Walking through the Cross-Border Vineyards in the Three-Country (CH-D-F) Corner

Sunday December 29, 2024 -- Still sunny weather in the forecast, but wanting a change from hiking on prepared snow trails, and also needing to be away from the fog, we figured that we should try to walk in the region of Basel in the very north-west part of our country, where there is often sunshine in winter. We don't often go to Basel, so it was a good idea for a change.

In that corner the three countries of France, Switzerland and Germany meet, and the region is aptly called "Dreiländereck", or "Three-Country Corner", a region with many vineyards, and a pretty village in Germany that Urs had once heard of, which he wanted to visit. So we spent another four hours walking through lovely countryside in the mild sunshine north of the city of Basel, starting in Riehen on the Swiss side and soon crossing the border into Germany. Ötlingen was indeed pretty and worth a visit, but we didn't make it all the way into France. 

Getting a train in Haltingen in Germany was unusual for us, as we are not used to buying tickets! (Our General Passes mean we can travel wherever we want to in Switzerland without worrying about tickets). And it wasn't as obvious to get onto the platform as we had anticipated, and we ended up cutting it quite close again, even though we had plenty of time. 

Near where we started at the train station in Riehen at 11 a.m. (still in Switzerland, but north of the Rhine River at Basel), is this town square with a decorated tree. We are headed westward and will pass the church.

The Riehen village church is an Evangelical Church called St.Martin's, first mentioned in documents of 1157. Formerly Catholic, it received its current build as an Evangelical building in 1693/94. 

Details of the inside of the St.Martin's church

Across from the church is a building that looks like it might have been a castle, but is now the town museum. We had a quick look into the courtyard. 

There are many half-timbered houses in this part of the country. 

This house is worth mentioning: It is the church rectory since 1503, but according to a sign on the wall, the famous mathematician Leonard Euler (1707-1783) spent his childhood here. 

As we start on our walk westward toward the Swiss/German border and the canal of the Wiese River, we can just make out the two modern towers of Roche Pharmaceuticals in Basel to the south. At 205 meters (50 floors) and 178 meters (41 floors), these are the two tallest buildings in Switzerland. 

The walk through the cross-border vineyards between Riehen and Haltingen was about 11 km and 3 hours. It was a trip of just over two hours for us to get to Riehen. As you can see, the border between Switzerland and Germany is just north and west of Riehen, and the border between Switzerland, Franch and Germany is at Kleinhünigen and the Rhine River. 

Crossing a small stream, we observed a grey heron sitting on the riverbank. 

Close-up of the grey heron. We see these everywhere. If we walk past, the heron stays put, but if we stand still too long, he flies off. 

I managed to photograph the heron as he flew off. 

Along the Wiese River is a dam that we can walk on, the Wiesendamm Promenade. 

Walking north along the Wiesendamm Promenade. We are still in Switzerland, and shortly past the riverbank on the other side is the border to Germany. 

We are headed to the top of that hill across the river, which is in Germany. The small village there is called Obertüllingen. 

Crossing the Wiese River. 

Signs across the river welcome hikers to the first cross-border vineyards in the region. The tradition of growing grapes for wine here is over 1200 years old. The first documented vineyards are from the year 751. Earlier there were 70 hectares of vineyards here, producing over half a million liters of wine in a good year.  

Here we are crossing the border from Switzerland into Germany! This is a cross-border vineyard. 

The large city in the background is Lörrach in Germany. 

Past the vineyards to the north we get a look into the mountains of the Black Forest. Just barely visible are the ruins of a large castle called Rötteln, a site we would like to viist one day, as the train line via Riehen passes near there. 

A short uphill stretch brings us to the top of the small hill at Obertüllingen. The church is called St. Ottilien, and was first mentioned in documents of 1173. 

A quick look inside St. Ottilien Church in Obertüllingen. 

From the site in front of the church, we get this view south over the city of Basel. It was a real shame that the air was so hazy, because on a clear day one can see the mountains really well. The range at the back is most likely the Jura, possibly in France.  

Nearer to us to our northwest is the city of Haltingen, also in Germany, where we are going to end the hike. The mountains in the back are in France. The Rhine River flows along the west side of Haltingen and forms the border between Germany and France. This region is called the "Three-Country-Corner". 

Sunny stretches through pleasant forests as we head northwards to Ötlingen. 

A stretch of forest as we head to the next vineyards. 

Below us are the vast vineyards of Haltingen. 

The trail markers here in Germany look totally different from the ones we are used to in Switzerland! Looks lake the ruins of the Rötteln Castle are only 6 km from here, usually an easy walk for us! 

It's 1 p.m. and we had hoped to find a bench by now, where we could stop for our picnic lunch (There was a park near Obertüllingen, but the benches there were all in the shade of the trees). Up ahead was an empty bench, and Urs is hurrying to claim it, before other strollers decide to sit there!

We were so happy to have found this bench, where we had nice break in this lovely nice weather!

Our view from the bench where we ate our sandwiches. 

At 1:20 p.m. we continued on the walk to the village of Ötlingen, which was the main goal of this hike. As it was a nice Sunday afternoon, there were quite a few people strolling through the vineyards. 

Close-up look at the village of Ötlingen, which we are now going to check out now. 

Walking through the alleyways of Ötlingen

There were several art ateliers in the village, and lots of public artwork displayed throughout the village. 

From the village we can see the upper road where we had come from. 

Down the main street. Urs is going to check out a large old wine press on display. 

A very cool old wine press in the center of the village. 

More attractive old half-timbered houses. 

The artwork is a good demonstration of the importance of the wine industry here!

A painting of Dionysus, the God of wine-making!

A quick detour to the village church, which unfortunately was locked. 

View from the church terrace 

This one was a puzzle: How to get the car up to that garage?

A bit more strolling through the vineyards on our way toward Haltingen.

More wine-themed decorations. 

We had enough time to sit on a bench in the church's cemetery before heading to the train station. 

The church in Haltingen was unfortunately also locked. 

We thought we had plenty of time to get to the Haltingen train station for the 3:15 train to the Basel Bad Train station (where we had to switch to a train to cross the border into Switzerland), but we couldn't find where to cross to the platforms. At 15:07 we crossed the passerelle, but still had to find the ticket machine! We ended up cutting it closer than we had planned. 

Just in time, we managed to buy tickets to get back into Switzerland. The whole trip home took 2½ hours.  

What the walk across the border from Switzerland into Germany through the vineyards looks like on Google Satellite Maps. 

Location of the "Drei-Länder-Eck" ("Three-Country-Corner") at the north-west corner of Switzerland.