About the author: David Angel is a British photographer, writer and historian with 30+years experience exploring Europe. His work regularly appears in global media including the BBC, Condé Nast Traveler, and The Guardian.
Welcome to my guide to Rudesheim Germany, the largest and liveliest of the towns along the Rhine Gorge, and a great base for exploring this World Heritage area. If you’re looking for a taste of traditional Germany, Rüdesheim am Rhein is one of the best places to go.
It has it all – three castles, some outstanding half-timbered houses, and miles of vineyards in the hills above the town. You’ll also find one of the most famous monuments in Germany. And fantastic cable car rides and Rhine river cruises take you through this gorgeous landscape.
All this and there’s still the Drosselgasse, a narrow lane crammed with taverns, restaurants and cafes that is one of the most famous streets in Germany.
I’ll point you in the direction of everywhere worth seeing, and cover the practicalities of getting to Rudesheim, where to stay and eat, and trips onward from there.
I hope you enjoy discovering it as much as I did returning there after almost 40 years.
Why Visit Rudesheim Germany
Visiting Rudesheim is like stepping back in time, with fairytale medieval architecture, castles, vineyards, wine restaurants and a few quirky museums to see.
Rudesheim is the most popular – and by far the liveliest – of the Rhine river towns, packed with traditional restaurants, wine taverns and pubs, especially along the famous Drosselgasse.
Rudesheim is the gateway to the most famous and popular stretch of the Rhine Valley, at the entrance to the 40-mile (65 km) World Heritage section, the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, also known as the Rhine Gorge.
Rudesheim is a great base for exploring the Rhine Valley, with several Rhine river castles and villages just a few miles downstream, and all of the Rhine Gorge within easy reach via train and/or ferry.
Things To Do In Rudesheim Germany – Our Top 14
1. Take a Walk on the Drosselgasse
The Drosselgasse is one of the most famous streets in Germany, a narrow lane packed with half-timbered wine taverns, bars, restaurants and shops.
It is all the elements of traditional Germany packed into one tiny street – half-timbered buildings, wine taverns, plenty of wine and beer flowing, accordion music and even the sound of an oompah band at one point.
It’s the Rhineland I remembered from my first visit as a teenager, and the first time we really encountered it having stayed further down the valley for much of our time there.
It’s quite – but not overwhelmingly – crowded, and you pay a bit of a premium if you stop by for something to eat or drink. We tend to avoid the crowds whenever possible, but this was one time I was happy to wander among them, delighted to be back after nearly four decades.
2. Eat At One Of The Historic Rudesheim Restaurants
Two of the most famous Rudesheim restaurants are on the Drosselgasse. The older of the two, the Drosselhof, was first built in 1727, was once the haunt of Rhine sailors, and is now an atmospheric old inn, beautifully decorated outside and in, with murals adorning the dining room walls.
The menu is full of classics including schnitzels, steaks and sauerbraten, and there’s also a great selection of wine and beer.
The Lindenwirt, just across the street from the Drosselhof, has two restaurants. When we visited, the older one was very quiet, with everyone dining outside in the sun. The restaurant was darkened and cosy, wonderful on autumn and winter evenings, with wonderful decoration including sculptures and stained-glass windows.
3. Discover Some Medieval Rudesheim Architecture
One of my abiding memories of my first visit to Rudesheim (back in the 1980s) is the medieval architecture, particularly the many half-timbered houses around the town.
It won’t take you long to find examples, just turn off the riverfront Rheinstrasse and explore the side streets and lanes. The Drosselgasse has some of these buildings, but one the best we found on this visit is the Brömserhofon Oberstrasse, 100 metres or so left from the top of Drosselgasse.
We also loved the slightly crooked Klunkhardshof building on the street of the same name. This hugely impressive, wonderfully wonky house is named after the Klunkhard family that built it in the early 15th century. Unfortunately you can only admire it from the outside as it’s privately owned.
The half-timbered building and tunnel pictured above can be found next to the Klunkhardshof, leading to Löhrstrasse.
4. Rudesheim Cable Car
The cable car from Rüdesheim is a brilliant way to see the town and surrounding countryside. It’s on a par with the one in Boppard, taking you out of the town and above the many vineyards on the hillside above. You enjoy great views over the town, the Rhine, Bingen and St Hildegard’s Abbey, before stopping at the top of the hill close to the Niederwald Monument (see below).
Return tickets for adults cost €10, and kids aged 5-15 €5.
It may also be worthwhile considering some of the other Rüdesheim cable car options, including the Ring Tour. This entails a walk to a castle ruin and a magic cave (Zauberhöhle), a tunnel decorated with shiny glass stones. From there the second Rüdesheim chairlift takes you down to the wine village of Assmannshausen, from where you can catch the boat back to Rüdesheim.
Another option – which I’d recommend if you have time – is their Romantic Tour, which also includes a trip across the river to Burg Rheinstein, in our opinion one of the best three Rhine River Castles to visit. It’s a short uphill hike up a zig-zag path to the Castle from there, and a boat picks you up and takes you back to Rüdesheim 90 minutes later.
5. Niederwald Monument
This vast monument, the centrepiece of which is the 10-metre statue of Germania, is one of the most famous landmarks in Germany.
It’s on a hilltop ridge high above Rüdesheim, reached by cable car or footpath. It was built between 1871 and 1883 to commemorate the Unification of Germany and the founding of the German Empire. It was commissioned by Kaiser Wilhelm I, who is the central figure in the bronze relief below the statue.
The architect of the Monument was Karl Weissbach, and the sculptor was Johannes Schilling. The figure of Germania holds the Imperial Crown in her raised right hand and the Imperial Sword in her left hand.
6. Niederwald Temple
If you visit the Niederwald Monument it is impossible to miss the beautiful circular Temple overlooking Rüdesheim and the river. This predates the Monument by about 90 years, having been built in 1790 by Count Karl Maximilian von Ostein as part of his English-style landscape park.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited the Temple in 1814 and was mightily impressed by the view. The pillars of the original Rotunda were built from red sandstone – the white stone pillars replaced them during post-war restoration.
7. Try a Rüdesheim Coffee
A Rüdesheimer Kaffee is a local drink invented in 1957 by popular German chef Hans Karl Adam. In Rüdesheim it’s served in a special cup (as pictured above) with flambeed locally produced Asbach Uralt brandy, sugar cubes, coffee, whipped cream, chocolate flakes and vanilla sugar.
I didn’t try it as I don’t drink spirits and liqueurs, but sampling it is one of the popular Rüdesheim things to do. It costs around €9-10 in most cafes and restaurants in the town.
8. Enjoy a Rüdesheim River Cruise
A Rhine cruise is a great way to appreciate the stunning scenery of the Valley. Regular cruises depart from the pier at Rüdesheim, taking between 90 minutes and two hours to explore the upper section of the Rhine Gorge.
From the wide-open countryside around Rüdesheim and Bingen, you enter the narrows of the Rhine Gorge, with its classic landscape of hilltop castles, steep vineyards and small riverside towns with quaint half-timbered buildings.
These river cruises from Rüdesheim are a great appetiser for further exploration of the Rhine. You pass the Mouse Tower, an island sentinel built to collect tolls, and the ruined Burg Ehrenfels, now home to a pair of nesting falcons.
You then continue around the river bend to Rheinstein Castle, one of the best of the restored Romantic Rhine castles, and Reichenstein Castle before turning, passing the wine village of Assmannshausen and heading back to Rüdesheim.
9. Visit Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Cabinet
Siegfried Wendel began collecting mechanical musical instruments, eventually moving his collection to Rüdesheim in 1974. It’s now housed in the stunning Brömserhof, and has everything fromminiature music boxes to fairground organs and music machines.
Siegfried’s Mechanical Music Cabinet is a wondrous nostalgic trip back in time, with around 400 of these amazing instruments. I visited in my teens, and the undoubted highlight is the Hupfeld Violina Phonoliszt from 1909, which plays both piano and violin parts.
You need to book your guided tour in advance, either via the website or in person.
10. Take A Ride On The Rudesheim Tourist Train
The Rüdesheimer Winzerexpress is a road train taking visitors on a tour of the town and surrounding vineyards. It’s a great option for parents with kids who might want to get a quick overview of the town and countryside around.
The trip takes 30 minutes in all, and departs from outside the BrömserhofonOberstrasse, a minute’s walk from the top of the Drosselgasse. It’s €10 for adults, €5 for kids or €21 for a family ticket which allows up to two children.
11. Visit St Hildegard’s Abbey in Eibingen
St Hildegard of Bingen was one of the most remarkable women of the Middle Ages. She was from the town across the river from Rudesheim, but established a convent in the countryside above the town which was rebuilt in the early 20th century.
Hildegard was a visionary, abbess, theologian, composer, scientist, preacher and more – incredible accomplishments at a time when women were traditionally held back. Her music is still recorded almost 850 years after her death, and she has become one of the most inspirational figures of her time.
Her relics are still held in the modern neo-Romanesque convent church. You can walk up to the Abbey or catch the 183 or 187 buses there from the town.
12. Visit The Bromserburg Wine Museum
The Brömserburg Wine Museum, in one of the riverside Rudesheim castles, was closed when we visited in August 2022 due to ongoing remodelling and refurbishment.
This was a pity, as it’s a beautiful Castle and setting for a museum, which would have been useful to visit to get a better overview of wine-growing in the Rheingau area. The Museum website doesn’t specify an opening date as yet, but it’s worth keeping an eye on it if you’re planning to visit Rüdesheim in the near future.
13. Rudesheim Torture Museum
There are numerous other medieval torture museums across Europe (Rothenburg ob der Tauber, San Gimignano, Cesky Krumlov, among others), all of which tell the same story – how viciously cruel humans can be to each other, and how much effort they must have put in to inflict such agonies.
This small Rüdesheim museum tells the tale with over a hundred instruments of torture and a few mannequins, some illustrating the history of the persecution of ‘witches’ in the Middle Ages.
One for adults only, definitely not for kids under the age of 12.
14. Hike To Burg Ehrenfels Castle
Another walk among the Rudesheim vineyards takes you to one of the most picturesque Rhine ruins, Burg Ehrenfels Castle. You can reach it in around 20 minutes from the Niederwald Denkmal, and admire the view of the Binger Loch stretch of water and the Mouse Tower below.
The one thing you can’t do is enter the ruins, which are closed off as the Castle is home to a pair of nesting falcons.
Where Is Rüdesheim Am Rhein
Rüdesheim – officially called Rüdesheim am Rhein – is on the right bank of the River Rhine, in the Rheingau region of the state of Hesse.
It is 55 km (34 miles) from Frankfurt-am-Main, 38 km (23 miles) from Mainz and 127 km (79 miles) from Cologne.
How To Get To Rudesheim
Rudesheim is on the Koblenz to Frankfurt train line which runs along the east side of the Rhine Valley. The RB10 service calls at Rudesheim once an hour in each direction – it takes exactly 1 hour top Koblenz in one direction , and 1 hour and 2 minutes to Frankfurt in the other.
For train times check the Deutsche Bahn site.
If you’re driving, Rudesheim is on the B42 road that connects Wiesbaden (to the east) with Bonn (to the north) via Koblenz.
If you’re travelling from the opposite side of the river Rhine, the ferry runs from Hafen Bingen to the wharf at Rudesheim, 200 metres west of the train station there.
If you’re flying long haul to Germany, Frankfurt is by far the most convenient arrival point, as the Frankfurt to Rudesheim journey only takes a little over an hour. Cologne-Bonn is an alternative, around two hours’ travel time from Rudesheim.
Otherwise, several European budget carriers fly to Frankfurt-Hahn, nearly an hour to the west of the Rhine Valley in the Mosel region. The Mainz bus from there stops at Bingen, from where you can catch the ferry to Rudesheim. Otherwise it’s a 45-minute drive from Hahn to Bingen.
Places To Visit Near Rudesheim Germany
Rudesheim is an ideal starting point for exploring the Upper Middle Rhine Valley. Bingen, just across the river, is worth a couple of hours of your time, with Burg Klopp and St Martin’s Church the standout things to see.
Before you reach the outskirts of Bingen you reach the Binger Mauseturm (Mouse Tower), the toll castle on an island named after the legendary mice which ate the cruel owner. Heading downriver, you soon reach Rheinstein and Reichenstein Castles, then passing the village of Trechtingshausen and Burg Sooneck soon afterwards.
After passing gorgeous Bacharach – for us the prettiest of the Rhine River towns – continue downriver to Pfalzgrafenstein Castle, the striking white island castle next to the one-street town of Kaub, before reaching Oberwesel, one of the best Rhine towns to visit with a splendid Castle, Schonburg, that is now a luxury hotel overlooking it.
We also recommend venturing downstream to the Loreley cliff, the source of one of the most enduring Rhine legends, a spurned woman throwing herself from the cliff and returning as a mermaid to lure sailors into the treacherous waters and rocks below.
Just around the corner from there, you reach one of the most scenic stretches of the Rhine Gorge, with Burg Katz and Rheinfels Castle overlooking the towns of St Goarshausen and St Goar respectively.
Two of the highlights of the Rhine Valley are at the opposite end of the Gorge from Rüdesheim, and just a few miles south of Koblenz. Marksburg Castle is possibly the greatest of all Rhine Castles, and the best-preserved, having withstood many attacks and never been captured during its medieval lifetime.
It stands on a hill high above the quiet half-timbered village of Braubach, which is incredibly picturesque but seems to be bypassed by the coach tours that only call at the Castle.
Rüdesheim Germany – Final Thoughts
I first visited Rüdesheim in the mid-1980s, and was always keen to return at some point. It has some stunning architecture but isn’t the prettiest of the Rhine river towns – that would have to be Bacharach.
We visited all of the towns and most of the villages along the Rhine Gorge, and some were surprisingly quiet. Not so Rüdesheim: it’s the liveliest of the lot, but (at least when we visited) not overly busy. So if you like a bit of a buzz about a place, and a bit of German gemütlichkeit (bonhomie and warmth), it’s a great place to visit, indeed stay.
David Angel is a British photographer, writer and historian. He is a European travel expert with over 30 years’ experience exploring Europe. He has a degree in History from Manchester University, and his work is regularly featured in global media including the BBC, Condé Nast Traveler, The Guardian, The Times, and The Sunday Times. David is fluent in French and Welsh, and can also converse in Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Czech and Polish.