Castles on the Rhine Gorge

Tim Johnson

I was still blinking away the sleep from my eyes, but everything around me told me that I was still dreaming. Rising a little late, many of my fellow guests had already gathered on the top deck, sitting around tables and reclining in loungers. Some had champagne in hand, despite the morning hour, and all had the same awe-struck expression that I’m certain I was wearing.

This wasn’t my first visit to these bends of the river. But every time, it wows. Each turn reveals something straight out of a storybook. A fantasy, no matter where I swiveled my head.

I was in the Upper Middle Rhine Valley—often referred to as just the Rhine Gorge. Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, this is one of the most scenic stretches of waterway in the world. These 40 miles are the absolute highlight of any Rhine cruise.

River Cruise

On this autumnal morning, the cruise director narrated everything that we passed. Of course, there were the castles—some 40 or so, in total. More on those in a moment. But everything else, too, from charming villages and stone buildings clustered around a clock tower to the dramatic geography. On each side, the land rises sharply—in places, more than 600 feet—as the river cuts through the Rhenish Slate Mountains.

The V-shaped valley, stretching between the towns of Koblenz and Rüdesheim, is deep enough to form its own microclimate. And for more than 1,000 years, winemakers have grown grapes, mostly riesling, here. “The vineyards are so steep, most of the harvest needs to be done by hand,” the cruise director announced.

This peculiar topography isn’t just breathtaking—it also gave birth to a unique history. Back when rivers served as Europe’s superhighways, this stretch of the Rhine was one of the most valuable trade routes connecting the northern and southern parts of the continent. Which brought wealth, but also war.

Royals and aristocrats carved out their own corners of this canyon, building palaces and fortifications, using the funds that they had collected as tolls from passing merchants. Some 60 villages remain, hemmed in by the slopes on one side and the water on the other. This land was in the heart of the Holy Roman Empire but has, at times, also belonged to France and Prussia.

Today, most of these once-powerful redoubts stand as ruins, many of them seriously damaged in the 30 Years War, which ended in 1648. But they’re awfully beautiful, mostly medieval, ruins.

Tim Johnson

Fortresses on the Rhine

Sailing south from Koblenz, where the Mosel meets the Rhine, we passed Marksburg, one of a tiny handful of castles that was never destroyed. Standing proud on a hilltop with its distinctive butter-churn tower, it has lived many lives. First built in the 12th century to protect the financial interests of a noble family, Marksburg was under constant construction for several centuries. It was originally Romanesque, with Gothic elements added later.

The proud, rambling hilltop structure passed through the hands of a number of powerful aristocrats. At one point, cannons and ramparts were added. Much later, in 1806, after Napoleon’s victory over the Holy Roman Empire, he gave the castle to a friend, who used it as a prison. Later, Marksburg served as a barracks for soldiers. Today, it houses a museum that you can still visit.

And we kept rolling upriver. At some point, someone handed me a glass of champagne. I began to lose count of the castles. Up there, one that seemed to combine all of the architectural styles—square battlements, a peaked triangular roof, a round tower, a pink wall—Schönburg Castle, according to the cruise director. Burned in 1689 during a conflict called the Palatinate Heritage War, it was restored by an American, reopened in 1914, and now serves as a hotel and restaurant. I can only imagine the sweeping views from inside the guest rooms.

Some of the castles that we passed sit on small islands. Others are built right on the banks, and we passed so close that I felt as if I could reach out and touch the walls. And, of course, there’s the legendary Lorelei.

This small mountain of slate rises at one of the narrowest points in the gorge, standing just more than 400 feet high; the river here has recorded many maritime disasters dating back more than 1,000 years. According to a long-standing—and rather enchanting—myth, a magnificent maiden would sit atop it, calling her siren song to passing sailors.

Falling under her spell, they navigated toward her—and into the rocks, resulting in their peril. This spot has inspired many poems and songs. A statue of the mythical maiden now sits atop it.

Too soon, we reached Rüdesheim. In this lovely town, more fun awaited. A tasting with a local winemaker showcasing a number of very nice rieslings, hand-harvested from those very steep slopes. Then an evening tour of a mechanical musical instrument museum—a curious and strangely fascinating place, worthy of its own article. But a big part of me just wanted to turn that ship around and sail past those castles, right through the Gorge, all over again.

When You Go

Fly: Most people who experience the Rhine Gorge do so on a river cruise ship. These take different routes, but many—including mine—sailed from Amsterdam to Basel. The latter has a very nice, relatively small international airport with a long name, EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg (MLH) with flight connections mostly in Europe. But if you book a north-south sailing, Amsterdam’s Schiphol International Airport is one of the continent’s major hubs, with nonstop flights to destinations all over the world, including many North American cities.

Stay and Getting Around: Because you’re most likely to visit on a river cruise, your accommodations and transportation will be the same. I sailed on the AmaLucia, part of AmaWaterways’s fleet of 26 luxury ships that navigate the rivers of Asia, Africa, and—mostly—Europe. A lovely vessel with spacious guest rooms (many with balconies), it’s almost brand new, launched in 2021. It offers plenty of comfortable spaces from which to view the castles. On a sunny summer day, you can see them while soaking in the small pool up on the sun deck. Or just settle into a cushy chair right on the bow and marvel as the river rolls.

Take Note: If you want to book an overnight stay at one of the 29 rooms at Marksburg Castle, or even just learn more about the history of this remarkable place, check out its website: Marksburg.de/en/