EZTrip.com International Destination Guide and Hotel Listings

A ferry will take you across to the west bank of the Rhine and ST GOAR , which is slightly prettier and more touristy than its counterpart, St Goarhausen. Looming above town is the enormous Burg Rheinfels (April-Sept daily 9am-6pm; Oct daily 9am-5pm; DM6/¬3) which, until the French blew it up in 1797, was one of the most powerful fortresses on the Rhine. It was founded in 1245 by Count Dieter von Katzenelnbogen, who wanted to look after his Rhine toll-collecting racket, and just ten years later withstood a 9000-man siege by soldiers of the Alliance of Rhenish Towns. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the landgraves of Hesse extended what was already a formidable castle into an enormous fortification complex which was to prove virtually impregnable: it was the only Rhineland castle that the French were unable to take during the War of the Palatinate Succession. In 1796 the castle surrendered to the troops of Napoleon without a shot being fired, and over the next three years the French did their best to demolish it. Today, the medieval outline can still be seen and you can walk through the underground passages of the later battlements. Models in the Heimatmuseum (April-Sept 9.30am-noon & 1-5pm; admission included in Burg entrance fee), which is housed in a rebuilt section, show how the place looked before it was destroyed.

St Goar's tourist office is at Heerstr. 86 (May-Sept Mon-Fri 8am-12.30pm & 2-5pm, Sat 9.30am-noon; Oct-April Mon-Fri 8am-12.30pm & 2-4.30pm; tel 0 67 41/3 83, fax 72 09, www.tal-der-loreley.de/ort.st-goar ). There are plenty of hotels in the town centre, including Germania , Heerstr. 47 (tel 0 67 41/16 10; DM80-99/¬40-49), Zur Post , Bahnhofstr. 3 (tel 0 67 41/3 39; DM80-99/¬40-49), Zum Goldenen Löwen , Heerstr. 82 (tel 0 67 41/16 74; DM80/¬40-DM199/¬99), and Montag , Heerstr. 128 (tel 0 67 41/16 29; DM100-124/¬50-62). If you want to splash out, try the Schlosshotel in the Burg Rheinfels complex (tel 0 67 41/80 20; DM200-249/¬100-124). All of these hotels also have restaurants . The youth hostel is just north of the town centre at Bismarckweg 17 (tel 0 67 41/3 88, fax 28 69; jh-st-goar@djh-info.de ; DM22/¬11). Of the two campsites , Friedenau is west of town at Gründelbachstr. 103 (tel 0 67 41/3 68), while Loreleyblick is directly across the Rhine from the Loreley at An der Loreley 29-39 (tel 0 67 41/20 66).