Kaub — Rheinsteig Viewpoint over Pfalzgrafenstein

The viewpoint sits on the Rheinsteig long-distance trail, among the vineyard terraces on the slope below Burg Gutenfels, where the trail descends into Kaub. You look south-south-west over the rooftops of Kaub to the Rhine and the toll castle of Pfalzgrafenstein, which stands on its own island about 440 m (1,450 ft) away. The East Rhine Railway runs along the riverbank below, through Kaub station about 370 m (1,200 ft) to the south, so VIAS regional trains and freight trains pass low in the view between the town and the river. Across the water, trains on the West Rhine Railway pass along the far bank behind the castle, and a longer lens brings them into the same frame as Pfalzgrafenstein. Two main lines, the barges on the river and a castle in midstream share the same view. The viewpoint is reached only on foot, by the waymarked trail from Kaub; there is no road to it.

The slope below Burg Gutenfels is planted with vines in narrow terraces that drop steeply towards the town and the river. Pfalzgrafenstein, a white-walled toll castle from the 14th century, stands on the island of Falkenau in the middle of the Rhine, with barges passing on either side. Below the viewpoint, the old town of Kaub lines the east bank; across the river, wooded slopes close the far side of the gorge. The whole scene lies within the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed in 2002, a stretch of the Rhine gorge between Bingen, Rüdesheim and Koblenz known for its castles and vineyards. There is little flat ground here: you stand on a narrow trail in the vines rather than on a built platform.

Pfalzgrafenstein was built in 1326–27 under King Ludwig IV, 'the Bavarian', as a toll station on the island of Falkenau, where ships on the Rhine could be stopped and taxed. Burg Gutenfels, on the hillside above the viewpoint, dates from around 1200 and is now a privately run castle hotel. On New Year's night 1813–14 the Prussian field marshal Blücher crossed the Rhine at Kaub with his army in pursuit of Napoleon; the Blüchermuseum in the old town commemorates the crossing. The railways came to both banks in the 19th century: the East Rhine Railway through Kaub and the West Rhine Railway on the far bank, today both double-track electric main lines. In 2002 the gorge, including Kaub and both castles, was inscribed as the Upper Middle Rhine Valley UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Two electric main lines, one on each bank, pass either side of a 14th-century toll castle standing in the middle of the Rhine, and both can be watched from one public trail in the vineyards above. The castle, the vineyards and the busy railways of the Rhine gorge fit in a single frame.