FR France
Burgundy
A close-grained mosaic of villages, vineyard paths and quietly serious cellars.
Best May — Jun · 3–5 days · DLE 43 minTravel thoughtfully · drink responsibly · 18+
5 of 20 regions
Walking between the wine.
Regions compact enough that the vineyard, the village and the next producer are a walk apart — which conveniently also solves the problem of how you get home after tasting.
How a region qualifies
Our judgement, written into each region's transport notes: producers and villages are close enough to cover on foot or by bike for at least part of the trip.
What it changes
Pack boots rather than book a driver, and check the gradient — steep-slope regions are walkable in the sense that a hill is walkable.
The 5 regions
DE Germany
Mosel
Slate slopes, storybook river towns and Riesling with astonishing range.
Best Jun — Sep · 3–5 days · HHN 28 minFR France
Alsace
A single road down the Vosges foothills, linking villages that have been making white wine for a very long time.
Best May — Jun · Sep — Oct · 3–5 days · BSL 42 minGR Greece
Santorini
Vines coiled into baskets on the ground, ungrafted, on an island most people visit for something else entirely.
Best May — Jun · Sep — Oct · 3–5 days · JTR 10 minAT Austria
Wachau
Thirty-six kilometres of terraced Danube between two abbeys, walkable end to end.
Best May — Jun · Sep — Oct · 2–4 days · VIE 85 minOther kinds of trip
one base, no moving, fortified and sweet, volcanoes and altitude, the drive is the trip, and sparkling. Or start from the places themselves.