Twelve Rhine castles you can see from the deck

Two clusters, a long way apart

The Upper Middle Rhine Valley stretches roughly 65 km (40 miles) from Bingen and Rüdesheim to Koblenz, with around 40 castles and fortresses along the way. No short boat covers them all, and the tours we compare split into two groups.

Around Koblenz, at the northern gate of the gorge, a two-hour boat shows a handful of castles. The dense southern run around St. Goar and Bacharach belongs to the Frankfurt day trips. Our guide to which stretch has the castles maps the whole river.

Twelve castles, north to south

The list follows the river upstream from Koblenz, the direction Gilles Rheinschifffahrt's boats take. Where a tour passes a castle, its listing names it or the stretch; where we are not sure, we leave the tour out.

1. Ehrenbreitstein, the huge fortress on the hill across from Deutsches Eck in Koblenz, in view from the Koblenz pier
2. The Electoral Palace in Koblenz, a palace rather than a castle, with a long classical front on the riverbank that tours 2 and 6 both pass
3. Stolzenfels, a pale castle rebuilt in a romantic style above the west bank at the southern edge of Koblenz, passed by tours 2 and 6
4. Lahneck, on the hill above Lahnstein where the Lahn joins the Rhine, on tour 2's route
5. Marksburg, above Braubach, often called the only hilltop castle in the valley that was never destroyed; tour 2 heads towards Braubach and Marksburg
6. Burg Maus, a compact castle above Wellmich, just downstream of St. Goarshausen
7. Rheinfels, above St. Goar, the largest ruin on this stretch and the "largest fortification" on Go with Flo's private day
8. Burg Katz, on the slope above St. Goarshausen, facing Rheinfels across the water near the Loreley
9. Schönburg, high above the wine town of Oberwesel, with tall towers over the slate roofs
10. Pfalzgrafenstein, the white toll castle on an island in the river at Kaub, shaped a little like a ship
11. Stahleck, above Bacharach, rebuilt in the last century and now a youth hostel
12. Rheinstein, on a crag near Trechtingshausen, close to the southern gate of the gorge at Bingen

The last seven sit in the southern run. On the Frankfurt day trip, the boat stretch from Rüdesheim to St. Goarshausen passes castles such as Rheinstein and Pfalzgrafenstein, with Burg Katz near its end.

What two hours from Koblenz shows you

Gilles Rheinschifffahrt's castles and palaces boat, from ~$21, casts off from the Koblenz riverfront and works its way south against the current. Over two hours it ticks off the Koblenz palace, then Lahneck on the right bank and Stolzenfels on the left, with Marksburg in sight at the far end.

Near Lahnstein the boat passes the Lahn estuary, with the Johanneskloster and All Saints Chapel on the bank and the Martinsburg in town. It is the most reviewed castle boat we compare, at 4.4 from 2,450+ reviews on GetYourGuide.

You can buy a snack at the bar and bring the dog. The limit is geography, since this is the northern gateway of the gorge and the Loreley lies far beyond the turning point, as our Loreley guide explains.

A shorter option from the same pier is Gilles Rheinschifffahrt's one-hour cruise from ~$16, rated 4.5 from 100+ reviews. Its catch is the shorter loop, which shows Koblenz and the Electoral Palace, probably Stolzenfels too, and turns back well before Marksburg.

Whether to stay in Koblenz or head south first is the subject of our guide to boarding in Koblenz or Rüdesheim.

The southern run on a Frankfurt day

For the densest castles you need to be on the water between Rüdesheim and St. Goarshausen. ETS Touristik's day from Frankfurt, from ~$167, gives you an hour or more on deck through this southern stretch, inside an 8-hour coach day that also covers lunch and wine.

It holds 4.4 from 1,520+ reviews on GetYourGuide. Flood, drought or a boatless winter day turns the cruise into a castle tour instead, which at least keeps the theme. Our Frankfurt day trip guide goes through the day step by step.

the private Go with Flo day (~$142 a head when the van is full) pairs its two hours afloat with a walk around the biggest fortress ruin in the valley. With 5.0 from 4 reviews on GetYourGuide and 20+ on Viator, it rests on little evidence, and one traveler alone pays far more.

Looking inside instead of from the water

None of the boats we compare stop at a castle. They show the walls from the river, which is often the better view, because most of these castles sit on crags that look their tallest from below.

If you want to walk inside, Marksburg and Rheinfels are the two most visited from the river towns, by most accounts. Check opening times with the castles themselves, because they change through the year and we do not track them.

Pfalzgrafenstein sits on its island, so it needs a small ferry from Kaub. Ask locally about the crossing rather than planning your day around a fixed timetable.

Getting the most from the deck

Castles stand on both banks, so the open top deck beats any window seat. Heading upstream from Koblenz, Stolzenfels is on the right of the boat, while Lahneck and Marksburg are on the left.

A small pair of binoculars helps with the ruins high on the slopes. If the weather turns, the castles still show well through the cabin glass, though your photos will suffer from reflections.

Low water or floods can change a sailing, more often on the long gorge routes than on the short Koblenz loops. Our guide to Rhine water levels explains what to check, and the price guide lists every tour side by side.