Rhine Romantic Route

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Koblenz

   Two rivers meet at the tip of Koblenz, and a gigantic bronze-and-stone monument marks the spot. The German Corner, the Deutsches Eck, is a green point of land where the Moselle slides into the Rhine, with a copy of an equestrian statue of Emperor Wilhelm I standing on a high plinth at the end. The Romans called the place Confluentes, the confluence, and the name has worn down over two thousand years into Koblenz. Across the Rhine, the fortress of Ehrenbreitstein sits on a rocky ridge above the water, reached by cable car, and the view from the walls takes in both rivers and the whole old town.

   Read the complete Koblenz write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Koblenz is where the day begins. Next is Boppard.

2. 2. Boppard

   Boppard sits on the biggest bend in the Middle Rhine, where the river swings so sharply that it looks like a lake from the hills above. It is a handsome town of about sixteen thousand people with a long riverside promenade, a Roman past, and a backdrop of steep vineyards, and it is one of the better places along the Rhine Gorge to stop, because it has proper size, proper shops and enough character to hold your attention. The Middle Rhine from Bingen to Koblenz is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and Boppard is one of its more substantial towns.

   Read the complete Boppard write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Boppard comes up 19 km in. Next is St Goar.

3. 3. St Goar

   St. Goar is a narrow riverside town built beneath a large castle, and the castle is what you came for. Burg Rheinfels rises on the hill above, a huge ruin with tunnels and cellars that is the largest fortress ruin on the Middle Rhine. It was built in the thirteenth century by the Counts of Katzenelnbogen to collect tolls from passing ships, and it grew into a vast complex that withstood a siege by French troops in the seventeenth century, only to be blown up by the French in 1797 after they took the area. Walking through the underground passages with a torch is a bit like exploring a stone beehive.

   Read the complete St Goar write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   38 km in you reach St Goar. Next is Loreley.

4. 4. Loreley

   The Loreley is a rock, and not a very tall one, but it has a story that made it more famous than most mountains. It is a steep slab of slate on the east bank of the Rhine, rising well over a hundred metres above the water, at a point where the river narrows and deepens and the current turns treacherous. Boatmen once lost ships here, and the rock's echo and the swirling water gave rise to a legend: a beautiful maiden sits on the summit combing her golden hair and singing, and sailors who look up at her forget the rocks below and are wrecked.

   Read the complete Loreley write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Loreley, about halfway. Next is Bacharach.

5. 5. Bacharach

   Bacharach is so small and so well preserved that it feels more like a model than a town. About two thousand people live inside a medieval wall with tall watchtowers, in half-timbered houses that lean toward each other over cobbled lanes. Above the roofs, the ruin of the Wernerkapelle, a Gothic chapel never completed, stands against the sky, and higher still, Burg Stahleck sits on its spur and now serves as a youth hostel with one of the best views in the valley. Legend ties the name to Bacchus, the god of wine, and the town's wine trade was already famous in the Middle Ages.

   Read the complete Bacharach write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Bacharach sits at 77 km, late in the day. Next is Rudesheim.

6. 6. Rudesheim

   Rüdesheim lives on one lane and a very good view. The lane is the Drosselgasse, a few metres wide and a couple of hundred long, packed with wine taverns, music and tourists, and often described as the merriest street in Germany. The view is the Rhine, which here turns from a broad lowland river into the Rhine Gorge, a narrow, castle-lined channel of steep slate slopes that is UNESCO-listed. On the hill above the town, the Niederwald Monument, a huge bronze Germania unveiled in 1883 to mark German unification, stands over the vines, and you can reach it by cable car over the vineyards.

   Read the complete Rudesheim write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 67 km.