The Drachenfels

The Drachenfels is the river end of the Siebengebirge, a cluster of worn volcanic hills on the Rhine's right bank. It reaches only 321 metres, but it rises straight out of the water, and from the fragment of keep on top the river runs north past Bonn and out into the plain. The rock itself was quarried for centuries, some of it going into Cologne Cathedral, until the state bought the hill in the nineteenth century to stop the work, by which point most of the medieval castle had gone with it. A rack railway has climbed from Konigswinter since 1883, and halfway up stands Drachenburg, a villa of the 1880s built to look like a castle.

What you actually see

• The keep - the surviving fragment of a twelfth-century castle on the summit rock.
• The rack railway - climbing from Konigswinter since 1883.
• Schloss Drachenburg - an 1880s villa built in the shape of a castle, halfway up.
• The river view - the Rhine running north past Bonn into the plain.

When to go

April to October covers the railway's full timetable and the open terraces. Weekday mornings are calm; Sunday afternoons bring a steady procession up the cobbles. Spring and after rain give the clearest air, since summer haze over the river valley flattens the distance. Autumn colour across the Siebengebirge is the other good window.

Honest expectations

The summit is topped by a plain modern restaurant block rather than anything romantic, and the ruin itself is small. Weekends are crowded from midday, with families, cyclists and coach groups sharing one steep cobbled road. The railway and Drachenburg are charged separately and add up. Haze limits the view for much of the summer, and the walk up is harder than the modest height suggests.

Nearby

Konigswinter on the river, Bonn a short train ride away, and the forest trails of the Siebengebirge.