3 Best Sights in Oppenheim, The Pfalz and Rhine Terrace

Oppenheim and its neighbors to the north, Nierstein and Nackenheim, are home to some of Rheinhessen's best-known vineyards. The Deutsches Weinbaumuseum has wine-related artifacts that chronicle the region's 2,000-year-old winemaking tradition, not to mention the world's largest collection of mousetraps and more than 2,000 corkscrews.

On the way to Oppenheim, the vine-covered hills parallel to the Rhine gradually steepen. Then, unexpectedly, the spires of Oppenheim's Gothic St. Catherine's Church come into view. The contrast of its pink sandstone facade against a bright blue sky is striking. Built between 1225 and 1439, it's the most important Gothic church between Strasbourg and Cologne. The interior affords a rare opportunity to admire magnificent original 14th-century stained-glass windows including two rose windows, the Lily Window and the Oppenheim Rose. The church houses masterfully carved tombstones, and the chapel behind it has a Beinhaus (charnel house) containing the bones of 20,000 citizens and soldiers from the 15th to 18th century.