The Lahn valley by car

A valley full of castles

Few German rivers string together as many castles, cathedrals and half-timbered towns as the Lahn. In sharp loops the river winds through a green valley between the Taunus and the Westerwald, and on almost every bend stands a castle or a spire. This loop follows the finest stretch: from Limburg, where the seven-towered cathedral rises above the water, via the palace of Diez and the castle of Runkel dramatically perched on a rock, to the residence town of Weilburg.

From there it runs past the fairytale castle of Braunfels to Wetzlar, the town of Goethe and of optics, with a half-Romanesque, half-Gothic cathedral. On the B49 you drive back down the valley to Limburg. Together about 100 kilometres along the river, on quiet roads without a single metre of motorway. A nice detail for Dutch visitors: the Oranienstein palace at Diez is one of the ancestral seats of the House of Orange-Nassau.

The route on the map

A schematic overview by Touren.app, not a navigation map. The exact route opens under “Drive this route” or in Google Maps. Map orientation: north is up.

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The places along the route

1. Limburg an der Lahn

Start · the cathedral above the river

Limburg an der Lahn has one of the best-preserved medieval old towns in Germany, with its seven-towered cathedral high on a rock above the river. The half-timbered town below is almost completely intact. A fine starting point: park at the edge and walk the narrow lanes up to the cathedral and the old Lahn bridge.

Practical: park at the edge of the old town; the cathedral and its square are reached on foot.

2. Diez

the Orange palace · Diez

Just by Limburg, on the other bank of the Lahn, lies Diez, with the counts' castle high above the town and, on its edge, the baroque Oranienstein palace. The latter is one of the ancestral seats of the House of Orange-Nassau, forebears of the Dutch royal family, now partly a museum. A short, surprising stop with a Dutch connection.

Practical: park by the town; Oranienstein palace is on the edge and partly open to visitors.

3. Runkel

the castle on the rock · Runkel

Runkel is perhaps the finest picture in the whole valley: a mighty medieval castle on a rock, with an old stone arch bridge over the Lahn below it and a small half-timbered town. From the bridge or the far bank you get the classic view of castle and river. The castle is partly open to visitors.

Practical: park in the town; the castle is reached on foot, the best view is from the old bridge.

4. Weilburg

residence and ship tunnel · Weilburg

Weilburg sits on a spur in a loop of the Lahn, with a large baroque residence palace of the House of Nassau and a wide view over the valley. Its curiosity: the Schifffahrtstunnel, the oldest and longest still-navigable ship tunnel in Germany, running 195 metres beneath the town. You can watch canoeists pass through it.

Practical: park by the palace; the tunnel and lock lie on the Lahn beneath the town.

5. Braunfels

the fairytale castle · Braunfels

Above the town of Braunfels rises Schloss Braunfels, a castle of towers and battlements that looks straight out of a fairytale. Its silhouette on the hill is visible from afar. Below lies an atmospheric market square with half-timbering. A short climb or a look from the square and you see why this is one of the best-known castles of the region.

Practical: park by the town; the castle is reached on foot and partly open to visitors.

6. Wetzlar

the finale · Wetzlar

Wetzlar ends the drive: an old imperial town with a half-Romanesque, half-Gothic cathedral that was never finished, and a half-timbered old town around the Kornmarkt and the Eisenmarkt. The young Goethe lived here the love story that became "The Sorrows of Young Werther". Today Wetzlar is also the town of optics (Leica). On the B49 you drive back down the valley to Limburg.

Practical: park at the edge and walk into the half-timbered old town; the cathedral is in the heart of it.

Practical: for convertible, motorbike and camper

Location and access: the Lahn valley lies east of the Middle Rhine; at Lahnstein the Lahn flows into the Rhine. From Koblenz or the Rhine valley you are there quickly. To start the loop from your own base, type your start town into the planner and Touren.app rebuilds the same route from Limburg, Weilburg, Wetzlar or wherever you are.

Tolls and vignette: the B49 and the valley roads are ordinary federal and country roads, toll-free and without a vignette. You need no German or Austrian vignette for this route.

Castles and tunnel: Oranienstein palace (Diez), the castle of Runkel, the palace of Weilburg (with its ship tunnel) and Schloss Braunfels are partly open to visitors; check opening times in advance, as they vary by season.

Which vehicle: the winding riverside and valley roads are a fine scenic drive for convertible and motorbike. It works well in a campervan too; park on the edge of the historic centres.

How we keep it honest: we have composed this loop and checked the stops; the label is 'measured and checked', driving it comes next. The distance is an indicative figure that we measure in the build.

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