Castles above the Rhine

Ruined keeps on the vine terraces, a castle on every bend, and the river doing the navigating.

A history trip through Germany and the Netherlands — 6 days and about 536 km. It is built around 4 places the trip exists to include, all in Germany: Marksburg, Burg Eltz (a castle), Loreley and Heidelberg Castle (a castle). Those are kept whatever else you change; the nights, the meals and the stops in between are chosen for the road you actually end up on.

The Rhine gorge is the only motorway in Europe that was built by geology. For four hundred years whoever held the cliffs held the tolls, so every bend between Koblenz and Bingen has a castle on it — a few restored to the last banner, most of them roofless and free to walk into with a torch and a picnic. You drive the east bank up and the west bank down, and the river is never out of sight. Ferries cross it every few kilometres, the villages are half-timbered and small, and the vineyards run straight up the slope behind them. Marksburg is the one that was never taken, so it is what all the others looked like before the French arrived; Burg Eltz hides in a side valley and belongs to the family that built it. Heidelberg, at the far end, is the great red ruin that started the whole Romantic idea of a castle. Go in September or October when the slopes turn and the wine festivals are on, and book the Marksburg tour in the morning before the coaches. The castles are steep: good shoes, not sandals.

The places this trip exists for

Pinned, not suggested — the planner is required to include every one of them.

Marksburg
🇩🇪 Germany
The only hill castle on the Rhine never destroyed — so it is what the others looked like.
Burg Eltz
castle · 🇩🇪 Germany
Hidden in a side valley of the Mosel, still owned by the family that built it in the twelfth century.
Loreley
🇩🇪 Germany
The rock the river bends round, and the view down the whole gorge from the top.
Heidelberg Castle
castle · 🇩🇪 Germany
The great red ruin above the Neckar — end here and everything before it makes sense.

These are kept whatever you change. Everything else the planner picks is chosen for the road you end up on, and can be swapped.

Eltz Castle — Clementp.fr · CC BY-SA 4.0

Heidelberg Castle — Motatcho · CC BY-SA 4.0

One way it works out

From Amsterdam · 6 days · about €748

A real plan, priced the way every trip here is: fuel per country you cross, tolls and vignettes from published tariffs, beds and food from derived local rates. It is one example, not an average — from another town it is a different trip, which is the point of the button below.

Get a picture of this trip to share

All 4 pinned places are kept — you set the start, the days and who's coming, and the road and the figures are worked out for your door.

The figures above were measured from Amsterdam — yours will differ.