Time to Travel - Snow Trips from Ramstein

It’s funny being a Florida girl obsessed with snow. I cannot get enough of it. I’d consider myself a snow chaser. Snowfall has been sporadic in the Ramstein area the last few years. I kept a list of towns I was interested in visiting when there was snow fall. I used the app AccuWeather with its wintercast feature.

I had to be flexible depending on the weather & what was going on with family life. There are a few webcam sites I would check the morning of.
To view the video, click here, or the photo above.

Mosel town webcams
Hunsrück National Park webcam
Google Map - for all locations on this blog post & video

Karlstal Gorge near Trippstadt

Is a great first trip for the Kaiserslautern area. The first time we hiked this, we used the Komoot app & did a 7 mile hike with the gorge included. If just want to do the gorge for scenery or a quick hike with little ones there is parking very close to the gorge area.

Hunsrück/Morbach

I found out about "the forest" in one of the FB pages I follow. If there is snow coming anywhere close to the Ramstein area, Hunsrück is a good bet for snow. It's a vast national park/forest area. You can make it a destination or stop on your way to/from Bernkastle-Kues or Traben-Trarbach. It's about 45 minutes from the base.

ABOVE: Photo Set #1 - Look for Parkplatz am Idarwald on the corresponding Google Map

There are opportunities to hike, sled, ice skate & take photos. Please Check the website of the Wintersportzentrum Erbeskopf (Heritage Head Winter Sports Center) prior to going to see if they are open. It is dependent upon the snowfall. You can find hikes on the Kamoot app, which is what I did, or on their website. There is a digital hiking tour planner. During non-winter times, e-bike rentals are available. The website also notes what to put in your navigation system as the default does not bring you to the correct place.

ABOVE: Photo set #2 - Look for Heilquelle Sauerbrunnen on the corresponding Google Map

There are many areas of the park & actual parking lots. When I started visiting the area, I may have turned down one of the unpaved roads to take photos & gotten stuck - I drive an SUV with good tires & still had to call a tow truck. Don't be like me.

Webcam
Sports Center website
E-bike rental
Hiking planner
Hunsrück-Hochwald National Park
Google Map

The first time I visited Traben-Trarbach was during COVID closures so I just took photos. It is a beautiful town on the Mosel River. I returned later in the Fall when things were open. I visited town & hiked the castle ruins of Grevenburg. Just a note about the castle, there are signs everywhere about hiking at your own risk. In my opinion, it's not kid friendly.

Grevenburg
Official town website
Mosel town webcams

Burg Lichtenberg

Burg Lichtenberg is a closer day trip only 25 minutes away from Ramstein. I've featured this well preserved castle ruin in a previous video for the USO. Click here to see the video & blog post.

Monschau

I didn’t make it to Monschau during a traditional winter snow, but I made it during the 2022 snow dump in April. At 2 hours & 45 minutes it's not close - but it's doable as a day trip. Before I made my trip I called the tourism office to make sure there was snow & roads into town were accessible.

This is one of my favorite towns to wander, take photos, shop & eat. If  you've been to some of the local bazaars, this is where the Monschau mustard is from. Go visit the store, tour the factory & have some of the soup! Also don't miss hiking up to get the panoramic view of town.
I have a previous video I did on Monschau. Click here to view.
Monschau Tourism Office
Mon-Joie: my favorite artisan store in Monschau

Burg Grafenstein

Burg Grafenstein is a castle ruin about 40 minutes south of Ramstein. The hike was a steep switchback trail to the castle on a hill. Although The trail was icy I saw many families hiking together. You can walk outside/inside ruins 360 degrees. The is tower available to climb. There was parking at the base of the trail head. There are no food or toilet facilities at this castle.

Kirchheimbolanden

If you've taken A63 toward Frankfurt you may, or may not, have noticed the brown information sign about Kirchheimbolanden. I've driven past it many times & one of my good friends told me there was snow there when I was planning a snow photography day. It's about 40 minutes from Ramstein. I got some interesting photos as this was another snow dump in April. I have photos of snow and blossoms blooming!

This would be a nice stop as an addition to any trips you have in the area. There are lots of places to have a meal or snack. There's also a great gift store with some regional merchandise.
Kirchheimbolanden’s official city website
Do you have any favorite day trips you’ve taken to enjoy the snow? Join the chat on the Facebook group & let us know.

Time to Travel: Rhineland Palatinate

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.