Rhine Valley in 2 days, on foot

This 2-day self-guided walking plan for Rhine Valley covers 13 narrated sights in an easy day-by-day order. Each day is split into a morning and an afternoon loop, and every stop has a two to three minute audio story in the Gingerguide app.

You set the pace: this is a suggested order, not a schedule. Walk it in 2 days, or stretch it out. Reorder freely; Rhine Valley rewards a detour.

The Rhine Valley route at a glance

Day 1

Day 1 covers 7 stops over about 23 km as the crow flies, from Lorelei Rock to Niederwald Monument (Niederwalddenkmal). ≈ 23 km between stops, straight line

Morning

1. Lorelei Rock: A steep slate rock at a sharp, treacherous bend of the Rhine, famous for a singing siren whose legend was in fact invented by 19th-century German poets. 3.6 km to the next stop
2. Oberwesel: A Rhine wine town known as the 'town of towers' for its well-preserved medieval wall. Its Gothic Liebfrauenkirche, the 'red church', anchors the riverside below the Schönburg castle. 3.9 km to the next stop
3. Pfalzgrafenstein Castle: A ship-shaped toll castle marooned on a small Rhine island near Kaub, built to squeeze river tolls from every passing boat and, by long repute, never once destroyed. 1.8 km to the next stop
4. Bacharach: A small walled wine town on the Rhine's left bank, once a major medieval wine-trading hub. Half-timbered streets, surviving town walls and towers, with Burg Stahleck rising above the town. 1 km to the next stop

Afternoon

1. Burg Stahleck: A hilltop castle above Bacharach, blown up in 1689 and rebuilt across the 20th century. It now serves as a youth hostel, with wide terrace views over the Rhine. 9.8 km to the next stop
2. Burg Rheinstein: A castle on a rocky spur above the Rhine near Trechtingshausen. What you see is largely an 1820s Romantic reconstruction of a medieval ruin, now a museum with a cafe. 3.3 km to the next stop
3. Niederwald Monument (Niederwalddenkmal): A colossal 19th-century Germania statue on the wooded hills above Rüdesheim, built to mark the 1871 founding of the German Empire. A frankly nationalist monument, reached by cable car.

Day 2

Day 2 covers 6 stops over about 50 km as the crow flies, from Drosselgasse, Rüdesheim am Rhein to Deutsches Eck, Koblenz. ≈ 50 km between stops, straight line

Morning

1. Drosselgasse, Rüdesheim am Rhein: A narrow cobbled lane in Rüdesheim's old town, packed with wine taverns, live music and souvenir shops. Honestly touristy, and cheerfully so, in the heart of Rheingau wine country. 24 km to the next stop
2. Burg Katz: Officially Burg Neukatzenelnbogen but known as 'the Cat', this castle above Sankt Goarshausen is a 19th-century rebuild, privately owned and closed, best admired from across the river. 1.4 km to the next stop
3. Rheinfels Castle: Once reckoned the mightiest fortress on the Middle Rhine, this vast castle above Sankt Goar was blown up by French troops in 1797 and survives as a sprawling ruin. 14 km to the next stop

Afternoon

1. Marksburg: A hilltop castle above Braubach on the Rhine, said to be one of only two hill castles here never destroyed, and now headquarters of the German Castles Association. 11 km to the next stop
2. Ehrenbreitstein Fortress: A vast fortress on a plateau above Koblenz, an early-19th-century Prussian rebuild reached by cable car across the Rhine, and the northernmost point of the Rhine Gorge World Heritage Site. 0.6 km to the next stop
3. Deutsches Eck, Koblenz: The headland where the Moselle meets the Rhine in Koblenz, crowned by a giant equestrian monument to Kaiser Wilhelm I whose present statue is a 1993 replica of the 1897 original.

Distances are straight-line between stops; streets add a little.

Updated: September 28, 2026

Full Rhine Valley guide and all stops →