Rhine Valley: Itineraries

A Top Day in Rhine Valley

To enjoy the aptly-named Romantic Rhine at its relaxing best, I would arrange to wake up in the attractive left-bank town of Boppard, situated on one of the sharpest of the Rhine's many twists and turns. After a hotel breakfast spent gazing out at car ferries shuttling from bank to bank, passenger ferries docking and heavily-laden barges chugging up- and downriver, I would pop into the Museum der Stadt Boppard for a look at their superb exhibit on bentwood furniture, invented a century-and-a-half ago by a local cabinetmaker named Michael Thonet (1796-1871). Then I'd head up to the Vierseenblick viewpoint, where the lay of the land creates the charming illusion that you're looking at four separate lakes instead of a single serpentine river. The most entertaining way up there is to take a 20-minute chairlift ride, but since I'm bursting with energy I'd head into the hills via the Klettersteig, a two-and-a-half to three-hour cliff-side adventure hike that takes you up some particularly hairy bits with the help of ladders. One of my favourite activities when high atop the hills lining the Romantic Rhine is to gaze down at the itty-bitty trains slithering back and forth along both banks of the river. After a hearty German lunch back in town, I'd hire a bike and pedal along the riverside bike path known as the Rhein-Radweg, heading either upriver to Boppard or downriver towards Koblenz. From here, if time permits, I'd switch to the Mosel-Radweg, which heads southwest along the Moselle River. Getting back to Boppard is as easy as boarding one of the regular local trains, virtually all of which welcome bicycles. Come evening, instead of an apéritif , I'd unwind over a cup of exotic tea in the 16th-century Teehäusje, Boppard's cutest half-timbered house, which has been turned into a delightful little tearoom. Later, I'd dine on local fare at one of the town's excellent riverside restaurants, not neglecting to sample the excellent rieslings grown near here on some of the Rhine's steepest vineyards.

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