Rheingau

The Rheingau is in the South of the state of Hesse, in Germany.

Cities

Map of Rheingau

49.9880567.8672221 Assmannshausen
50.0258.1200692 Eltville
49.9831257.9655563 Geisenheim
50.0085428.0198614 Oestrich-Winkel
49.9790287.9234035 Rüdesheim
50.0440977.803756 Lorch am Rhein
50.08258.247 Wiesbaden

Understand

Rheingau-Taunus Kultur und Tourismus, Pfortenhaus - Kloster Eberbach, ☏ +49 6723 9955-0, tourist@kulturland-rheingau.de.

Talk

The locals dialect is known as Rheingauer Platt. The word you will probably come across is Gude, which basically means Hello. But if you understand standard German you should have no issues with the local accent. In the more touristy areas such as Rüdesheim English is widely understood.

Get in

By Plane

Frankfurt Airport is easily accessible just south east of the region. Almost as close by car is Hahn airport but is a challenge with public transport.

By car

From the east take the A66 Wiesbaden exit of the A3 then B42. From the west the A61 then one of the Rhine ferries.

By train

Train SE10 (Rechte Rheinstrecke "Right Rhine Line") from Neuwied via Koblenz to Wiesbaden and Frankfurt.

By bus

Bus 171: Wiesbaden Hbf via Wiesbaden city to Rüdesheim.

On foot

The Rheinsteig or the Rheinhöhenweg (right hand side)

By boat

A large number of luxury cruise operators sail up (and down) the Rhine from Amsterdam to Basel, Zurich or Strasbourg or from the Rhine cruise up the Main and Danube to Budapest. The leisurely journey with plenty of stopovers typically takes anywhere from one to two weeks, with accommodation on the boat itself. Large operators include Avalon and Viking.

The Köln-Düsseldorfer Rheinschiffahrt, better known as KD, runs cruises and scheduled services up and down the river between Cologne and Mainz. The summer season (May-Sept) sees up to 8 services daily on the busiest parts of the river, but services are cut considerably in the shoulder seasons of April and October and slow down to a trickle in the winter. Traveling end to end takes over 11 hours (€49 one way), so most travellers opt for much smaller segments.

While KD has the most extensive network and schedules, there is quite a bit of competition. For example, Bingen-Rüdesheimer^{[dead link]} operates scheduled services on the south half between Rüdesheim and St. Goar.

Get around

Bus 172 from Eltville Bahnhof to Kiedrich and Kloster Eberbach (Eberbach Abbey)

Hiking trail

The Rheinsteig walking trail passes through Wiesbaden-Biebrich, Kiedrich, Kloster Eberbach near Eltville, Schloss Vollrads near Oestrich-Winkel, Monstera Marienthal near Geisenheim and Niederwalddenkmal near Rüdesheim.

See

Buildings and Monuments

Rüdesheim
- Niederwalddenkmal
- Burgruine Ehrenfels (Ruins of Ehrenfels Castle)
- Brömserburg
- Drosselgasse (pedestrian street)
- Rüdesheim-Eibingen: Benediktinerinnen-Abtei St. Hildegard
Geisenheim
- Schloss Johannesburg
Oestrich-Winkel
- Schloss Vollrads
Eltville
- Kurfürstliche Burg (Electors Castle Eltville)
- Kloster Eberbach Eberbach Abbey
- Kiedrich, The Catholic pilgrimage church consecrated to Saint Valentine.
Wiesbaden
- Wiesbaden-Frauenstein: Goethestein, 13.5 m-high stone obelisk and beautiful view to Rheingau)
- Wiesbaden-Biebrich: Schloss und Park Biebrich

Museums

Rüdesheim

Siegfried's Mechanical Music Cabinet
Wine Museum
Medieval Torture Museum

Do

Cabin Cable Car to the Niederwald Monument from Rüdesheim and the Assmannshausen-Niederwald Chair-lift

Events

Rheingau Musik Festival. Annual cultural event, mainly classical music, takes place in a number of locations in the region, often in historic buildings or their grounds.

Itineraries

Rheinsteig
Rheingau-Riesling-Pfad from Wiesbaden-Biebrich to Bonn

Eat

Drink

With over 3000 hectares of vineyard this is a great region to buy and drink quality wine. The main grape is Riesling with Spätburgunder (Pinot noir) making up most of the rest and a little Müller-Thurgau. Spätlese and Eiswein wines can also be found in the region.

Stay safe

This area is generally rather safe if you take common sense precautions against theft and pickpocketing.

Go next

This region travel guide to Rheingau is a usable article. It gives a good overview of the region, its sights, and how to get in, as well as links to the main destinations, whose articles are similarly well developed. An adventurous person could use this article, but please feel free to improve it by editing the page.