Germany's oldest wine road, 85 kilometers of villages, and the drive I send every first-timer down. The forest starts right where the vines end.

Fortresses strung along one route, close enough to stop at three in a day. Pick the ruins you can climb over the ones behind glass.

The loops I take for a slow afternoon, the ones with the views and the places worth stopping. I have gotten my husband in some pretty funny situations too.