscape shape the experience; at a tasting, the focus is on the wine and direct conversation with the winemakers.

Church, Customs and Memorial Sites

The village church brings together several historical periods. A church dedicated to Saint Margaret stood at the present-day site by the 15th century at the latest. The current village church was consecrated in 1723, and its 40-metre-high red sandstone tower was built in 1767. The three dates therefore mark different milestones: the earlier church at the same site, the consecration of the present village church and the later construction of the tower.

The Bismarck Cave adds a memorial to the village’s history. It was created at the edge of the forest in 1885 as a monument to Reich Chancellor Bismarck. At Pechsteinkopf, the Palatinate’s only occurrence of younger volcanic rocks is exposed. Cultural and geological themes thus sit side by side: the reason for a monument and a distinctive geological feature.

The Hanselfingerhut play is performed annually on Laetare Sunday, three weeks before Easter. Its connection to Easter makes its place in the calendar easy to understand: Laetare Sunday, rather than a fixed calendar date, determines when it takes place. This custom therefore provides a different point of reference in time from the historical years associated with the village church and Bismarck Cave.

More to Explore in the Wider Destination of Bad Dürkheim

The Museum of Wine Culture in Deidesheim documents the relationship between people, wine and viticulture; a 2.3-kilometre walking tour takes visitors through Deidesheim’s historic town centre. The Dürkheim Sausage Market has a 600-year-old tradition and is considered the largest wine festival in the world. The wines served there are award-winning and come from Dürkheim’s wine-growing sites; the specific producers may vary.

Discover more destinations: Altleiningen, Kallstadt, Deidesheim, Hettenleidelheim, Gönnheim, Wachenheim an der Weinstraße, Laumersheim, Herxheim Am Berg

Back to the destination overview: Bad Dürkheim.