Lorelei Rock Rhine River St. Goarshausen Loreley day Excursion trip Hesse Taunus Mountains Castle Castles Hotel Hotels Deepest Place open air Stage Restaurant Goar Heritage Valley Weekend road map Wiesbaden Tunnel Short Vacation Train Frankfurt boat Trips History ice age Koblenz Coblence Sightseeing Sightseeings Opera Operas Origin Vineyard Vineyards

Free time offers, sports hiking, biking, bicycling, swimming, fitness, Boule, skittle, skittling, riding, tennis, squash, fishing, boat trips, float trips, round flights, sailing

Lorelei Rock, Rhine River near St. Goarshausen

Bad Ems, Lahn River

Map of Germany no. 1 airport airports

Road map no. 2 Hesse Rhineland-Palatinate distances

Street map no. 3 Cologne Coblence Frankfurt arrival

Road map no. 4 Rhine Lahn River Taunus Mountains Lorelei Rock passenger boat rips

Road map no. 5 Coblence Rudesheim Limburg train station arrival parking

More information

Online reservation

Day trip to the Lorelei rock on the Rhine river in St. Goarshausen
about 31 km southwest of 563-katt castle hotel Taunus.

The Lorelei rock, the legendary rock near St. Goarshausen on the Middle Rhine River, attracts numerous national and international visitors every year. It's also a worthwhile excursion trip from the 563-katt castle hotel Taunus. You can reach it in about half an hour with the car. The distance from the castle hotel in the Taunus mountains to the Lorelei rock on the Rhine river is about 30 km.

Location and surrounding
The Lorelei rock lies on the west border of the Taunus mountains and looms cliffy into the Rhine river valley. It almost looks like the 132 meter high rock rises upright out of the river. The narrow land strip at its feet only leaves place for the highway to run along. The railroad disappears in a tunnel that's 368 meters long. The Rhine river narrows down to a width of about 200 meters at the Lorelei rock. At the same time, this is also the deepest part of the Rhine river with about 25 meters.

loreley-2002-08-450_01, © 2002 WHO Development of the Rhine river valley
On the opposite side of the Taunus mountains are the Hunsruck mountains, which decline in similar way to the Middle Rhine River valley. Both of them, the Taunus mountains and the Hunsruck mountains, originally built a connected slate mountain, until the Rhine river, which built a lake in the tertiary in front of Bingen, started its work and kept digging itself deeper through. Because of this, the slate mountain was divided. This digging was not a continuous process, but took place in several steps, which can clearly be seen at the terrace-shaped gradations on both sides of the Rhine river valley. In spite of the climate changes after the last ice age, rare plants and animals have been maintained at the Middle Rhine river and in the area of the Lorelei rock, which normally only appear at seashores and steppe landscapes.

22-loreley-200, © 1999 WHO The name Lorelei
The name Lorelei as identification for the Rhine river rock first appears in the second half of the 9th century in the Fulda annals. The opinions of the linguists disagree about the origin of the name. There's only an agreement about the meaning of the last syllable. The word "Ley" doesn't have any other meaning than rock, or speaking strictly, slate rock. But the origin of the first part of the word hasn't been clearly clarified. Some of the linguists derive the first part of the word from the Middle High German word "lure" and therefore understand the Lorelei rock as "lurking rock", where one can peer over into the Rhine river valley. Others bring the word "Lore" in connection with the goddess Holda, who was also called Laura. Again others interpret the first part of the word alone from the famous legend, whereupon the virgin sat lurking on the rock, in order to peer on her victims. But this legend first came to existence in the 19th century.

Myth and fiction
According to the legend, the virgin was supposed to be sitting on the rock and combing her hair. She infatuated the passing skippers on their boats with her appearance and tore them into death. Since they were so pulled into her spell, they didn't pay attention to the dangerous rocky reefs in the river and were finally swallowed by the waves. The first one, who confered the rock name to a person and therewith accomplished a legend, was the poet Clemens Brentano. But even more famous is the song, which Heinrich Heine wrote and which was set to music by Friedrich Silcher: "Ich weiss nicht, was soll es bedeuten..." ("I don't know, what shall it mean...").

Sightseeing
There are different possibilities to reach or see the Lorelei rock. If you want to see it rising upwards, you have to go to the other Rhine river side (Rhine river ferry St. Goarshausen - St. Goar) or participate in a boat trip along the rock. You can hike the Lorelei rock from St. Goarshausen or drive along it with the car. You can also enjoy the breathtaking view into the Rhine river valley and to the castle Katz (cat) near St. Goarshausen. The castle Rheinfels near St. Goar can only be seen from the open air theater, which is laid backwards a bit. A restaurant takes care of your well-being. In the souvenir store, everybody can buy their personal souvenir to remind of the trip to the Lorelei rock.

Open air theater Lorelei rock
Laid backwards somewhat on the rock plateau, you can find one of the prettiest open air theaters in Germany. It's the location of opera and operetta performances as well as pop and rock concerts, where German national and worldwide performers, singers and bands partially make their appearance. The visit of a concert, together with the experience of a sunset above the Rhine river valley, can become an unforgettable experience.

Landscape park Lorelei rock
At present, the Lorelei rock is to be changed into a landscape park. The intention is to rearrange the plateau with the siting of groves, clearing, meadows and heathlands with the inclusion of the surrounding forests and vineyards in terms of the protection of species and nature conservation. The visitors are to be given understanding to the natural, cultural, historical and economical characteristics of the landscape.