A loop starting from Ribeauvillé

A lovely day trip through woods, mountains, vineyards and Alsatian villages, with visits to Hunawihr and Riquewihr.
Magnificent landscapes and superb villages.

Details

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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 10.51 mi
  • ◔
    Average duration: 6h 30 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 1,932 ft
  • ↘
    Descent: - 1,906 ft

  • ▲
    Highest point: 1,965 ft
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 827 ft

Photos

Description of the walk

Park on Rue des Bains in the centre of Ribeauvillé.

(S/E) Head north-west from Ribeauvillé, follow the red rectangle marker, then turn left at the blue cross marker.

(1) Turn left onto Rue du 3 Décembre above the Strengbach (river). Continue to the junction with Rue Saint-Morand.

(2) Turn right, quickly keep right at the Y junction and continue along the path that starts at the end of this road. Cross the Saint Morand woods. You will arrive at a wide forest track.

(3) Take it to the left, make a wide turn to reach the place called Claussmatt.

(4) Continue climbing, following the blue round markings towards Hunawihr. Further on, you will come to a new track at a crossroads. You will soon reach a trail junction.

(5) Leave the track and turn left onto the path. Further on, you will come to Rue des Vosges. Turn left here to enter Hunawihr.

(6) Climb up to the right to visit the church and admire the landscape. Descend to the wash house via Rue Ste Hune.

(7) Take the path behind the church and climb up to the water reservoir.

(8) Take the path on the right towards the woods. Take the leftmost path and cross the woods. You will come to a crossroads.
Turn right onto it to reach a sharp bend and a new crossroads.

(9) Turn left onto the small tarmac road with a superb view overlooking Riquewhir.
Cross the vineyards, pass in front of a reservoir, keep right at the next crossroads and find a path at the next bend.

(10) Take it opposite and descend directly towards the village. Enter through the small gate in the middle of the car park, which leads to the Tourist Office halfway up the village.

(11) Return via the Compostela trail at the top of the village, heading north, which will take you back to Hunawihr.

(6) Turn left and take Rue Roger Kuhlmann. Continue north on this street through the vineyards. Join Rue des Vignobles in Ribeauvillé. Cross the D41 and further on you will find Rue des Bains and the car park where you started (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : mi 0 - alt. 837 ft - Rue des Bains, car park
  2. 1 : mi 0.31 - alt. 879 ft - On the left above the - Strengbach (rivière)
  3. 2 : mi 0.45 - alt. 909 ft - Crossroads Rue St Morand
  4. 3 : mi 1.19 - alt. 1,440 ft - Forest track
  5. 4 : mi 2.53 - alt. 1,788 ft - Place known as Claussmatt
  6. 5 : mi 4.37 - alt. 1,401 ft - Crossroads of trails
  7. 6 : mi 5.16 - alt. 919 ft - Hunawhir
  8. 7 : mi 5.62 - alt. 833 ft - Wash house
  9. 8 : mi 6.15 - alt. 1,066 ft - Water reservoir
  10. 9 : mi 6.91 - alt. 1,191 ft - Crossroads
  11. 10 : mi 7.6 - alt. 997 ft - Trail junction
  12. 11 : mi 8.03 - alt. 1,030 ft - Riquewihr entrance gate. Crossing the - Sembach (ruisseau) - Affluent de la Fecht
  13. S/E : mi 10.51 - alt. 837 ft - Rue des Bains, car park

Notes

(4) Tables at Claussmatt.
Grocery store before noon in Hunawihr.
Hotel and restaurant in Hunawihr.
(7) Wash house with picnic tables.
In Riquewihr, there is everything you need, even the 106 bus to Ribeauvillé if you are tired!

Worth a visit

Reviews and comments

4.3 / 5
Based on 22 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.3 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.1 / 5
Route interest
4.5 / 5
cmb
cmb

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 14, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

For the section through the forest, the route only roughly follows the description.
The section via Sylo, which is marked on the map, isn’t described.
From Hunawihr onwards, everything’s fine.
A pretty village, followed by sweeping views over the vineyards, the Alsace plain and the Black Forest,
We left the route at the entrance to Riquewihr so that we could explore its old streets. It was too crowded in Riquewihr.

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Alain Rando
Alain Rando

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 14, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

A lovely, easy walk, very popular with cyclists on the cycle path section.
I’m a bit unsure about the comments at point 7: the access behind the church is private; there’s a gate that you can open and a sign stating that you proceed at your own risk? You then come to a tarmac road, and that’s where you need to head uphill to reach the wash house with the picnic tables.

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Nature57
Nature57

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 25, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A very beautiful hike offering magnificent views of the Alsatian vineyards. The villages of Hunawhir and Riquewhir are full of charm and well worth a visit. A lovely day's walk on this beautiful Sunday in August. Thank you to the author for this publication

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saphyr
saphyr

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 18, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

very good hike

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DAISY1953
DAISY1953

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 04, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

beautiful hike, superb view

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nath068
nath068

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 31, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

very nice walk

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expertalu
expertalu

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 16, 2020
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average

The idea was good, but the result is mediocre. I tried following the GPS track, but it was a disaster. It was created using software and lacks precision, with errors of up to 500 metres.

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phidet
phidet

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 16, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

A beautiful, fairly easy hike through vineyards and forest. Highlights: the village of Hunawhir and its fortified church/cemetery, the view of Riquewhir.

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Schumi57
Schumi57

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 23, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

Great journey

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Krinch
Krinch

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 23, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

We set off from the car park at the Hunawihr village hall at around 9.15am so that we could have lunch at the Caveau du Vigneron (superb!!) and finish the hike with the loop around Riquewihr.
At one point, the GPS track took us down a small, thorny path, so we turned back to go through the old town of Riquewihr... magnificent... I highly recommend this little detour!

A hike to be repeated in autumn for the colours.

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Girardin  Jean  François
Girardin Jean François

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 20, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

superb route, beautiful views of the castles of Ribeauville, discovery of Riquewihr, Hunawihr and Ribeauvillé, the vineyards and winter work in the vines.

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virgule
virgule

I retraced the beginning of this route. The trail at the start (red GR5 rectangles) is in terrible condition; a bulldozer has widened the path, probably to make way for a housing development.

So for a few hundred metres, the path is destroyed. But after that, it's a very pleasant little trail.

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augustus
augustus

Overall rating : 4 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 01, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good

It is possible to modify the route: after visiting the church in Hunawihr, you can rejoin the path to Riquewihr via the vineyards: turn right immediately after leaving the fortified church and follow the path to a large rock outcrop; turn left to rejoin the marked path.
Similarly, the arrival in Riquewihr needs to be better signposted.

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virgule
virgule

With the map, it is easy to find your way

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RandoLuc
RandoLuc

Perfect description

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