The Loreley rock and the Rhine's tightest bend
The Loreley is a slate cliff where the Rhine squeezes into a sharp turn, and a 19th-century legend made it one of the best-known names on the river. Not every Rhine boat gets there. This guide covers the rock and its story, the old danger to shipping and which of the tours we compare sail past it.
A slate cliff on a sharp bend
The Loreley rises roughly 130 m (430 ft) above the water on the east bank, just upstream of St. Goarshausen. It is dark slate, steep and partly wooded, and from the river it looks taller than the number suggests.
Below it the Rhine swings through one of its tightest bends and narrows noticeably. The rock sits in the middle of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, the UNESCO World Heritage stretch of about 65 km (40 miles) between Rüdesheim and Koblenz.
If you are still deciding where on the river to spend your day, our guide to which stretch of the Rhine has the castles sets the Loreley next to the city stretches further north.
The legend, in short
The story of the Loreley is about a young woman on the rock whose beauty and song distract boatmen until they wreck below. It is usually traced to Clemens Brentano, who wrote a ballad about her in the early 1800s.
Heinrich Heine's poem "Die Lorelei", usually dated to 1824, made her famous. Once it was set to music it became one of the best-known German songs, and it fixed the picture of a siren combing her hair high above the river.
Most historians treat the legend as a literary invention rather than old folklore, which surprises some visitors. That takes nothing away from the place, where the narrow, fast water gives the story an obvious source.
Why boatmen feared this bend
Before the channel was deepened and marked, the Loreley stretch was one of the hardest places on the Rhine to navigate. Rocks under the surface and fast currents around the blind bend caught out many crews, by most accounts.
Shipping still takes this bend with care. Barges and passenger boats share a narrow channel here, and from the deck you can usually watch the big freight ships working against the current on their way upstream.
Water levels matter here more than almost anywhere else on the river. Kaub, a short way upstream, has the gauge the shipping world watches, and our guide to when low water stops the Rhine boats explains what that means for a booking.
Which of our tours pass the Loreley
Only some of the boats we compare reach this part of the river. The table sorts them by what the listings say about the route, with the regular price per person.
| Tour | From | Passes the Loreley? | Boat stretch |
|---|---|---|---|
| ETS Touristik, day from Frankfurt (our pick) | ~$167 | Yes | Rüdesheim to St. Goarshausen, 1–1.5 hours on average |
| Go with Flo, private day | ~$142 | Ask the guide | Two-hour cruise, stretch not stated |
| Gilles Rheinschifffahrt, Koblenz | ~$21 | No | Koblenz towards Braubach and back |
| Bonner Personen Schiffahrt, Bonn to Linz | ~$30 | No | Bonn to Linz and back |
| KölnTourist, Cologne skyline | ~$27 | No | Cologne city, 90 minutes |
ETS Touristik's boat stretch ends at St. Goarshausen, right below the rock, so the Loreley comes near the end of your time on the water. Go with Flo's listing does not name its cruise stretch, so ask Florian which stretch the cruise covers if the rock is the point of your day.
Our pick for the Loreley stretch
ETS Touristik's day trip from Frankfurt, from ~$167, is the simplest way to see the rock without piecing together trains and boats yourself. Its scores sit at 4.4 on GetYourGuide over 1,520+ reviews and 4.1 on Viator over 1,280+.
The steamboat part lasts about 1 to 1.5 hours on average, inside a coach day of 8 hours with lunch and a tavern tasting. Some Viator reviewers find the boat too short, which is the trade-off for fitting the whole valley into one day from Frankfurt.
Past the rock by steamboat
ETS Touristik's eight-hour day from Frankfurt, with a boat stretch from Rüdesheim to St. Goarshausen that ends just below the Loreley.
The bigger risk is the river itself. If the level is extreme, or it is a winter day with no boats running, ETS Touristik swaps the cruise for a castle visit, so you may not see the Loreley from the water at all. Our hour-by-hour Frankfurt guide lays out the full day.
Why a Koblenz boat will not get you there
Gilles Rheinschifffahrt's two-hour castles boat from Koblenz, from ~$21, is a good trip with a clear limit. It heads upstream towards Braubach and Marksburg, then turns back well short of the Loreley, which lies roughly 35 km (22 miles) south of Koblenz.
That boat holds 4.4 from 2,450+ reviews on GetYourGuide, and it suits a stay in Koblenz. For the Loreley, board further south, as our guide to boarding in Koblenz or Rüdesheim explains.
Burg Katz, Burg Maus and the view from the top
Two castles frame the rock. Burg Katz stands on the slope above St. Goarshausen, and Burg Maus sits a little further downstream, their names said to be a joke between rival lords. Across the river, Rheinfels spreads over the hill above St. Goar.
All three appear in our list of twelve Rhine castles you can see from the deck. On the Frankfurt day, Burg Katz and Rheinfels come into view near the end of the boat ride, while Burg Maus lies just beyond the landing at St. Goarshausen.
A viewpoint on the plateau above the rock looks down into the bend. None of the tours we compare list a stop there, though Go with Flo's private day includes lookouts without naming them, so it is a fair question for Florian.
Seeing the rock well from the boat
Heading downstream from Rüdesheim, the Loreley is on the right-hand side of the boat. Find a place on that side of the open deck before the bend, because the cliff slides past quickly once the boat swings round.
A long lens helps but is not needed, since the rock is close. A light jacket is more useful, because the open deck can feel cool on the water even on a warm day.
Wine is usually sold on board on this stretch. Our Riesling guide covers the tastings that come with the Frankfurt day, and the price guide shows what you pay on top of each fare.