38 Best Sights in The Rhineland, Germany

Elaborately carved 16th- and 17th-century half-timber houses and a beautiful Renaissance Rathaus (town hall) frame Bernkastel's photogenic medieval market square. In front of the town hall stands Michaelsbrunnen (St. Michael's Fountain), just as it has for more than four centuries. At the beginning of September, the square and riverbank are lined with wine stands for one of the region's largest wine festivals, the Weinfest der Mittelmosel.

A fortresslike tower on a hill, the Roman Catholic St. Martin church is well worth the short but steep climb up from Wernerstrasse. Decorated in white and pastel pink inside and out, it's particularly notable for its beautifully painted vaulting and magnificent baroque altar. Take time to explore Martinsgarten, a medley of manicured hedges and flower beds on the northern side of the church—the vistas of the town and river from here are second to none—before walking back to the center via the old Roman ramparts.

This beautiful red-and-white church, which overlooks the corner of Kirchstrasse and Oberbachstrasse, is a remarkable amalgamation of art and architectural styles. Step inside and take a moment to admire the 117 carved bosses in the star-vaulted ceiling of the nave. Among the many fine sculptures throughout the church and the chapel is the town's treasure: a Renaissance stone relief, Christ in the Winepress.

Looking west along the river from Bingen, you can just about spot the Mäuseturm, perched on a rocky island near the Binger Loch. The name derives from a gruesome legend. One version tells that during a famine in 969 the miserly Archbishop Hatto hoarded grain and sought refuge in the tower to escape the peasants' pleas for food. The stockpile attracted scads of mice to the tower, where they devoured everything in sight, including Hatto. In fact, the tower was built by the archbishops of Mainz in the 13th and 14th centuries as a Mautturm (watch tower and toll station) for their fortress, Ehrenfels, on the opposite shore; now an atmospheric ruin. It was restored in neo-Gothic style by the king of Prussia in 1855, who also rebuilt Burg Sooneck, but you can't go inside.

It was in this sturdy Romanesque basilica, consecrated in 836, that plans were drawn for the Treaty of Verdun, which formalized the division of Charlemagne's great empire and led to the creation of Germany and France as separate states. Inside Koblenz's oldest church, compare the squat Romanesque columns in the nave with the intricate fan vaulting of the Gothic sections. The St. Kastor Fountain outside the church is an intriguing piece of historical one-upmanship. It was built by the occupying French to mark the beginning of Napoléon's ultimately disastrous Russian campaign of 1812.

This Gothic church is near the palace tower on Carlsplatz. Its spire became distorted because unseasoned wood was used in its construction. The Vatican elevated the 14th-century brick church to a basilica minor (small cathedral) in 1974 in recognition of its role in church history. Built in the 13th century, with additions from 1394, St. Lambertus contains the tomb of William the Rich and a graceful late-Gothic tabernacle.

This pretty, 15th-century collegiate church was built atop the tomb of St. Goar, despite the fact that the tomb itself (an ancient pilgrimage site) was discovered to be empty during the church's construction. The 11th-century crypt is among the most beautiful to be found on the Rhine. Admire the exterior from the shade of the solitary oak.

Built by the English aristocrat John Sutton, this beautiful villa in Kiedrich, 2½ km (1½ miles) northwest of Eltville, is home to one of Germany's leading wine estates. Its famed Rieslings can be sampled in the tasting room at no cost (but with the expectation that a bottle or two of wine is purchased afterward). For 10 people or more, an exclusive tasting including a two-hour cellar tour can be arranged in advance for a fee.