Loreley Extra route

The Loreley Extra route starts at the Loreley Visitor Center. There are plenty of parking spaces available here, and during the season, a shuttle bus runs from St. Goarshausen station to this point. Alternatively, it is also possible to start at the station, from where a marked access path leads.

Behind the Loreley Visitor Center, you climb one Rhine terrace higher next to the summer toboggan run and get a first view of the Rhine Valley and the Rheinfels Castle located on the opposite Rhine bank. A narrow path leads steeply through a small side valley back towards the Rhine.

Now the hiker comes as close to the Rhine as rarely otherwise. On the old towpath, the Loreley Extra route follows the Rhine on its way towards the North Sea for a few hundred meters before ascending steeply again towards Patersberg. During the ascent, it is worthwhile to pause now and then and look back. There are beautiful views of the Rhine and Katz Castle.

After a short crossing through the village of Patersberg, the path leads behind the village onto a high plateau used for agriculture. Here, during the crossing, there are some distant views into the Taunus. Between the forest edge and meadows, the hiker slowly approaches the Forstbachtal, which flows from the Taunus into the Rhine. The descent into the valley takes place via picturesque paths lined with stunted oaks. At almost every sun position, fabulous light games occur.

In the Forstbachtal, in an idyllic location, is the listed Bornsmühle, behind which you cross the Forstbach on a bridge. On the opposite bank, the Loreley Extra route follows the Forstbach for a while – then the path leads uphill again to another high plateau near Bornich with wonderfully extensive views over the Rhine including Taunus and Hunsrück. Over grassy field paths, you reach the edge of the village – but here you turn back towards the Rhine.

Above the Bornichbach, the hiker approaches the Rhine and the Rhine Trail through a biotope-like environment, which he now follows with views all the way to the destination. Here one breathtaking view follows another like pearls on a string: Block-Loreley, rock pulpit, Spitznack, viewing pavilion, wine educational trail, and of course the world-famous Loreley itself. At the rock rising 130 meters above the Rhine, the Rhine narrows to only about 160 meters. Here are the narrowest and deepest points of the navigable Rhine. Interesting information about the Loreley myth and the Upper Middle Rhine Valley – recognized UNESCO World Heritage – can be learned at the Loreley Visitor Center, where the hike ends.