3 Best Sights in The Rhineland, Germany

Hop on this chairlift to the Pinner Kreuz for great vistas, which you can enjoy from the terrace of the café at the top. As the name suggests, these lifts are the open-air foot-dangling type, rather than the enclosed gondolas, so those with a fear a heights may prefer the steep walk instead.

This pointed bit of land, jutting into the river like the prow of an early ironclad warship, is at the sharp intersection of the Rhine and Mosel rivers. In 1897, an equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I, first emperor of the newly united Germany, was erected here as one of the more effusive manifestations of German nationalism. It was destroyed at the end of World War II, and replaced for 40 years by a ponderous monument to Germany's unity, but a new statue of Wilhelm was placed here in 1993—and still stands today. It's accompanied by three pieces of the Berlin Wall on the Mosel side, a memorial to those who died as a result of the partitioning of the country.

Take a ride on this 70-year-old chairlift and you'll be whisked a half-mile uphill to the Vierseenblick (Four-Lake View). It's called that because, at this particularly bendy point of the Rhine, the river appears to be a chain of four unconnected lakes. The journey takes approximately 20 minutes, but it's a rickety ride with your legs dangling, so it's not ideal for those scared of heights. Once at the top, as well as enjoying the views—including of Marksburg across the water—there are a number of hiking trails heading off into nature.