Bacharach, Germany

The third stop on our backpacking trip to Europe, after Berlin and Quedlinburg, was Bacharach. Bacharach (which I am still not 100% sure about how to pronounce) lies along the Rhine River and is similar to Quedlinburg in that very few young people seem to live there. It is a sleepy town on the river below the shadow of Stahleck Castle which has now been converted into a Hosteling International hostel and is, of course, where we stayed. The Rhine River Valley is known for its popular river cruises, beautiful castles above the many towns along the bank, and its production of wine. The train ride from Quedlinburg to Bacharach was the longest so far and was quite a relaxing time for us.

The walk up to the castle was steep with hundreds of steps so we made it fun by racing up them. Sydney won. There are a limited number of things to do in and around Bacharach, particularly without a car, so we took to exploring the adorable little town. Pretty much every single store was closed even though it didn’t seem that late to us, but I did manage to mail the postcards I hadn’t been able to mail in Quedlinburg. The restaurant we ate dinner at was amazing and so charming (see the middle picture below — we ate outside). I ordered venison with cranberries or something which was the first time that I ate venison. Very tasty. And I have no idea what kind of soup I ordered but it was really good. Plus we got apple strudel for dessert!

We walked around the town and took pictures and just had fun walking around and joking about stupid things (like pushing people in wells….). Then that night, we hung out in the hostel with our roommates, two girls, Jordan and Nichola, from Winnipeg, Canada and learned things we didn’t know about Canada. Like about car insurance. And the different provinces. And hockey. It was really fun to talk to them. They have a blog, too, called Maples to Naples about their much more extensive European backpacking travels.

The next morning, we made sure to go back to the shops that had been closed the evening before and get souvenirs from a beautiful woodwork shop. Everything was hand-carved and so gorgeous. I ended up only buying this little hand-painted red circular box with floral designs. It’s cute, ignore that strange description. Sydney got such a beautiful painting for his parents who had visited the Rhine River Valley while they were living in Germany. While we were waiting for our train to arrive, we just sat around along the riverside. I made flower crowns with the little daisies that were in the grass. I think that, overall, our trip to Bacharach can be best explained through pictures so check it out below:

Bacharach was so quintessentially German and I felt my visit was a wonderful experience. I had a great time and would love to go back to the Rhine River Valley again at some point.

Click here to view my full backpacking Europe itinerary.