Rüdesheim am Rhein is a pretty town sitting on the banks of the Rhine beneath hills lined with vineyards. This is the Rheingau, one of Germany’s most prestigious wine regions, famed for grapes that make Riesling and Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir) wines. It is also one of Germany’s most dramatic and seductive landscapes, its legend writ large in the music, art and literature of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was our base for a few days in the region.
The Upper Middle Rhine, stretching 65km north of Rüdesheim to Koblenz, is the setting for Wagner’s Götterdämmerung and is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. Over millennia, the river has carved the dramatic landscape celebrated by both: steep slopes punctuated by rocky outcrops and home to picturesque hilltop castles. Almost more remarkable than the beauty of the region, is just how busy the river is with commercial traffic.
There’s a reason that this area is so strongly associated with German Romanticism. It’s not just the hilltop castles and vineyards. Along the banks of this stretch of the Rhine are a series of centuries-old towns and villages that are filled with half-timbered houses, ancient churches, castles and medieval fortifications. All of this is imbued with a rich mythology, filled with folklore and fairy tales.
We’ve traveled to many German regions over the years, from the Baltic Coast to Bavaria, the Rhine to the Oder. It’s easy to become a bit blasé about the many beautiful, half-timbered historic towns we’ve visited. This area along the Rhine though is in a different league. The full picture postcard version of Germany that lures millions of visitors every year – many on the numerous river cruises that ply these waters.
Even in early spring there were a fair few tourists in Rüdesheim, cramming into narrow streets like the famous Drosselgasse. Mostly these were German weekend visitors, but there were several larger tour groups that arrived by bus and boat. Like most other places along the river, Rüdesheim is small and you notice when a group arrives. I imagine the summer months to be Hellish.
April though was perfect. We had (mostly) sunny, warm weather, and our apartment overlooked the river so we could watch the boats go by from the balcony. At the very southern end of the Upper Middle Rhine, Rüdesheim is a good base to explore further down the river and into the hills behind. It also has the advantage of being one of the major wine making centres in the region.
You’re never far away from a glass of chilled Riesling in this part of the world. There are numerous weinstubes where you can try a variety of very local wines. In Rüdesheim, a cable car even whisks you over the tops of the vines below for a birds eye view of the Rheingau. The views over the town and river towards Bingen on the opposite bank are wonderful.
We’d been to Koblenz before, but our only other visit to the Rhine was to the ridiculously attractive village of Boppard. Here another cable car takes you to a hilltop with sweeping views over a dramatic bend in the river. We didn’t have time to take a boat on the river then. This time we were determined to see one of the most storied landscapes in Europe from the water.
We made a stop in Bacharach, a town that achieves the unthinkable: it’s so attractive with its castle and timber-framed houses that it makes Rüdesheim look ordinary. To be fair, Rüdesheim did get damaged in the Second World War as the Allies bombed a rail bridge that connected it with Bingen, which we also visited on the ferry from Rüdesheim. One thing is certain, the trip whetted our appetite for more adventures along the Rhine.
I do love that stretch of the Rhine. Must get back there sometime in the not too distant future.
It’s a really beautiful part of the world, the wine is just an added bonus!