Castles of the Rhine and Moselle

Route description

From Koblenz, where the Moselle meets the Rhine at the Deutsches Eck, the B9 follows the left bank of the Rhine south through the castle-lined Middle Rhine valley. To reach the Loreley, a slate rock above the narrowest bend of the river, cross on the car ferry at Sankt Goar; there are no bridges between Koblenz and Mainz.

On the right bank, the road continues to Rüdesheim am Rhein, a wine town with a cable car up through the vineyards to the Niederwald monument. Then head back north and turn west up the Moselle valley.

Burg Eltz, a castle owned by the same family for more than 850 years, is hidden in a forest valley near the Moselle; park at the car park above it and walk down through the woods. Nearby Cochem is crowned by the Reichsburg on a vineyard hill above a bend in the river.

Cochem has a municipal motorhome stopover by the river, and there is also a vineyard campsite nearby. The last leg follows the Moselle’s loops upstream to Trier, Germany’s oldest city, with the Roman Porta Nigra gate. Rhine ferries carry motorhomes, but the riverside towns are small, so use the signed parking areas.