Experience the best of Koblenz

Koblenz lies at the confluence of the Rhine and the Moselle, in Rhineland-Palatinate. The tip of land between the rivers, the Deutsches Eck, or German Corner, is marked by a tall monument topped by an equestrian statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I. A cable car crosses the Rhine to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, a huge 19th-century Prussian stronghold on a rock, with views of both rivers.

The old town has the Basilica of St Castor, near the Deutsches Eck, and the Schängel fountain, a bronze boy who spits water at passers-by. Upstream, the Rhine enters the Upper Middle Rhine Valley, a UNESCO landscape of castles on cliffs: Stolzenfels is on the edge of Koblenz, and the Marksburg at Braubach is the one hilltop castle on the Middle Rhine never destroyed. Burg Eltz hides in a wooded valley near the Moselle.

Riesling from the Moselle slopes and the Rhine is the drink of the region, and autumn brings federweißer, new wine, served with onion tart. Sausages, potato dishes and game fill the traditional menus. The valley is sheltered and mild, with warm summer days along the water.