Bad Duerkheim Wurstmarkt

Bad Durkheim's Wurstmarkt traces to a pilgrimage market first documented in 1417, renamed 'sausage market' in 1832 despite its real focus on wine. Held over two weekends each September, it is billed as the world's largest wine festival, drawing more than 600,000 visitors to sample over 150 wines from the surrounding region at more than 50 stands beside the town's giant novelty wine barrel, the Durkheimer Riesenfass.

Pilgrims climbed the Michelsberg hill above Bad Durkheim to a sanctuary dedicated to Saint Michael as early as 1155, and by the fifteenth century that pilgrimage had grown into a market held on Saint Michael's Day at the end of September; the first documented Wurstmarkt under an earlier name dates to 1417, making the event's roots medieval even though its familiar name is more recent.