-- Cruises

-- Vineyards

-- Cologne

---- Cathedral

---- Museum

-- Bonn

-- Remagen

-- Koblenz

-- Enemy Brothers

-- Schoenburg

-- Sankt Goar

---- Lodging

-- Rheinfels

-- Marksburg

-- Gutenfels and Pfalz

-- Lorelei

-- Ruedesheim

-- Stahleck

-- Reichenstein

-- Rheinstein

---- Bingen Lodging

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The town of Sankt Goar is located in the Rhine Gorge on the west bank of the river, below the Rheinfels castle. Not far from Sankt Goar you’ll find the famous Loreley rock cliff where rocks below the surface of the river have caused a hazard for shipping for centuries.

Goar, the saint after whom the town is named, settled here in the sixth century A.D. and became a hermit (although he was known for his generous hospitality and reputedly established an inn for travelers and for the poor). There is a church standing today, which was originally constructed by Charlemagne, over the site where St. Goar built his chapel. It houses some notable ancient artifacts.

The Rheinfels castle was built in 1245 by Count Dieter V. von Katzenelnbogen, whose family administered the settlement that had grown up around the original chapel and hostel of Sankt Goar. Like other castle proprietors along this stretch of river, the von Katzenelnbogens generated income to support the settlement and the castle by extracting tolls from ships as they passed. The same family came into possession of the Marksburg castle in 1283.

Sankt Goar is a good place to stay, as there are numerous lodging options in the area. It’s also an interesting place to shop for such items as cuckoo clocks and beer steins.

Steerenberg is the older of the two castles, and as early as the 12th-century belonged to a family by the name of Bolanden. Later it was the property of the Counts of Sponheim. Liebenstein was constructed toward the end of the 13th century and for a period during its history was the property of the Dukes of Nassau-Saarbrücken. The ruins of both are open to the public year round, and the town of Bornhofen is interesting as well.