Visiting Rheinfels Castle: A Complete Guide

Rheinfels Castle is one of the three best Rhine River castles to visit. A vast medieval ruin on a hill overlooking the scenic Upper Middle Rhine Valley.

It is the largest – and one of the most impressive – of the 40 castles on the river Rhine between Koblenz and Bingen – and was at one time several times larger.

Rheinfels Castle is an excellent example of how a medieval castle worked. It was built to withstand sieges, with immense storage spaces and a well to ensure they remained self-sufficient if under attack.

The views from Rheinfels Castle are magnificent, and include two other castles on the Rhine, Burg Maus to the north and Burg Katz to the south.

There is also an intriguing small Castle Museum, with exhibits on the Castle’s history and also that of St Goar and St Goarshausen.

You can also stay at the Romantik Schloss Rheinfels Hotel, or simply dine at a Burg Rheinfels restaurant – there are three to choose from  in the Hotel complex.

Like most other castles along the Rhine river, Rheinfels Castle was built to extract tolls from passing river traffic. It was begun by Count Dieter V of Katzenelenbogen in 1245.

The powerful local Katzenelnbogen family also built the smaller Burg Katz across the river in St Goarshausen, and together these castles rivalled Burg Maus, which is around 2 km downstream above the village of Wellmich.

 Rheinfels Castle was besieged twice during the 17^th century  – during the Thirty Years War and later the Palatine War of Succession, also known as the Nine Years War. It withstood both attacks.

Rheinfels Castle was eventually captured by French forces in 1797. They promptly set about wrecking it and preventing further use as a defensive site.

Most of Rheinfels Castle is a ruin, and an extensive one at that.  I thought it might be one of the best Rhine castles for kids, with lots of places to explore and staircases to explore. And my son agrees completely – this is far and away his favourite Rhine river castle.

Rheinfels Castle reminded me very much of some of the medieval castles in Wales that I visited as a child, with the freedom to roam wherever it was safe to do so and lots to fire the imagination.

One of the best-known features of this Rhineland Castle is its vast underground cellar, which was one of the first places we reached.  My son was amazed by this space, which we later discovered is also used as a concert venue.

Rheinfels Castle Museum is at the far end of the Castle from the entrance gate, and it’s housed in the one tower to have been rebuilt in that part of the Castle.

The Museum contains a scale model of the original castle, which gives you a sense of the enormous area it occupied, and the many sections and towers that were demolished.

It also has some intriguing local history, from a recreated pharmacy (Apotheke) to remnants of its recent past. This includes a one billion mark note issued in St Goarshausen. It’s a reminder of the galloping inflation that had such a disastrous effect on the Weimar Republic economy in the 1920s.

Don’t miss the wall walk and climb up the truncated tower near the entrance of the Castle, which offers spectacular views of the Rhine and the two neighbouring Castles.

Rheinfels Castle is on a hill above the river Rhine overlooking the small riverside town of Sankt Goar, which is often abbreviated to St Goar. St Goar is located on the left bank (west side) of the River Rhine, opposite the small town of St Goarshausen.

St Goar is around 2 km north of the famous landmark Lorelei rock (on the opposite side of the river) and is 35 km south of regional hub Koblenz and 42 km north-west of the city of Mainz.

Burg Rheinfels Castle is easy to reach by car. The main B9 road runs below the Castle and along the left bank of the Rhine all the way from Koblenz to Bingen, and from there it’s a short uphill drive through St Goar, under the railway and right (signposted) to Rheinfels Castle.

At the top of the hill you’ll see two sets of buildings, both of which are part of the Schloss Rheinfels Hotel, one of the most popular Rhine Castle hotel.  The ruin of Burg Rheinfels is partially hidden by the hotel buildings on your right as you ascend the hill.

If you’re travelling be train, it’s easy to reach St Goar station, which is at the far end of the town from Rheinfels Castle.  You can walk from there (15-20 minutes, flat then uphill) or catch the 699 Burg Rheinfels Shuttle bus which runs every 30 minutes from May to October.

Note that the shuttle bus, like the local Rhine ferry to St Goarshausen, is not included in the 49 euro Deutschland Ticket.

Schloss Rheinfels Hotel is one of the best Rhine Castle hotels, in atmospheric outbuildings next to the ruined part of Rheinfels Castle.

We didn’t stay at the Hotel, opting for somewhere else in St Goar, but saw enough to tell you it’s a luxurious place to stay, with sections (linked by an accessible footbridge) either side of the road to the Castle.

The views from some of the rooms are superb, especially towards St Goarshausen and Burg Katz, the privately owned castle on the hill above the village.

Its setting so close to the medieval ruin makes for an amazing Rhine castle experience, sleeping over and waking up to a view that hasn’t changed much since the Middle Ages.

Rheinfels Castle is located above the small town of Sankt Goar, and just across the river from the town of Sankt Goarshausen, and between them they have enough attractions to keep you busy for a day and more.

St Goar is one of the livelier Rhine river towns, with several popular cafes along the main street, Heerstrasse,  and some restaurants with outdoor tables near the ferry.  

There is also a small pop-up bar, R(h)ein Chillen, which is a great spot to while away an hour while enjoying the Rhine views at the end of the day. This bar is only open during the summer months (May to September, possibly October).

You can see two other Rhineland castles from Burg Rheinfels – Burg Maus and Burg Katz – which are across the river, either side of St Goarshausen.  Neither can normally be visited, but they are among the most picturesque castles on the Rhine river, easily visible from ferries and Rhine river cruises, as well as the roadside.   

St Goarshausen is close to the Loreley rock, a river cliff where a mythical mermaid would lure passing ships from the treacherous waters they were trying to navigate and onto rocks by the shore.

The best views of the Loreley rock are from the opposite (St Goar) side of the river, otherwise you can see the Loreley statue at the end of the peninsula just outside St Goarshausen.  You can also reach the visitor area at the top of the Lorelei rock via the L338 (Forstbachstrasse) from St Goarshausen.

St Goar is within easy reach of some of the best towns in the Rhine valley. Oberwesel and Bacharach are a few miles upstream, as is Schloss Pfalzgrafenstein, the striking castle on an island in the Rhine. Further south, Reichenstein Castle and Rheinstein Castle near Trechtingshausen are well worth seeing, as is the famous wine town of Rudesheim.

To the north of St Goar, look out for the ‘Feuding Brothers’ castles of Liebenstein and Sterrenberg, and the beautiful town of Boppard and its superb chairlift to a vantage point high above the Rhine. It’s not far from there to Braubach and Marksburg Castle, the most complete medieval castle on the Rhine.