Koblenz travel guide
Where the Moselle meets the Rhine, under the walls of Ehrenbreitstein
Koblenz stands at the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle, with the Deutsches Eck, Ehrenbreitstein fortress and an easy-going old town. It is the best base for Rhine castles and the Moselle valley. Visit from May to October and stay two or three nights. Prices are high, and many nationalities visit visa-free.
Koblenz grew up on the tongue of land where the Moselle runs into the Rhine, and its name still says so: the Romans called their camp here Confluentes in about 8 BC. The point itself, the Deutsches Eck, carries a colossal equestrian statue of Emperor Wilhelm I, while across the Rhine the walls of Ehrenbreitstein, one of Europe's largest surviving fortresses, look down from a cliff. The city marks the northern end of the Upper Middle Rhine Valley World Heritage Site.
For most travellers it is a base as much as a destination. Trains and river boats fan out from here along both banks of the Rhine gorge and up the Moselle, so castles such as Stolzenfels, Marksburg and Eltz are all easy day trips. The town itself repays a day too. Its compact old town clusters around Jesuitenplatz and the Florinsmarkt; a cable car swings over the river, and wine bars pour Moselle Riesling. Two or three nights let you combine the city with the valleys.
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Koblenz combines a river confluence, a Prussian fortress and an old town of churches and wine bars, with castles a short ride away.
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Best time to visit Koblenz
Month by month, so you can pick the weather and the crowds you want.
KD boats sail daily up the Rhine gorge, beer and wine gardens line the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer, and Rhein in Flammen fireworks light the river in August.
Vineyards at Güls and along the Moselle turn gold, and wine bars pour Federweißer, the new half-fermented wine.
On Rhein in Flammen night in August, every room in Koblenz and the nearby Rhine towns is booked months ahead and the banks fill by late afternoon.
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Getting there
Rhine-valley ICs from Frankfurt Airport to Koblenz Stadtmitte
Three airports lie about an hour's drive away. Frankfurt (FRA), Germany's main hub, has direct Intercity trains from its long-distance station to Koblenz Hauptbahnhof that follow the Rhine through Mainz and the gorge; the run takes roughly 1.5 hours. Cologne/Bonn (CGN), the base of Eurowings, is about the same distance by train via Cologne or Bonn. Hahn (HHN), in the Hunsrück hills, serves budget airlines and needs a bus. By rail, IC trains link Koblenz with Cologne, Bonn, Frankfurt, Mainz and Trier, each one to two hours away, from early morning until late at night, and the RE5 and RB26 run up the Rhine from Cologne through Bonn. Visitors mainly use three of its stations: the Hauptbahnhof, Stadtmitte (closest to the old town and the Deutsches Eck) and Lützel on the Moselle side. The A3, A48 and A61 bring drivers in; time-limited parking applies in the centre, so use park-and-ride or a garage.
- Frankfurt Airport (FRA)
- Direct IC along the Rhine to Koblenz Hbf, about 1.5 hours
- Cologne/Bonn Airport (CGN)
- Train via Cologne or Bonn, then IC or RE5; about 1.5 hours
- Koblenz Stadtmitte station
- The nearest stop for the old town, the Forum Confluentes and the Deutsches Eck
- Shopping-centre car parks such as the Löhr-Center's close in the evening; check the closing time or your car may be locked in overnight.
Where to stay
Old town by Jesuitenplatz or Rhine views from Ehrenbreitstein
Stay in the Altstadt between Jesuitenplatz, Am Plan and the Florinsmarkt for wine bars on the doorstep, or on the Rhine promenade for boats and the cable car. Most sights lie within a 20-minute walk of the old town. Summer weekends and river-festival nights such as Rhein in Flammen in August book out early.
- Altstadt
- Lanes between Jesuitenplatz, Am Plan and the Florinsmarkt, with wine bars on the doorstep; lively until late on summer weekends
- Rhine promenade by the Electoral Palace
- Larger hotels along the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer and Julius-Wegeler-Straße, handy for boats and the cable car; busy and pricier in holiday periods
- Around the Hauptbahnhof
- Practical for day trips by train and generally cheaper, about 15 minutes' walk from the old town
- Ehrenbreitstein
- The village under the fortress, with views across to the Deutsches Eck; trains on the right-bank line rumble past close by
Getting around
The Seilbahn over the Rhine and the Ehrenbreitstein ferry
The centre is small and best done on foot: from Stadtmitte station to the Deutsches Eck is about 15 minutes through the old town. Buses run by operators in the VRM network leave from the Hauptbahnhof between roughly 5:30 and 23:00, but the stop layout confuses visitors, since several stops can serve the same destination and phone route planners are unreliable here; use the VRM website's planner and English maps instead. The three stops worth knowing are the Hauptbahnhof, Bf Stadtmitte/Löhr-Center and Zentralplatz by the Forum Confluentes. For Ehrenbreitstein, the cable car (Seilbahn) swings across the Rhine from the promenade near the Basilica of St. Kastor to the fortress plateau in a few minutes. Alternatives are the small passenger ferry over the Rhine followed by a climb up the walled access road, or the chairlift up from the village. A little sightseeing train also loops the centre from near the Deutsches Eck.
- Seilbahn Koblenz
- Rhine promenade by St. Kastor to the Ehrenbreitstein plateau, a few minutes across the river
- Schängelfähre
- Seasonal foot ferry, roughly April to October, to Ehrenbreitstein village, then a walk or the chairlift up
- Ride the cable car up and walk down through the fortress gates to the ferry for the best views on the way.
Know before you go
Koblenz sits where the Moselle meets the Rhine, under a huge fortress.
Why travelers love it
- Climbing the plinth of the Wilhelm I statue at the Deutsches Eck to watch the green Moselle and the browner Rhine run side by side.
- The cable car over the Rhine, high above the barges, with the fortress growing in front of you.
- Getting spat at by the Schängelbrunnen, the cheeky boy fountain in the courtyard behind the Rathaus on Jesuitenplatz.
Good to know
- Ignore online transit apps for city buses; use the VRM planner, or simply walk.
- Stolzenfels closes completely in December and January and Ehrenbreitstein keeps shorter winter hours, while the boats run a much thinner timetable from November to March.
Trip fit
BookingMentor editorial ratings out of 5, based on a first-time visitor's experience.
Weather in Koblenz, month by month
Month-by-month climate figures for Koblenz are being researched.
Deutsches Eck to the Ehrenbreitstein ramparts and back by ferry
Koblenz fills one full day. Walk from Stadtmitte station through the old town to the Deutsches Eck where the Rhine and Moselle meet, take the Seilbahn across the Rhine to Festung Ehrenbreitstein for three hours, then return by ferry and stroll the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer. Use a second day for Burg Eltz or Cochem.
Morning. Leave Stadtmitte station and walk to the Forum Confluentes on Zentralplatz, where the tourist office shares a building with the Mittelrhein-Museum and its Rhine landscapes. Continue into the old town: the Liebfrauenkirche with its onion-domed towers, the square called Am Plan, then Jesuitenplatz and the courtyard behind the Rathaus, where the Schängelbrunnen boy spits a jet of water at anyone standing too close. Walk down past the Florinsmarkt to the Moselle bank.
Late morning. Follow the river to the Deutsches Eck and climb the steps of the monument for the view over both rivers. Then walk round to the Basilica of St. Kastor, the oldest church in town, and take the Seilbahn across the Rhine.
Afternoon. Spend three hours in Festung Ehrenbreitstein, built by Prussia in the early 19th century on the site of older strongholds. Walk the ramparts, see the regional museum in the old barracks and look back over the city from the terraces. Walk down through the gates to the village and catch the little ferry back across the Rhine.
Evening. Stroll south along the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer past the Electoral Palace, built for the last Elector of Trier in the 1780s, and finish with a glass of Riesling in the old town. Next day, take a train or boat to Stolzenfels, the Moselle town of Cochem or, via Moselkern and an hour's walk through the woods, Burg Eltz.
Döppekooche, Güls Riesling and Federweißer by the Moselle
Koblenz drinks Moselle and Middle Rhine Riesling, best by the glass around Am Plan and the Florinsmarkt or in the growers' taverns of Güls, with Federweißer and Zwiebelkuchen in autumn. The local dish is Döppekooche, potato baked in an iron pot with bacon and sausage, served at old town inns such as Wirtshaus Alt Coblenz.
Koblenz drinks wine first. Two growing regions meet at the city: the steep Moselle slopes start right at the western suburb of Güls, and the terraces of the Middle Rhine begin just upriver. Both are best known for dry and off-dry Riesling, and both make some red. Order by the glass in the wine bars of the old town around Am Plan and the Florinsmarkt, or cross to the wine-growers' taverns in Güls, where family estates open their own rooms during the season. In autumn every bar sells Federweißer, cloudy half-fermented new wine, with warm Zwiebelkuchen, a deep onion and bacon tart.
The local speciality is Döppekooche: grated potato baked slowly in a cast-iron pot with bacon and smoked sausage until the crust turns dark and crunchy, served with apple sauce. It is a cold-weather dish, best in the traditional inns of the old town such as Wirtshaus Alt Coblenz on Am Plan. Look also for Rheinischer Sauerbraten, beef marinated for days and served in a sweet and sour gravy with raisins, and for Reibekuchen at markets and fairs.
For summer evenings, the long riverbank of the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer has beer and wine gardens facing Ehrenbreitstein. The Weindorf, a mock wine village of timbered houses near the Pfaffendorf Bridge, is closed for a long renovation, so check whether it has reopened before you go. Beer drinkers are not left out: Koblenz has its own brewery, and local pils sits beside the Rieslings on most menus.
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How we research our Koblenz travel guide
Koblenz's cable car and ferries are seasonal, so koblenz.de is checked for both and for the Weindorf renovation and Rhein in Flammen dates. Rhine and Moselle trains come from Deutsche Bahn, and the German National Tourist Board fills in.
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Checked against trusted sources:
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Koblenz questions about the cable car, the fortress and the river trips.
General
Koblenz Stadtmitte. From there it is about 15 minutes on foot through the old town, compared with nearly half an hour from the Hauptbahnhof.
The quickest way is the Seilbahn cable car from the Rhine promenade near St. Kastor. You can also take the passenger ferry and walk up, ride the chairlift from Ehrenbreitstein village, or go by bus or taxi.
A huge equestrian monument to Emperor Wilhelm I on a stone base you can climb. The original was destroyed in 1945 and a replica was put back in 1993.
Take a regional train up the Moselle to Moselkern, then walk about an hour through the Elz valley woods to the castle. Allow most of a day.
Yes, KD and other operators sail from the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer in the warmer months to Boppard, St. Goar and the Loreley. Trains on both banks make the return quick.
Koblenz's signature potato dish: grated potato baked in an iron pot with bacon and sausage until crusty, served with apple sauce.
The bronze boy in the Rathaus courtyard on Jesuitenplatz spits water at intervals, often catching visitors who stand right in front of him. Schängel is a nickname for people born in Koblenz.
Yes, for a neo-Gothic Rhine castle restored for the Prussian royal family in the 19th century, just south of the city. Reach it by bus or boat and walk up.
The centre is small and best done on foot: from Stadtmitte station to the Deutsches Eck is about 15 minutes through the old town. Buses run by operators in the VRM network leave from the Hauptbahnhof between roughly 5:30 and 23:00, but the stop layout confuses visitors, since several stops can serve the same destination and phone route planners are unreliable here; use the VRM website's planner and English maps instead. The three stops worth knowing are the Hauptbahnhof, Bf Stadtmitte/Löhr-Center and Zentralplatz by the Forum Confluentes.
Koblenz is best known for:
- Climbing the plinth of the Wilhelm I statue at the Deutsches Eck to watch the green Moselle and the browner Rhine run side by side
- The cable car over the Rhine, high above the barges, with the fortress growing in front of you
- Getting spat at by the Schängelbrunnen, the cheeky boy fountain in the courtyard behind the Rathaus on Jesuitenplatz
Timing & weather
The Koblenz edition takes place on a Saturday in August, with illuminated boats and fireworks from Ehrenbreitstein. Check the year's date before booking.
The best time to visit Koblenz is May to Oct. Rhine boats and the cable car run daily, Rhein in Flammen lights up August and the wine harvest follows in autumn.
- River season: May - September (KD boats sail daily up the Rhine gorge, beer and wine gardens line the Konrad-Adenauer-Ufer, and Rhein in Flammen fireworks light the river in August)
- Harvest: September - October (Vineyards at Güls and along the Moselle turn gold, and wine bars pour Federweißer, the new half-fermented wine)
Getting there
The Rheinsteig runs along the right bank of the Rhine and the Rheinburgenweg along the left, so you can walk a day stage straight out of the city.
Visa & documents
As a Schengen member, Germany shares one set of entry rules with most of the EU. Citizens of the EU and of many other countries, including the US, UK, Canada and Australia, can visit visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period; other nationalities need a Schengen visa. The EU's Entry/Exit System (EES) records non-EU travelers' fingerprints and a photo at the border.
Health & safety
Pickpocketing at large stations, Christmas markets and on big-city public transport is the main risk in a very safe country. Carry ID and validate paper tickets where required. Call 110 for police and 112 for fire or ambulance.
