Rick's Favorite Sleeps & Eats: Rhine River Valley
Sleeping on the Rhine
(€1 = about $1.10)
The Rhine is an easy place for cheap sleeps. Zimmer and Gasthäuser with €20 beds abound (and Zimmer normally discount their prices for longer stays). Rhine-area hostels offer €14 beds to travelers of any age. Each town's TI is eager to set you up, and finding a room should be easy any time of year (except for winefest weekends in September and October). Bacharach and St. Goar, the best towns for an overnight stop, are 10 miles apart, connected by milk-run trains, riverboats, and a riverside bike path. Bacharach is a much more interesting town, but St. Goar has the famous castle (see "St. Goar," above). Parking in Bacharach is simple along the highway next to the tracks (3-hr daytime limit is generally not enforced) or in the boat parking lot. Parking in St. Goar is tighter; ask at your hotel.
Sleeping in Bacharach
(country code: 49, area code: 06743)
Ignore guest houses and restaurants posting "Recommended by Rick Steves" signs. If they're not listed in the current edition of this book, I do not recommend them.
$$$ Hotel Altkölnischer Hof, a grand old building near the church, rents 20 rooms with modern furnishings (and some balconies) over an Old World restaurant. Public rooms are old-time elegant (Sb-€48–70, small or dark Db-€62-65, bright new Db-€72-82, new Db with balcony-€80-105, elevator, closed Nov–March, tel. 06743/1339 or 06743/2186, fax 06743/2793, www.hotel-bacharach-rhein.de, altkoelnischer-hof@t-online.de).
$$ Hotel Kranenturm offers castle ambience without the climb — a good combination of hotel comfort with Zimmer coziness, a central location, and a medieval atmosphere. Run by hardworking Kurt Engel and his intense but friendly wife, Fatima, this hotel is actually part of the medieval fortification. Its former Kran (crane) towers are now round rooms. When the riverbank was higher, cranes on this tower loaded barrels of wine onto Rhine boats. Hotel Kranenturm is 15 feet from the train tracks, but a combination of medieval sturdiness, triple-paned windows, and included earplugs makes the riverside rooms sleepable (Sb-€40–43, Db-€55–60, bigger Db-€60-70, Tb-€75–85, lower price is for off-season or stays of at least 3 nights in high season, family deals, kid-friendly, cash preferred, Rhine views come with ripping train noise, back rooms are quieter, Internet access-€5/hour and laundry service-€12.50/load for guests only, Langstrasse 30, tel. 06743/1308, fax 06743/1021, hotel-kranenturm@t-online.de). Kurt, a good cook, serves €6 to €18 dinners (guests can have full dinner for €10); try his ice-cream special for dessert. Trade travel stories on the terrace with new friends over dinner, letting screaming trains punctuate your conversation. Drivers park along the highway at the Kranenturm tower. Eurailers walk down Oberstrasse, then turn right on Kranenstrasse.
$$ Hotel Hillen, a block south of the Hotel Kranenturm, has less charm and similar train noise, with spacious rooms, friendly owners, good food, and lots of rental bikes. To minimize train noise, ask for ruhige Seite, the quiet side (S-€28, Sb-€36, D-€42, Ds-€52, Db-€57, Tb-€75, 10 percent less for 3 nights, closed Nov–March, family rooms, Langstrasse 18, tel. 06743/1287, fax 06743/1037, hotel-hillen@web.de, kind Iris speaks some English).
$$ Pension im Malerwinkel sits like a grand gingerbread house just outside the wall at the top end of town in a little neighborhood so charming it's called "Painters' Corner" (Malerwinkel). The Vollmer family's 20-room place is super-quiet and comes with a sunny garden on a brook and easy parking (Sb-€35, Db-€55-58 for 1 night, €50 for 2 nights, €47 for 3 nights, no CC, some rooms have balconies but most face parking lot, bike rental-€6/day, from town center go uphill and up the valley 5 min until you pass the old town gate and look left to Blücherstrasse 41, tel. 06743/1239, fax 06743/93407, www.im-malerwinkel.de, pension@im-malerwinkel.de).
$$ Pension Binz offers four large, bright rooms and a plain apartment in a serene location (Sb-€33, Db-€51, third person-€18, apartment with 2-night minimum-€61, fine breakfast, Koblenzer Strasse 1, tel. 06743/1604, pension.binz@freenet.de, cheery Karla speaks a little English).
$ At Pension Lettie, effervescent and eager-to-please Lettie offers four bright rooms. Lettie speaks good English (she worked for the U.S. Army before they withdrew) and does laundry — €10.50 per load (Sb-€34, Db-€45, Tb-€61, family room for 4-€75, for 5-€95, for 6-€105, prices valid with this book, discount for 2-night stays, 6 percent more if paying with plastic, strictly non-smoking, buffet breakfast with waffles and eggs, no train noise, a few doors inland from Hotel Kranenturm, Kranenstrasse 6, tel. & fax 06743/2115, pension.lettie@t-online.de).
$ Pension Winzerhaus, a 10-room place run by friendly Sybille and Stefan, is 200 yards up the valley from the town gate, so the location is less charming, but it has no train noise and easy parking. Rooms are simple, clean, and modern (Sb-€26, Db-€45, Tb-€60, Qb-€65, 10 percent off with this book, no CC, free bikes for guests, non-smoking rooms, Blücherstrasse 60, tel. 06743/1294, fax 06743/937-779, winzerhaus@compuserve.de).
$ Herr und Frau Theilacker run a cozy, German-feeling Zimmer just off the main street with four comfortable rooms, vine-covered trellises, and a breakfast room filled with their family photos. They're likely to have a room when others don't (S-€18, D-€36, no CC, in town center behind Altkölnischer Hof, take short lane between Altkölnischer Hof and Altes Haus straight ahead to Oberstrasse 57, no outside sign, tel. 06743/1248, NSE).
$ Orth Zimmer: Delightful sisters-in-law run two fine little B&Bs across the lane from each other (from station walk down Oberstrasse, turn right on Spurgasse, look for Orth sign). Ursula Orth rents five rooms and speaks a smidge of English (Sb-€20, D-€31, Db-€34, Tb-€45, no CC, rooms 4 and 5 on ground floor, Spurgasse 3, tel. 06743/1557). Irmgard Orth rents two fresh rooms. She speaks no English but is exuberantly cheery and serves homemade honey with breakfast (Sb-€20, Db-€34, no CC, Spurgasse 2, tel. 06743/1553).
$ Jugendherberge Stahleck hostel is a 12th-century castle on the hilltop — 500 steps above Bacharach — with a royal Rhine view. Open to travelers of any age, this is a newly redone gem with eight beds and a private modern shower and WC in most rooms. A steep 20-minute climb on the trail from the town church, the hostel is warmly run by Evelyn and Bernhard Falke (FALL-kay), who serve hearty, €6, all-you-can-eat buffet dinners. The hostel pub serves cheap local wine until midnight (€16 dorm beds with breakfast and sheets, €3.10 extra for non-members or in a double, couples can share one of five €37 Db, no smoking in rooms, open all day but 22:00 curfew, laundry machine, beds normally available but call and leave your name, they'll hold a bed until 18:00, tel. 06743/1266, fax 06743/2684, jh-bacharach@djh-info.de). If driving, don't go in the driveway; park on the street and walk 200 yards.
Eating in Bacharach
You can easily find inexpensive (€10–15), atmospheric restaurants offering indoor and outdoor dining. The first three places are neighbors.
Altes Haus, the oldest building in town, serves reliably good food with Bacharach's most romantic atmosphere (€9–15, Thu–Tue 12:00–15:30 & 18:00–21:30, closed Wed and Dec–Easter, dead center by the church, tel. 06743/1209). Find the cozy little dining room with photos of the opera singer who sang about Bacharach, adding to its fame.
Kurpfälzische Münze is more expensive but a popular standby for its sunny terrace and classy candlelit interior (€7–21, daily 10:00–22:00, in the old mint, a half-block down from Altes Haus, tel. 06743/1375).
Posthof Restaurant is a historic carriage house — a stopping place for centuries of guests — newly opened as a restaurant. The menu is trendier, with free German tapas (ask), seasonal specials, and local "as organic as possible" produce. You'll sit in a half-timbered cobbled courtyard (€5–15, good salads and veggie dishes, fun kids' play area, daily 11:00 until late, Oberstrasse 45, tel. 06743/599-663).
Hotel Kranenturm is another good value with hearty meals and good main course salads (restaurant closed Nov–Feb, see hotel listing above).
Wine-Tasting: Drop in on entertaining Fritz Bastian's Weingut zum Grüner Baum wine bar (also offers soup and cold cuts, good ambience indoors and out, just past Altes Haus, Mon-Wed and Fri from 13:00, Sat-Sun from 12:00, closed Thu and Feb-mid-March, tel. 06743/1208). As the president of the local vintner's club, Fritz is on a mission to give travelers an understanding of the subtle differences among the Rhine wines. Groups of two to six people pay €13.50 for a "carousel" of 15 glasses of 14 different white wines, one lonely red, and a basket of bread. Your mission: Team up with others with this book to rendezvous here after dinner. Spin the lazy Susan, share a common cup, and discuss the taste. Fritz insists, "After each wine, you must talk to each other."
For a fun, family-run wine shop and Stube in the town center, visit Weingut Karl Heidrich (on Oberstrasse, directly in front of Hotel Kranenturm), where American Susanne and German Markus proudly share their family's wine.
Sleeping in St. Goar
(country code: 49, area code: 06741)
$$$ Hotel Montag, with 28 rooms, is on the castle end of town just across the street from the world's largest free-hanging cuckoo clock. Manfred and Maria Montag and their son Mike speak New Yorkish. Even though the hotel gets a lot of bus tours, it's friendly, laid-back, and comfortable (Sb-€35-45, Db-€70-80, Tb-€90-100, coin-op Internet access-€8/hr, Heer Strasse 128, tel. 06741/1629, fax 06741/2086, hotelmontag@01019freenet.de). Check out their adjacent crafts shop (heavy on beer steins).
$$$ Rheinfels Castle Hotel is the town splurge. Actually part of the castle but an entirely new building, this luxury 57-room place is good for those with money and a car (Db-€130–154 depending on river views and balconies, extra bed €34, elevator, free parking, indoor pool and sauna, dress-up restaurant, Schlossberg 47, tel. 06741/8020, fax 06741/802-802, www.schlosshotel-rheinfels.de, info@burgrheinfels.de).
$$ Hotel am Markt, well-run by Herr and Frau Velich, is rustic with all the modern comforts. It features a hint of antler with a pastel flair, 18 bright rooms, and a good restaurant where the son does the cooking. It's a good value and a stone's throw from the boat dock and train station (S-€35, Sb-€43, standard Db-€59, bigger riverview Db-€69, Tb-€82, Qb-€88, 20 percent cheaper off-season, closed Nov–Feb, Am Markt 1, tel. 06741/1689, fax 06741/1721, www.hotelammarkt1.de, hotel.am.markt@gmx.de). Rental bikes are available to guests (€5/day).
$$ Hotel Hauser, facing the boat dock, is another good deal, warmly run by another Frau Velich. Its 12 rooms sit over a fine restaurant (S-€21.50, D-€45, Db-€50, great Db with Rhine-view balconies-€56, show this book and pay cash to get these prices, Db cheaper off-season, costs more with credit card, small bathrooms, restaurant, Heer Strasse 77, tel. 06741/333, fax 06741/1464, www.hotelhauser.de, hotelhauser@t-online.de).
$$ Hotel zur Post, with creaky parquet floors and 12 forgettable, well-worn rooms, is a reasonable value a block off the riverfront (Sb-€37, Db-€62, a block from the station at Bahnhofstrasse 3, tel. 06741/339, fax 06741/2708, www.hotelzurpost-online.de, zurposthotel@gmx.de, family Bergweiler).
$ Frau Kurz offers St. Goar's best Zimmer deal, with a breakfast terrace, garden, fine view, and homemade marmalade (S-€22, D-€36-38, Db-€43, showers-€2.60, more for 1-night stays, no CC, free and easy parking, confirm prices, honor your reservation or call to cancel, Ulmenhof 11, tel. & fax 06741/459, some English spoken). It's a steep five-minute hike from the train station (exit left from station, take immediate left at the yellow phone booth, pass under tracks to paved path, go up stairs and follow zigzag path to Ulmenhof, Zimmer is just past tower).
$ St. Goar Hostel, the big beige building under the castle (on road to castle, veer right just after railroad bridge) has a 22:00 curfew (but you can borrow the key) and hearty €6 dinners (S-€15, dorm beds-€12, up to 12 beds per room, includes breakfast, no CC, open all day, check-in preferred 17:00–18:00 & 19:00–20:00, Bismarckweg 17, tel. 06741/388, fax 06741/2689, jh-st-goar@djh-info.de).
Eating in St. Goar
Hotel Am Markt serves good traditional meals (with plenty of game and fish) at fair prices (€5–16) with good atmosphere and service. For your Rhine splurge, walk, taxi, or drive up to Rheinfels Castle Hotel for its incredible view terrace in an elegant setting (€8–15 dinners, daily 18:30–21:15, reserve a table by the window, see hotel listing above).
Excerpted from the 2004 edition of "Rick Steves' Germany, Austria & Switzerland" guidebook, available from our Travel Store.