Guide on Bacharach (our favorite German town)
Bacharach is a small town situated on one of the most scenic stretches of the Rhine river. It is about an hour and a half from Frankfurt, or about 15 minutes away from Bingen (the nearest “big” town). This stretch of the Rhine is dotted with castles and small towns that historically made its money from the tolls extracted from vessels passing down the river. The area is also know for its white wines which are harvested from the vineyards that line the hills along the river.
Here is our guide on Bacharach (our favorite German town).
Accommodation: We stayed at Hotel Am Markt which had a great location but was very basic. For something higher end, look at the Altkölnischer Hof.
We absolutely loved Bacharach. It is a charming small town with friendly people, historic old buildings, cobblestone streets, and a big old castle with nice views on the river. Eating and drinking here were fantastic and a highlight of our trip. It is also a great base to take a cruise down the Rhine and taking in the castles along it’s banks.
Photos from around Bacharach:
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Eating and drinking in Bacharach
All the vineyards along the Rhine make Bacharach a great place to do wine tasting. We found 2 places that had wine tasting facilities – Fritz Bastian’s Weingut zum Gruner Baum (next to the Altes Haus), the most popular one, had a wine tasting carousel of 16 different Rieslings for about 10 Euros. The wines were very good. The 2nd option, Weingut Toni Just Hahnehhof, was even better in our opinion. Although you only get 6 wines (for I think 8 Euros) the glasses were bigger and – in our opinion – of better quality. But they are both really worth visiting.
We usually had lunch at the restaurant of Hotel Burg Stahleck in the shadows of the church. They make great thin-crusted pizza – Alsatian Pizza – with feta cheese. Superb. We would have it with a bottle of one of our favorite wines (above – a 2007 Bacharacher Wolfshohle).
For super we would eat at the Altes Haus (above left), the oldest building in town (1368) and the best restaurant in Bacharach as far as we were concerned. Great food (they have a great vegetarian ravioli), the service is good, great decor, and fantastic wine (another of our favorites- 2007 Riesling-Hochgewachs Halbtrocken). The Altes Haus holds special memories for us – after bailing out on proposing to Lissette in Venice, I did here. Of course she said yes 
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Castles along the Rhine:
We didn’t just eat and drink, we also took a cruise down the river (they serve Riesling on board as well) and saw some of the main highlights between Bacharach and St.Goar: Schonburg castle (below, partly red), Pfalz Castle (below – white castle), Gutenfels castle (in background of Pfalz), the Loreley (large cliff overlooking river – not pictured here).
Below: Rheinfels Castle in St. Goar (about 10 km, or 45 min by boat from Bacharach)
Accommodation
We stayed at Hotel Am Markt in Bacharach. We stayed in Room 2 which is the only one with a balcony. Comfortable, clean, no frills but good value. 4 out of 5 considering everything. And right across from the Altes Haus for those nights when you stagger back after too much to drink. Recommended for those with better taste; the Altkölnischer Hof.
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Bacharach might not have been as WOW as some of the other places on this trip but it ended up as one of our favorite spots along with Venice and Lauterbrunnen – all for different reasons. We will definitely come back (partly because we agreed we have to come back to celebrate our wedding anniversary).
Have you been to Bacharach?
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Related: Highlights of a visit to Berchtesgaden and Lake Konigsee
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Your recommendations for wine tasting are killin’ me, Frank! There’s no way I can taste 6 or more as a solo traveler. I’ll have to just have a glass or 2 with my food and on the cruise. I’m looking forward to seeing Bacharach anyway 🙂
My wife and I attended a wedding in Lisbon last summer and while we were in Europe took the opportunity to also see some other places, including Germany. We flew into Frankfurt and traveled up the Rhine to Cologne by train, and one of the highlights of the entire trip was our day and night in Bacharach. It was the hottest week of the year (not by choice; the wedding dictated our travel dates), but we still had an amazing time there. Fantastic scenery, lots of interesting things to see, everybody was super friendly and I don’t remember encountering anyone who didn’t speak English. We’re hoping to one day return there, maybe bring some friends with us to share the experience. Just a completely awesome place in every possible way.
Thank you very much for leaving a comment Daniel. Glad to hear other people have enjoyed Bacharach. Germany is a great country and has so many pretty little towns, we hope to go back one day and especially hope to go back to Bacharach which holds special memories for us.
I went for 10 days with my brother and saw a lot of Germany. We stumbled upon Bacharach on a cold and rainy day. My favorite place. Absolutely gorgeous town- would recommend it t anyone. Stunningly beautiful for a very old town- I am sure if we do it again that we would have to stay at least one night there.
Great! I’m glad you also loved it. We have quite a lot of German friends and they’ve never even heard of Bacharach. So it’s nice to know we’ve come to know and love a place off the beaten track…
Going to Bacharach (among other places in Germany, Belgium and Czechia) next May, and really glad I stumbled upon your site. Great writing and pics. Also read your Brazil article. Have yet to visit a country we didn’t like — we have the same accepting attitude as you — but I think it’s likely we’ll be skipping Brazil. Had heard about the anti-American sentiment there, and you’ve confirmed it. Have encountered bits of it elsewhere, but ordinary people have mainly been exceptional. like the guy who actually got off the Paris Metro a stop early solely to point us toward the flea market we were looking for.
Hi Bob. Bacharach is still one of the prettiest little towns we’ve gone to. And Germany still one of our favorite countries. We’ve always found Germans to be friendly and open.
You never know about generalizations, whenever a conversation comes up about rude people the Parisians always come up. But there are always nice stories out there, anywhere you go. Glad to hear you had a good experience in Paris (a place I havn’t been to in 30 years. We’re planning to be there in 2019).
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I’m planning a trip to Germany in May for a group of friends and chose Bacharach as one of our stops. I stumbled upon your blog while researching what to do and I’m so pleased with your confirmation of my choice! Thank you for the beautiful pictures and great tips on wine and food (you’ll notice I mention wine first). Now I’m sad we won’t be spending the night also, but maybe next time 🙂
This is Hilarious. I’m in Hotel Am Markt, Room #2 as I’m posting this. Love tha Balocny!
Great! How you don’t get too much nighttime street noise!
Hi there! Love your blog and your photos! Planning to be in Bacharach later this month and would love to go to the wine tasting place that served the glasses as you’ve pictured. Can you clarify which restaurant/bar that was? It looks very interesting!
Hi Angela – I think it was Fritz Bastian’s Weingut zum Gruner Baum.
Enjoy Bacharach, very pretty place!
I visited Bacharach last February and was covered in snow, it was magical 🙂
It must have been beautiful with snow! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
I’m so glad to see another fan of Bacharach 🙂 I visited last February when the temperatures were in the minuses and we seemed to be the only souls wandering around! I’d love to come back when it’s warmer and you’ve given me extra reason to with that wine carousel!
I am planning a trip to Germany and this was very helpful. What River cruise did you take?
Hi Jocelyn – it wasn’t part of a cruise (we visited Bacharach independently). But you can take a ferry up and down the river (kind of like a hop on/hop off) and visit the various towns and castles.