"Gateway To The Good Stuff " a Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler Travel Page by RhineRoll

Whenever you see the term "Bad" appear in the name of a German town, this indicates that the place is an officially recognized health resort. Such is certainly the case for Bad Neuenahr, which also has a pedestrian zone and shopping district. IMO the much nicer part of this county-seat town is Ahrweiler. While Bad Neuenahr is the resort with a spa, gardens and open-air classical concerts, Ahrweiler is a wonderfully charming place with a historic old town featuring a pedestrian zone of its own and lots of small nice shops, cafes and restaurants. Of course, many shops sell the wonderful (but quite expensive) Ahr wine -- see my specific shopping tip.

Directions:
Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler is located in the very West of Germany, approximately 30 kms south-west of Bonn. There exists a regular train service, the "Ahr-Express" from Bonn and Remagen in the Rhine-Valley.

Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler is the biggest city in Ahrweiler county and also the gateway to the valley of the Ahr. Being still fairly wide where it gives shelter to the city, it becomes extremely narrow and craggy further upstream. This is also where the valley's main vintners villages are located and where most of the tourists will go in late summer. The last real tourist place is Altenahr, about 15 km from AW. The valley continues further till the Eifel town of Blankenheim, again changing its character as it flows through wonderful natural mountain meadows teeming with wildflowers in spring.

The Ahr is by no means just about wine -- as a matter of fact the valley offers a whole range of high quality products and services.
Well known villages in the valley include (sorted by distance from Ahrweiler)

- Dernau
- Rech
- Mayschoss
- Altenahr

Altenahr is also within very easy reach from Bonn, because the A 565 Autobahn covers a large part of the distance (30 km).

Staying in AW will also give you excellent access to the wider region -- the southwestern corner of the Eifel region between the Rhine and Moselle rivers.

The Ahr concludes its rather short but all the more spectacular river life by flowing into the Rhine near Kripp. This is actually the only all-natural river mouth in the entire Rhine valley all the way to Lake Constance -- which tells you what a built up area it is generally.