The Drachenfels (Siebengebirge) is a mountain in North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It is 320 meters high and has good tourist routes. It can be easily reached via a rack railway. There are sights on the mountain, and the view over the beckons Rhine. The area around the mountain is a nature park.
The mountain is located in the area of the communities of Königswinter and Bad Honnef. The big city is on the other (left) side of the Rhine Bonn.
Background and story
The Drachenfels belongs to the Siebengebirge. In the Middle Ages, a castle was built on it from 1138, of which a ruin still exists today.
landscape
Flora and fauna
climate
Arrival and mobility
Those who want to go to the Drachenfels usually take the “Drachenfelsbahn” cogwheel train to the top. It was inaugurated in 1883 and is located a little above the actual Königswinter, under two high motorway lanes. You can get to Königswinter itself from the north or south via the A42 or, for example, from the left bank of the Rhine via a ferry.
The trip is quite an experience in itself, even if there is no noteworthy view from the train. In addition to the ground station ("Talbahnhof"), the train has two stations: First it stops at Schloss Drachenburg ("Mittelstation"), which is also near the Nibelungenhalle, and then it continues to the top with the ruins ("Bergstation"). You can also drive to Schloss Drachenburg from the east.
There is also a larger, signposted parking lot at the valley station. You pay the parking fee at the parking lot. In the valley station you pay the ticket for a trip up and down again. You can get off at the middle station on the way there or back.
The Drachenfels is only partially suitable for wheelchair users. For example, you can only get from the plateau to the ruin via a steep footpath and to the reptile zoo via a small staircase.
Tourist Attractions
In the valley station by the parking lot there is a model of the railway and the Drachenfels that shows a historical condition.
At the middle station you arrive at Drachenburg Castle, which you can also see from the station. The castle can be visited. A few hundred meters further on, a footpath leads to a restaurant and the nearby Nibelungenhalle. The small hall built in 1913 exhibits paintings and other things related to operas by Richard Wagner. The entrance fee also includes a small reptile zoo and the so-called dragon cave, a short artificial walk to a larger dragon statue.
At the second, higher station, you arrive directly at the Drachenfels plateau. There is a restaurant and the ascent to the summit, on which the castle ruins stand. On the way you can see monuments of national character. From the plateau you have a view over the Rhine as well as Bad Honnef on your own side of the Rhine and Bonn (including Bad Godesberg) on the other side.
In the Nibelungenhalle
Drachenfelsbahn at the mountain station
_-_2235.jpg/120px-Blick_vom_Drachenfels_(Siebengebirge)_-_2235.jpg)
View to the northeast of Bonn
_-_2235.jpg/120px-Blick_vom_Drachenfels_(Siebengebirge)_-_2235.jpg)
