480 Rhineland-Palatinate & Saarland The state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz), patched together by the French after WWII, united historically disparate bits of Bavaria, Hesse and Prussia that had only one thing in common – the Rhine (Rhein). The river meanders for 1390km from the Swiss Alps to Rotterdam, but nowhere else has it shaped the land and its people more profoundly than along the 290km stretch traversing Rhineland-Palatinate. Some of Europe’s largest corporations dominate the banks of the Rhine south of Mainz, the state capital. But along here there’s also a grand legacy of the Middle Ages: the magnificent Romanesque cathedrals of Mainz, Worms and Speyer. Northwest of Mainz is the river’s most picturesque stretch, the storied Romantic Rhine, whose vine-clad slopes, medieval hilltop castles and snug wine villages have drawn artists and tourists since the early 19th century. Most of Germany’s wine is grown in Rhineland-Palatinate’s six wine regions: the Ahr Valley, Moselle-Saar-Ruwer, Middle Rhine, Nahe, Rheinhessen and, famed for its German Wine Road, the Rheinpfalz. The region’s wines can all be sampled in a multitude of ambience-laden wine taverns. The local people’s joie de vivre finds expression in the many wine festivals. Tiny Saarland, in the southwest, was once a centre for heavy industry but these days it’s better known for Saarbrücken’s Frenchified urbane charms, and its verdant forests and fields – ideal for hiking and cycling. HIGHLIGHTS Romantic Rhine Cruise, cycle or ramble along the castle-studded Rhine ( p499 ) between Koblenz and Bingen Roman Relics Explore the remarkable ruins Nürburgring of Roman Trier ( p514 ) Imperial Cathedrals Marvel at the Roman- Romantic Rhine SAARLAND SAARLAND esque cathedrals in Mainz ( p484 ), Worms ( p488 ) and Speyer ( p490 ) Mainz Five Rivers on Two Wheels Cycle the RHINELAND-PALATINATE & Moselle, Saar, Kyll, Ruwer and Sauer Rivers Trier from Trier ( p517 ) Worms Floor It Take a high-speed spin around the Völklingen Nürburgring race track ( p498 ) Speyer Rusty, Not Rustic Admire colourful art in- side the Saarland’s historic Völklinger Hütte ironworks ( p525 ) in Völklingen RHINELAND-PALATINATE POPULATION: 4 MILLION RHINELAND-PALATINATE AREA : 19,853 SQ KM SAARLAND POPULATION: 1.04 Million SAARLAND AREA: 2569 SQ KM lonelyplanet.com RHINELAND-PALATINATE & SAARLAND •• Getting There & Away 481 0 50 km RHINELAND-PALATINATE & SAARLAND 0 30 miles A4 Siegen Rhine Brühl Aachen Marburg NORTH RHINE–WESTPHALIA A1 Bonn A3 Haiger HESSE Bad wald Honnef ter A5 Remagen e s A45 Mayschoss W A27 Bad Bodendorf River Altenahr Bad Sinzig Giessen Neuenahr- B9 Lahn Wetzlar Rv B257 Ahrweiler Höhr- Blankenheim Grenzhausen Hohe Acht Neuwied Weilburg B E L G I U M B258 Ahr (747m) Andernach Maria Laach Montabaur Nürburgring Koblenz Limburg Mendig Mayen Lahnstein ns tai oun A48 See Romantic Rhine Map p500 M Burg Eltz RiverBoppard Braubach A3 Eifel B51 Daun B259 Moselle A45 Moselkern St Goarshausen B257 A1 Cochem Frankfurt am Main St Goar Hanau A60 Beilstein Kyllburg A61 Kaub B49 Zell B327 Rhine Erdorf Wittlich Bacharach Wiesbaden Offenbach Bitburg Frankfurt- Frankfurt Hahn Airport Rüdesheim Rüsselsheim Airport B51 Traben- Kyll Bingen Mainz B257 Trarbach Mörfelden Bernkastel- Sauer R Schweich A63 Kues Bad Gross- iv Gerau Ri er Neumagen- Kreuznach Oppenheim Darmstadt ver ose Dhron MRi ll Trier Ru e L U X E M B O U R G ver B327 B41 A67 wer Nahe River B52 HunsrückTiefenstein Mountains Alzey Saar Disibodenberg LUXEMBOURG Ri Konz B269 A61 B268 ver Idar- Bermersheim River Oberstein B419 See Moselle Valley Map p513 Bürstadt B40 Worms Heppenheim Nennig Bockenheim Orscholz A1 Mettlach B41 ὈὈB270 Grünstadt Perl e Saar Tholey if B268 Ludwigshafen le h c Bad Mannheim s Merzig Kaiserslautern Moselle r River Lebach Dürkheim a A6 Road a Hochspeyer Heidelberg River S Deidesheim Dillingen SAARLAND B270 Lindenberg Brühl Saarlouis A8 A62 Lambrecht Schifferstadt Homberg Hambach Neustadt an der BADEN A620 Weinstrasse A6 Hambacher Schloss Speyer WÜRTTEMBURG Völklingen Blieskastel Weyher LORRAINE Gleisweiler Wine River A320 Saarbrücken Landau Sinsheim EuropäischerὈὈPirmasens Germersheim A6 A4 Reinheim ld Metz Kulturpark wa er Bad RHINELAND-PALATINATE & lz Sarreguemines Bliesbruck- e fä Bergzabern A65 Reinheim P n Bliesbruck A5 Schweigen German Rhi Wörth Karlsruhe F R A N C E Wissembourg Vosges du Lauterbourg A4 Nord A35 ALSACE SAARLAND Durmersheim To Strasbourg ὈὈ(65km) To Strasbourg (60km) Getting There & Away The real Frankfurt Airport ( p542 ) is People complain that Frankfurt-Hahn Airport linked by easy public transport to places (airport code HHN; %06543-509 200; www.hahn-airport.de, such as Mainz, Worms, Speyer, the German www.flyhahn.com), a Ryanair hub, is misleadingly Wine Road (be prepared to transfer a few named because it’s nowhere near Frankfurt, times) and some of the Romantic Rhine vil- and they have a point. But it is near many lages, especially right-bank ones served by of the places covered in this chapter and direct trains from Wiesbaden. is linked by bus to destinations including Bingen, Cochem, Idar-Oberstein, Koblenz Getting Around (bus 610; €14, 65 minutes, six daily), Mainz With the Rheinland-Pfalz-Ticket (RP-Ticket; adult/ (€11, 70 minutes, 14 daily), Trier (stops at group of up to 5 €19/27), you can take any re- Nells Park; see www.flibco.com for details; gional train (RE, IRE, RB and S-Bahn), tram, online as cheap as €5, about one hour, 20 intercity bus or local bus anywhere within daily), Saarbrücken (see www.scherer-reisen Rhineland-Palatinate and the Saarland for .de for details; €16, eight daily) and Worms. a full day – from 9am to 3am Monday to Details are available at www.hahn-airport.de – Friday and for the entire day on Saturdays, click ‘Getting There’ and then ‘By Bus’. Sundays and holidays. On some rail routes it .