Five Castles on the Rhine, and How to See Them

Twenty-five thousand castles is the number usually quoted for Germany, and after a few weekends of following the Rhine you stop doubting it. The Middle Rhine Valley alone, the 65 km stretch that takes in Bingen, Rüdesheim and Koblenz, holds around forty hilltop castles and fortresses raised across roughly a thousand years. Since 2002 the Upper Middle Rhine Valley has carried UNESCO World Heritage status. Some of those buildings have been rebuilt and furnished; others are little more than skeletons of walls, a gate, a line of stone where a roof used to be. Each one has a different story, a different mood and a different silhouette against the sky. Standing on a castle wall, I find it easy to let my imagination run and to feel, briefly, like royalty. Anyone with an interest in history, or simply a curious traveller, will want at least one of them on the itinerary. What follows are castles I have visited on the Rhine, all within reach of Frankfurt, Wiesbaden and Mainz, plus a few suggestions for going further afield.

Burg Rheinstein: the first one we visited

Rheinstein is a rebuilt hillside castle on the steep slope of the Bingen Forest, and it was the first reconstructed castle we visited after moving to Germany. The tour takes you past suits of armour, period furniture and clothing, and I have now been twice, with a third visit already on my mind. Sitting directly above the river, it makes it easy to picture life here many centuries ago.

Its history is as tangled as any on the river. The castle went up in the 13th or 14th century and passed through the hands of several archbishops before reaching Prussian royalty. In 1823 Frederick William Ludwig, Royal Prince of Prussia, bought the ruin and the rock it stands on. The last owner from the Prussian aristocracy held it until 1953. Today it is privately owned and maintained by the Hecher family. Our tour took a little over an hour and felt worth every minute; visitors of any age tend to be delighted by how thoroughly it has been restored. One warning: beyond the entrance the site is not stroller-friendly.

If you are on a boat from Bingen towards Bacharach or St. Goar, watch for Rheinstein on the bank. The editor adds a personal recommendation: the Kleiner Weinprinz restaurant inside the castle is a good place to pause after the climb, with decent vegetarian choices alongside other dishes and some excellent local wine. The steep walk up and down is not easy for anyone unfit, but the castle is worth the effort.

Getting there. Train to Trechtingshausen, about 45 minutes from Mainz, or a boat from Bingen to Trechtingshausen followed by a 30-minute walk or a taxi.

Tickets and timing. Adults pay 8 euros and children aged 5 to 14 pay 4 euros for the castle grounds and restaurant. Dogs may be carried on a short leash. The website suggests limiting a visit to 2.5 hours. Last entry is 5 pm daily in summer, and 4 pm at weekends from 6 November. A Christmas castle opening runs until 7 pm at weekends from 25 November to 17 December 2023.

Burg Reichenstein and its robber baron

Presumed to have been built between 1100 and 1200 as a feudal castle, Reichenstein is the second castle you can visit in Trechtingshausen, and it is visible from the boat even if you decide not to stop in the town. What stayed with me is the story of its builder: a robber baron named Philip von Hohenfels who took every opportunity to steal money and goods from ships on the Rhine until a battle put a stop to it. In the Middle Ages the Rhine was one of the most important trade routes between north and south, and the princes and nobles of the Middle Rhine built castles not only as homes and defences but often as customs stations, collecting duties from the traders and boatmen passing below.

Like many castles in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, Reichenstein was left to decay, then revived in the spirit of Rhine Romanticism. Between 1899 and 1902 it was converted into a neo-Gothic residential castle and opened to the public in 1936, with an attempt to get as close as possible to late-19th-century living. Furniture and exhibits from the owner family's original private collection filled out the museum rooms, and the result still draws visitors from around the world. Children will find things to keep them interested too.

Compared with its neighbour, Reichenstein felt quieter and smaller. The museum is interesting, and there is plenty of open ground to wander, including the tournament field and the Shield wall. The family has owned the site for 350 years, and it also holds the Puricelli restaurant and a well-known hotel. It is easier to reach by car, which makes it a good choice for a peaceful half-day.

Getting there. Train to Trechtingshausen, then about 500 metres on foot. Boats also stop, with a walk up to the castle.

Tickets and timing. Museum entry is 9.5 euros for adults and 4 euros for children under 14. Dogs are not allowed in the museum but can wait at reception while you look round. Last museum entry is 4 pm daily. The hotel stays open all year, while restaurant hours shift with the season.

Neu-Wolfstein: grapevines and broken walls

Neu-Wolfstein is a ruin at the top of a steep hill above the village of Wolfstein. Its remains are dated to 1275, and it is thought to have been part of the village's fortifications. All that is left are sections of the outer wall and what remains of the gate. Just below the ruins, rows of vines run down the hillside to the road.

The narrow, rocky road up threads through cobbled lanes and pitched roofs of the sort that have become shorthand for a German village. This was one of our first trips as residents in Germany, and it doubled as a lesson in driving the narrow, high European roads we have since got used to. Nothing has been reconstructed, but the surviving walls and the view through a gap that was a window centuries ago were reward enough. The drive is a little tricky, so I would go outside peak tourist times to avoid a parking headache.

Image: Neuwolfstein castle ruins by I, Ulli1105, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

Getting there. Wolfstein station has reasonable connections to Kaiserslautern, about half an hour by train, but the village is roughly 130 km from Frankfurt and just under 100 km from Mainz. Driving is simplest; by train, expect two or three changes and two hours or more in each direction.

Reichsburg Cochem, a detour into the Mosel

Cochem's castle is one of the most impressive in the region, high on a hill above the Mosel Valley. Strictly speaking it belongs to the Mosel rather than the Rhine, but it sits close to Koblenz and is easy to add from Frankfurt or Cologne. The largest medieval castle on the Mosel was badly damaged in a war of succession; it was later bought and lovingly restored in the neo-Gothic style that 19th-century German castle romanticism made fashionable. The interiors are the draw: the Knight's Hall, the Dining Hall, the Trophy Room and the Bower.

I went last summer, during the August medieval festival, and it was an eventful day, partly because the walk from the central station is long if you are unlucky and spot no shuttle or bus going up. The website says shuttles run through the summer, so I will put my wait down to bad luck on the Sunday I chose.

For one week each August, performers, artisans and other folk artists take over the castle. The old walls make a one-of-a-kind backdrop for rustic stalls and stages, and visitors are pulled into something like a medieval market. Craftspeople sell their work while mead, wine and meat fresh off the grill are available to buy. The troupes and troubadours with their antique instruments are genuinely captivating.

Burg Rheinfels and the Lorelei crossing

In the 14th century Rheinfels was one of the essential castles on the Rhine. It was the most recent one I visited, on a summer weekend, and it gave me the excuse I had been waiting for since moving to Germany: the boat from Bingen to Sankt Goar, the route that passes the Lorelei. Boats on that stretch run only twice a day. I took the 11 am sailing, which went by at least a dozen castles and fortresses before stopping first at St. Goarshausen so I could visit the Lorelei, then crossing the river to St. Goar and Rheinfels.

If you would rather stay longer, the Hotel Schloss Rheinfels has a 500-square-metre wellness area with steam bath, solarium and its own wellness lounge. It is also a lovely setting for an event or a wedding, or simply for a weekend.

Getting there. A bus from St. Goar costs 3.5 euros per person one way, and you can return the same way or walk. The last bus is around 5 pm, so I rode up and took the scenic stairway down, which has fine views.

Tickets. Adults pay 6 euros for the castle grounds, children 3 euros. Even without the museum, the outside views, souvenir shops, restaurant and hotel are reason enough to come up.

Before you go

1. Most castles are not stroller or wheelchair friendly, so plan around that.
2. Bring snacks and comfortable shoes. Many sites are ruins and can be a long walk from both a car park and a restaurant.
3. Avoid castles in the rain if you can; wet stone and wet paths are slippery.
4. The castles we have visited sit within larger villages, and it is worth leaving time for the town as well as the tour.
5. Research opening hours and entrance fees beforehand, and check you have enough fuel for the drive.

Five more castles to add to the list

1. Burg Eltz
2. Schloss Heidelberg: read all about visiting Heidelberg, and do not miss the castle illuminations, which happen three times a year.
3. Schloss Neuschwanstein: see our getaway guide to Munich and beyond.
4. Hohenecken Castle
5. Hohenzollern Castle

Castles are hard to escape in Germany. Cruise the Rhine or drive through the countryside and they keep appearing, in every state of repair, adding character to the journey wherever they stand among modern buildings, roads and bridges. The depth of history in each one brings out the child in all of us. Get out there and explore the castles on the Rhine and beyond.

This article is written in collaboration with our guest author Maggie Andrews, a freelance blogger, content writer and business consultant whose topics range from travel to business. When she is not writing she can be found chasing two children under four, running with her dogs, playing soccer for her local German team or travelling through Europe with her family. Follow her journey on Facebook and on A Product of Travel.