Germany: the Rhine and the Moselle, castles and Riesling

1. Day 1: Arrive in Cologne

   Cologne Bonn Airport, Düsseldorf Airport or the ICE from Frankfurt Airport to your hotel by the cathedral, then the old town on foot

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Cologne
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Cologne Bonn (CGN) or Düsseldorf (DUS), where a driver meets you in arrivals, or into Frankfurt (FRA), where you take the ICE from the airport's long-distance station to Cologne, about an hour, on a seat we reserve. Your hotel is a short walk from the cathedral; plan to arrive by about 3 pm. At about 5 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group in the lobby for a briefing on the week, then we walk out together. The cathedral's twin spires rise straight above the station square; begun in 1248 and finished only in 1880, it is listed by UNESCO. We cross the Hohenzollern Bridge, hung with padlocks left by couples, for the view of the cathedral and the old town across the Rhine, then walk back along the river to the Alter Markt. Dinner is in a traditional Cologne brewhouse, where waiters in blue aprons keep replacing your small 0.2 litre glass of Kölsch, the city's own beer, until you lay a beer mat on top.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Cologne Bonn (CGN) or Düsseldorf (DUS) airport, or a reserved ICE seat from Frankfurt Airport to Cologne
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk: the cathedral square, the Hohenzollern Bridge, the Rhine promenade and the Alter Markt
   • Welcome dinner with Kölsch in a Cologne brewhouse

   Free time: Free until the 5 pm briefing

   Activity: About 1.5 hours on foot on level pavements and the bridge walkway.

   

2. Day 2: Cologne Cathedral, Koblenz and up the Rhine to Boppard

   Cologne to Koblenz, then Boppard

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Boppard
   Day 2 details

   We are inside Cologne Cathedral with a local guide at about 9 am, before the day groups. The guide shows you the golden Shrine of the Three Kings behind the high altar, made around 1200 to hold relics brought from Milan, the Gero Cross, carved in the 10th century, and the stained glass from the Middle Ages to Gerhard Richter's window of 11,263 coloured squares. If you want the view, climb the south tower's 533 steps while the rest of us take coffee in the old town. At about 11:30 the minibus takes the luggage and us south, about an hour and a quarter, to Koblenz. Lunch is on your own near the Deutsches Eck, the point where the Moselle flows into the Rhine under a huge equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I. Then 25 minutes up the left bank brings us into the gorge and to Boppard by about 4 pm, in time for a walk along the Rhine promenade and a free evening.

   Included

   • Guided visit to Cologne Cathedral with a local guide: the Shrine of the Three Kings, the Gero Cross and the Richter window
   • The Deutsches Eck at Koblenz, where the Moselle meets the Rhine
   • Walk along the Rhine promenade in Boppard with your guide

   Optional experiences

   • The cable car from Koblenz across the Rhine to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress (at your own cost)

   Easier option: Skip the old-town coffee walk and wait in a cafe on the cathedral square until the minibus leaves.

   More active option: Climb the cathedral's south tower, 533 steps to a viewing platform about 100 m up.

   Free time: Evening free in Boppard

   Activity: About 2.5 hours on foot on level paving and stone church floors; about 2 hours on the road in two legs.

   

3. Day 3: By boat through the Rhine gorge

   Boppard to Bacharach by minibus, KD boat Bacharach to St Goar, then Rheinfels Castle and back to Boppard

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Boppard
   Day 3 details

   The heart of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, listed by UNESCO in 2002 for its castles, terraced vineyards and river towns. We drive half an hour upriver to Bacharach and walk its lanes of half-timbered houses from about 9:30, before the boats bring the day visitors, climbing a short path to the Postenturm for the view over the roofs and the ruined Gothic Wernerkapelle. Late in the morning we board a KD line boat downstream to St Goar, about an hour on the water and the best part of the trip to see from the river. Pfalzgrafenstein, a white toll castle built in 1327 on an island off Kaub, sits in midstream; then the river narrows and bends round the Loreley, a slate rock about 130 m high. Lunch is in St Goar, then we go up to Rheinfels, begun in 1245 and blown up by French troops in 1797, now one of the largest castle ruins on the river, with tunnels to explore by torchlight. Back in Boppard by about 4:30.

   Included

   • Walk through Bacharach with your guide, up to the Postenturm viewpoint
   • KD boat from Bacharach to St Goar, past Pfalzgrafenstein and the Loreley
   • Lunch in St Goar
   • Rheinfels Castle

   Easier option: Skip the Postenturm path and stay in Bacharach's lower lanes; at Rheinfels, keep to the main courtyard and the museum instead of the tunnels.

   More active option: Explore the Rheinfels mine tunnels with a torch, low and narrow in places.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Boppard

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot, with a steep path in Bacharach, a steep walk up to Rheinfels and uneven ground inside the ruins. Bring a torch or use your phone in the tunnels.

   

4. Day 4: Marksburg, the vineyards and a Riesling tasting

   Boppard by ferry to Filsen, then Braubach and Marksburg, back to Boppard; the chairlift and a vineyard walk

   • Drive about 45 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Boppard
   Day 4 details

   A slower day in the gorge. We cross the Rhine on the little car ferry from Boppard to Filsen and drive 15 minutes downriver to Braubach, where Marksburg stands on a crag above the town. It is the one hilltop castle on the Middle Rhine that was never destroyed, so the guided tour, about 50 minutes, shows a working castle rather than a ruin: the gun battery, the kitchen, the knights' hall and a collection of armour. We are back in Boppard by about 12:30 and lunch is on your own. At about 2:30 the chairlift lifts us from the edge of town to the Gedeonseck, where the great loop of the Rhine around the Bopparder Hamm, one of the steepest vineyards on the river, opens below. From there your guide walks the group down through the vines, about 4 km and an hour and a half, to a family winery in Boppard for a tasting of Riesling at about 5 pm, with the winemaker explaining the slate soils and the steep-slope work by hand. The evening is yours.

   Included

   • The Boppard to Filsen car ferry
   • Marksburg guided tour, booked ahead
   • The Boppard chairlift up to the Gedeonseck viewpoint
   • Guided vineyard walk down through the Bopparder Hamm
   • Riesling tasting with a Boppard winemaker

   Easier option: Ride the chairlift back down instead of the vineyard walk; the minibus takes you to the winery for the tasting.

   More active option: Walk up to the Gedeonseck instead of taking the chairlift, about 45 minutes on a steep forest path, before the walk down.

   Free time: Midday and evening free in Boppard

   Activity: About 3.5 hours on foot. The lane up to Marksburg is steep and the tour has many stairs; the vineyard walk is downhill on narrow, sometimes loose paths.

   

5. Day 5: Burg Eltz and into the Moselle

   Boppard to Moselkern, the walk to Burg Eltz, then Cochem

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Cochem
   Day 5 details

   We leave Boppard at about 8:30 and cross the Hunsrück hills to Moselkern on the Moselle, about an hour. From there a path follows the Elzbach stream up a wooded valley, about an hour on foot, until Burg Eltz appears on its rock where the valley bends: a castle of towers, oriels and half-timbered upper floors, owned by the same family for more than 800 years and never taken by force. We reach the castle at about 10:45 for a late-morning guided tour, about 40 minutes through rooms still furnished from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, before the midday crowds come down from the car park. Afterwards the minibus collects us from the car park above the castle for lunch in the Moselle valley, then 25 minutes upriver to Cochem by about 3 pm. The afternoon is free under the Reichsburg. In the evening we drive a short way along the river to a wine estate for a cellar tasting and a winemaker's dinner, with Moselle Riesling poured alongside each course.

   Included

   • Guided walk up the Elz valley from Moselkern to Burg Eltz
   • Burg Eltz guided tour
   • Lunch in the Moselle valley
   • Cellar tasting and winemaker's dinner at a Moselle wine estate

   Optional experiences

   • The Reichsburg in Cochem on a guided tour in your free afternoon (entry at your own cost)

   Easier option: Ride in the minibus to the castle car park and take the shuttle bus or a 15-minute walk down to Burg Eltz, meeting the group for the tour.

   More active option: Climb to the Reichsburg in Cochem in the free afternoon, about 20 minutes uphill from the market square.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Cochem before the winery dinner

   Activity: The valley walk is about an hour each way on a forest path with roots and some steps; we walk up and ride back. About 1.5 hours on the road in short legs.

   

6. Day 6: Roman Trier and Bernkastel-Kues

   Cochem to Trier, then Bernkastel-Kues and back along the Moselle to Cochem

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Cochem
   Day 6 details

   About an hour and a quarter south-west to Trier, founded by the Romans as Augusta Treverorum and for a time an imperial capital; its Roman monuments, cathedral and the Church of Our Lady are listed by UNESCO. From about 9:30 a local guide walks us from the Porta Nigra, the black sandstone city gate built around AD 170, through the market square to the cathedral and the Church of Our Lady beside it, then to the Constantine Basilica, the vast brick throne hall of the emperor Constantine from about AD 310, and the ruins of the Imperial Baths. Lunch is in Trier, with time to see the house where Karl Marx was born in 1818 if you wish. In the afternoon we follow the river 50 minutes north to Bernkastel-Kues for an hour on its market square of half-timbered houses, including the narrow Spitzhäuschen of 1416, below steep vineyards. The last hour back to Cochem runs along the loops of the Moselle. A farewell dinner together in Cochem ends the trip.

   Included

   • Guided walk through Trier with a local guide: the Porta Nigra, the market square, the cathedral and the Church of Our Lady, the Constantine Basilica and the Imperial Baths (outside)
   • Lunch in Trier
   • Bernkastel-Kues and its market square
   • Farewell dinner in Cochem

   Optional experiences

   • The Karl Marx House museum in Trier (entry at your own cost)

   Easier option: Leave the Trier walk after the Constantine Basilica and rest in a cafe on the market square until lunch.

   More active option: In Bernkastel-Kues, climb the path through the vines to the Landshut castle ruin for the view over the river, about 30 minutes up.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Cochem before the farewell dinner

   Activity: About 3 hours on foot on level paving and cobbles; about 3 hours on the road in three legs, each an hour or less.

   

7. Day 7: To Frankfurt

   Cochem to Frankfurt Airport, and central Frankfurt for those on later flights

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast
   Day 7 details

   A last breakfast by the Moselle, then we leave Cochem at about 8:30. The road climbs out of the valley over the Hunsrück, crosses the Rhine at Mainz and runs east to Frankfurt Airport (FRA), about 175 km and two and a quarter hours, arriving by about 11 am. Your guide sees you to the terminal and checks your flight before saying goodbye. If you are flying later or staying on, the minibus carries on 20 minutes into central Frankfurt, where your guide walks you from the Römerberg, the old town square rebuilt with its stepped gables, down to the Main and across the Eiserner Steg footbridge for the view of the skyline, finishing around 1 pm. The main station, about 20 minutes' walk or a short taxi ride from the old town, has trains back to the airport in about 15 minutes and direct ICE services across Germany and Europe. Book a flight leaving after about 2 pm if you go straight to the airport, or after about 5 pm if you join the walk, which ends about 35 minutes from the airport; or ask us to add nights.

   Included

   • Transfer to Frankfurt Airport (FRA)
   • Or the transfer to central Frankfurt and a short walk from the Römerberg to the Main

   Free time: Afternoon free in Frankfurt if you are staying on

   Activity: Book a flight leaving Frankfurt after about 2 pm if you go straight to the airport, or after about 5 pm if you join the city walk.

   

Wildlife and weather: May and June are fresh and green, with long evenings and the vines in flower; July and August are warm, often 25 °C or more, and the busiest on the boats and at Burg Eltz; September and October bring the grape harvest, golden vineyards and wine festivals in the Moselle towns, with cooler mornings and some weekend crowds. Expect some rain in any month; morning mist in the gorge usually lifts by the time the boat sails.

• Cologne1 night
• Boppard3 nights
• Cochem2 nights