Assmannshausen - wine-tasting - Niederwald and Niederwald Monument - Ruedesheim - Middle-Rhine cruises - a trip along the Rhine by boat and on foot

Rhine cruise in 16 parts from Boppard (north) to Rudesheim (south):

Part 6: From boat landing stages in St. Goar every 15 minutes with a miniature street railway to Castle Rheinfels

Part 7 south: Rhine River cruise from St. Goar in southern direction

Part 8: Stay a while in Oberwesel, climb on the town wall and the town tower

Oberwesel has an old tradition in wine-making, wine-tasting is also available to single travellers, many wine cellars can be viewed and there are guided tours to the various surrounding vineyards

Part 9 south: Rhine River cruise from Oberwesel in southern direction

Part 10: Stay a while in Kaub and visit the water castle Pfalz

Part 11 south: Rhine River cruise from Oberwesel in southern

Part 12: Stay a while in Bacharach before embarking on a boat.

Part 13 south: Half day Rhine cruise from Bacharach in southern direction

Part 14: Stay a while in Assmannshausen before embarking on a boat.

Part 15 south: Arrange for some wine-tasting at a winery, take the cable car to the Rhine River hills opposite from Fortress Rheinstein

Part 16 south: Just off to the northeast of the Niederwald monument, the next cable car takes you comfortably down to Rudesheim on the Rhine River.

2, 3, 4, 6, 8 day vacation packages in different hotels with different one day Rhine River cruises along the castles

The cruise boat landing stages in Assmannshausen are just a short walk from the town center – and as you wander through this delightful town, you will pass numerous inviting restaurants, cosy cafes, wine bars and dance bars. You're in the heart of red wine country here, so you'll be guaranteed good local wine everywhere!
Arrange for some wine-tasting at J. Jung Sohne just a few meters behind the level crossing at the train station. The friendly proprietors of this family-run business will always make you feel welcome, they have an impressive selection of local wines and their knowledge of wine is inexhaustible.
The wines here in the quiet town of Assmannshausen are highly recommendable and difficult to purchase outside the area – whichever wine-maker or vineyard you visit, remember to ask for the current wine-of-the-month!

Assmannshausen has been praised by many poets over the past century as a place of relaxation and recuperation and it also has other claims to fame apart from its excellent wines. Its convalescing atmosphere is underlined by the thermal spring source which lies just beneath the town. Even the Romans, two milleniums ago enthused over the slightly alkali spring water – it has a pleasant temperature of 32,5 C degrees and its lithium content is good for the relief of gout and rheumatism!

If you're interested in German sociopolitical history, stop by the Hotel Krone, where the political poet and journalist Ferdinand Freiligrath completed his "democratic creed" in May 1844.

Assmannshausen may not be as bustling as Rudesheim, but it's certainly not sleepy – the town also has various festivities in the town throughout the year – most of them connected to the wine-growing tradition here.

Assmannshausen and Rudesheim are also famous for the Niederwald monument (Niederwald-Denkmal) about 300 m above the Rhine.
The best way to reach the monument is to take the cable car from Assmannshausen – the cable car station is a little uphill in the northern part of the town, if you walk right along the church, Hotel Historisches Altes Haus.
The ride takes about 15 minutes from Assmannshausen, but you'll wish it was longer! There are super views over the town, onto Fortress Rheinstein on the opposite side of the Rhine and the vineyards of the Rhine valley, and even on a busy day you can capture the peace and serenity of the woodlands as you travel uphill.

Once you reach the top, you can take any of a variety of woodland trails or head straight for the monument or take a lunch or coffee break at the hunting castle lodge "Jagdschloss Niederwald" just past the game enclosure. The Jagdschloss Niederwald also offers overnight accomodation. From the Jagdschloss, it's about one and a half kilometers' easy walk to the Niederwald Monument.

The Niederwald Denkmal is striking and impressive at 37,6 meters high. It was completed in 1883 after 6 years' building time to commemmorate the foundation of the German Empire following the French-Prussian War of 1871. The Niederwald monument is crowned by Germania, who stands triumphantly above the Rhine, guarding the area against invaders. By the way, if you're interested in related paraphernalia, a fine selection of old Niederwald postcards dating back to the last century can be found here.

Next to the monument there is also an eagle observatory where birds of prey can be observed daily between 9 am and 6 pm. Personnally, the birds there have my pity because of the way they're held.
There is car parking available near the observatory and the Niederwald monument, so if you're travelling by car, you can drive right up there and enjoy all the facilities. If you do drive, though, you'll miss out on the cable car ride, which is a really fun way of getting to the top (and down again) and a highlight of the area.

Apart from the majesty and the historical significance of the Niederwald monument – a visit there is on every german schoolchild's curriculum! – this is another wonderful place to view the Rhine and the Rhine Valley.
From here you can see left to the tens of thousands of grape-vines in the Rheingau, or across the Rhine River to Bingen and well into Rheinhessen and the Hunsruck mountains.
Closer to the right lies the ruins of Fortress Ehrenfels below the Niederwald and the "Mauseturm" ("mouse tower") in the middle of the Rhine.
According to legend, the unrelenting and hard-hearted archbishop Hatto was eaten by mice after cruelly luring his tennants into a barn and burning them to death in times of hardship and starvation ... The truth is not quite so brutal, but that's another story! In fact, the mouse tower was used for many centuries by the archbishops of Mainz to collect a toll for boats wishing to pass the small island on the Rhine in the narrow and dangerous "Binger Gap" (Binger Loch).

Just off to the northeast of the Niederwald monument, the next cable car takes you comfortably down to Rudesheim in about 10 minutes.

Stay in any of the numerous hotels or bed and breakfasts or apartments in Ruedesheim ...

... or take the Bingen-Ruedesheimer or a ferry across to Bingen

... or return to Bacharach, Kaub, Oberwesel, St. Goar or Boppard with the Bingen-Ruedesheimer (change to the Loreley Linie in St. Goar). If it's already a little late in the evening, continue by train ....