7 Best Sights in Bingen, The Rhineland

North of Bingen on the road from Bacharach, this impressive castle was the home of Rudolf von Hapsburg from 1282 to 1286. To establish law and order on the Rhine, he destroyed the neighboring castles of Burg Reichenstein and Burg Sooneck and hanged their notorious robber barons from the oak trees around the Clemens Church, a late-Romanesque basilica near Trechtingshausen. The Gobelin tapestries, 15th-century stained glass, wall and ceiling frescoes, a floor of royal apartments, and antique furniture—including a rare "giraffe spinet," a harpsicord which Kaiser Wilhelm I is said to have played—are the highlights of a visit here. All of this is illuminated by candlelight on some summer Fridays. Rheinstein was the first of many Rhine ruins to be rebuilt by a royal Prussian family in the 19th century.  If coming by car or boat, leave your transport at river level and prepare for a 10-minute climb up. By train, it's a 30-minute walk from Trechtingshausen station.

First mentioned in AD 793, this soaring Catholic church was built on the site of an older Roman temple. It's been destroyed and rebuilt a number of times since then, which has resulted in an interesting mix of architectural styles; the 11th-century crypt and Gothic and baroque furnishings make it worth a visit. It's dedicated to the 4th-century Martin of Tours, and you'll find the former patron saint of France depicted in carvings and frescoes throughout the church.

Throughout its history, Bingen has repeatedly been destroyed by wars and fires, which means there are many ancient foundations but few visible architectural remains of the past. One very notable exception is this castle. Since Celtic times, the Kloppberg (Klopp Hill) in the heart of town has been the site of a succession of citadels, and since 1282 they've all been named Burg Klopp. Visit today and you'll find a terrace with good views of the Rhine, the Nahe, and the surrounding hills, and from April to October you can climb the tower for a more lofty view.

Perched on the edge of the Soon Forest, which is pronounced "zone" southeast of Bacharach, this small but beautiful castle was first mentioned in 1271—though it's likely older. It houses a beautiful collection of Empire, Biedermeier, and neo-Gothic furnishings, medieval weapons, and paintings from the Rhine Romantic era; ask for the English-language information pack on arrival. The river views from the ramparts are worth the entrance fee alone.

Looking west along the river from Bingen, you can just about spot the Mäuseturm, perched on a rocky island near the Binger Loch. The name derives from a gruesome legend. One version tells that during a famine in 969 the miserly Archbishop Hatto hoarded grain and sought refuge in the tower to escape the peasants' pleas for food. The stockpile attracted scads of mice to the tower, where they devoured everything in sight, including Hatto. In fact, the tower was built by the archbishops of Mainz in the 13th and 14th centuries as a Mautturm (watch tower and toll station) for their fortress, Ehrenfels, on the opposite shore; now an atmospheric ruin. It was restored in neo-Gothic style by the king of Prussia in 1855, who also rebuilt Burg Sooneck, but you can't go inside.

At this small but very well cared-for museum, you can see the most intact set of Roman surgical tools ever discovered (2nd century), period rooms from the Rhine Romantic era, and displays about Abbess St. Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179), one of the most remarkable women of the Middle Ages. An outspoken critic of papal and imperial machinations, she was a highly respected scholar, naturopath, and artist whose mystic writings and (especially) music became very popular starting in the 1990s, when her work was rediscovered and popularized by feminist religious scholars. An excellent illustrated booklet in English on Rhine Romanticism, The Romantic Rhine, is sold at the museum shop. The museum is housed in a former power station (1898) on the riverbank.

The forested plateau of the Rochusberg (St. Roch Hill) is the pretty setting of the Rochuskapelle, the most visible Bingen landmark from across the river in Rüdesheim. Originally built in 1666 to celebrate the end of the plague, it has been rebuilt twice. In August 1814, Goethe attended the consecration festivities, the forerunner of today's Rochusfest, a weeklong folk festival in mid-August. The chapel contains an altar dedicated to St. Hildegard of Bingen, with relics and furnishings from the convents she founded in modern-day Bingen and Eibingen. While the chapel is only open for services, it's worth a trip to stroll the leafy chapel gardens, with its shaded outdoor pews, tree-lined trails, and lovely Rhine and vineyard views.