A river hiking tour along the Lahn

Humans have settled along the Lahn, a tributary of the Rhine, since the Stone Age. For centuries the river was an important trading and transport route. Many castles, palaces and historical towns add to the rich diversity of the hiking trail along the river, which has its source in the Rothaar Mountains.

Laasphe, on the upper course of the Lahn, was the royal capital of the county of Wittgenstein from the 13th century to 19th century. The castle has been used as a school since the1950s. The first leg of the journey along the 288-kilometer Lahn trail ends in Bad Laasphe, which has been a spa town since 1960.

The next imposing building along the course of the river is Marburg castle, which began as a medieval fortified castle. The city is also known for its university, which was founded in 1527 as one of the world's first Protestant universities.

One of the famous people to walk the Lahn trail was the young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. As a 23-year-old law student he did an internship in the neighboring town of Wetzlar. And as students usually do, he stopped off for a bite on his walks. In this depiction of his visit to a tavern in Giessen, Goethe stands, holding forth – and is, of course, the center of attention.

On the Lahn, Goethe rhapsodized over the "ineffable beauty of nature." During his internship he got to know Charlotte Buff in Wetzlar. The one-sided infatuation inspired the character Lotte in his first novel, "The Sorrows of Young Werther." The house where the Buff family lived has been a place of pilgrimage for Werther fans since 1863, and is now a museum, the Lottehaus.

Weilburg, small town with 13,000 inhabitants, also has a castle above it. Built in the late 16th century, it is one of the most important Renaissance palaces in Hessen. Later, Baroque elements were added to it. It has been a museum since 1935, and every summer the Weilburg Schloss Concerts take place in its Renaissance courtyard.

There's no castle high above the Lahn in Dietkirchen, but there is a church. In the early Middle Ages, the Romanesque St. Lubentius Basilica was considered the most important church in the region. Like many outstanding buildings, it was built on a crag near the banks of the Lahn, so people hiking along the river can see it from afar.

A mere 4 kilometers farther downstream stands another distinctive church. Limburg Cathedral is a landmark in the city and a bishop's seat. A few years ago it made headlines beyond the region due to a scandal over extravagant new building projects. The old town in Limburg is also overlooked by a hilltop castle (left), which in the Middle Ages served to secure a crossing over the Lahn.

Bad Ems can also look back on a long history. The Romans built forts here. In the late Middle Ages, Bad Ems became a desirable health resort for archbishops and territorial lords, thanks to its thermal springs. The heyday of its tourism boom was the 19th century, when European monarchs and artists chose Bad Ems a a summer residence.

Five meters south of Koblenz, the Lahn flows into the Rhine. Parts of the town of Lahnstein belong to UNESCO's Middle Rhine Valley world heritage site. A famous artist who succumbed to the romanticism of the Rhine, the English painter J. M. W. Turner, depicted the junction of the Rhine and the Lahn in 1817.