Landau sits near the southern end of the German Wine Route, one of Germany's most rewarding rural drives. The road winds through a string of villages — Edenkoben, Rhodt unter Rietburg, Burrweiler, Gleisweiler — each with its own wine estates, Straußwirtschaften (seasonal farm-taverns), and half-timbered architecture. The Palatinate is Germany's second-largest wine region and its warmest, producing excellent Riesling, Pinot Noir, Dornfelder, and Gewurztraminer.
From Landau, a half-day loop by car or bicycle covers a cross-section of the southern wine country without covering too much ground. Straußwirtschaften are farm estates that open their own wine for tasting and simple food on a seasonal basis — look for the pine branches hung above the door. The village of Rhodt is particularly pretty, with a street of half-timbered wine estates that looks much as it did in the 18th century.