Holiday in Bacharach

What makes Bacharach special as a destination?

Bacharach on the Rhine is considered the most beautiful half-timbered town in the UNESCO World Heritage Upper Middle Rhine Valley and is a place where time seems to have stood still. The small town with only 2,000 inhabitants is nestled between steep vineyards and the Rhine, surrounded by an almost completely preserved medieval city wall. Stahleck Castle towers high above Bacharach and today houses one of the most beautiful youth hostels in Germany — those who stay here wake up to a panoramic view of the Rhine Valley, for which others pay hundreds of euros. The castle dates back to the 12th century and was once the seat of the Counts Palatine on the Rhine. The old town is a total work of art made up of half-timbered houses from the 14th to 17th centuries, winding alleys, and the Gothic ruins of the Werner Chapel — one of the most distinctive buildings of Rhine Romanticism. Victor Hugo, who traveled through the Rhine Valley in the 19th century, wrote enthusiastically about Bacharach and immortalized the place in his works. Wine has shaped Bacharach since Roman times: The steep slope vineyards produce excellent Riesling, and the town was the most important wine trading place on the Middle Rhine in the Middle Ages — the name Bacharach may derive from Bacchi Ara (Altar of Bacchus). The wineries offer tastings right by the Rhine. The Rheinsteig and the Rheinburgenweg pass through Bacharach and connect the dozens of castles and ruins of the Middle Rhine Valley. From the city wall, there is an unobstructed view of the opposite Rhine bank with Gutenfels Castle and Pfalzgrafenstein Castle — a customs castle in the middle of the Rhine that seems to float like a ship on the water.