Rhine in Flames

The Rhine in Flames events are very good - not your average fireworks show at all! They are usually held in connection with a wine festival, so it's two-fer sort of experience. A three-fer or a four-fer if you count the castles and the scenic day cruises on the Rhine.

Weinmarkt (fest) in Oberwesel
Rheinfels Castle in St. Goar
KD Cruises

When you say "out of the way" do you mean from Frankfurt? I note that you inquired about rooms there recently.

Honestly, if I had 2 nights to spend in the general area, I'd spend them on the Rhine if possible. This is one of Germany's most scenic and historic areas, a UNESCO World Heritage site full of castles and attractive old world villages with nice places to stay. It's the sort of destination you would go out of your way to see without the Rhine in Flames and without a wine fest.

If your tie to Frankfurt is FRA airport, you should know that getting there from the Rhine towns is generally pretty easy with direct train access from some towns to the airport train station.

We were at the Rhine Aflame event in Oberwesel last Sept. Took the boat from Wiesbaden on an evening trip.
We enjoyed the boat ride,( and though we were wary of the included dinner being not-so-good, it actually was delicious.) and the views of the castles along the river on the way to Oberwesel are spectacular.
The fireworks were good, but not exactly what we had expected. We thought they would be shot up behind the castle to illuminate it, but in reality they were shot from a barge on the river. SInce we have the ability to watch fireworks on the river back home, we were a little disappointed.
That said, Oberwesel is a great little town and has a wine fest that same weekend which we really enjoyed more than the fireworks.( we took the train back up from Wiesbaden the next day). You could stay in Oberwesel to see the fireworks from shore and do the wine fest --there are several small hotels and inns there--, but all were booked by the time we decided to go, hence the boat trip. If you decide to try that, book as far in advance as possible.

We saw Rhine in Flames from St. Goat last September and it was a highlight of our trip. We took a train from Boppard and watched the fireworks from the riverbank, among the crowds , in intermittent rain ... Could have done without that!

There were 4 separate displays lasting over an hour. Absolutely spectacular. It started with Rheinfels castle "catching fire", then there were fireworks from behind the castle, then from a barge in the river, then from slightly north and south of town.

There were lots of riverboats, which looked like fun. We really liked being right in town. Ideal would be to have a hotel room with river view balcony
In St Goar or St Gorshausen in case of rain.

My daughter and I saw a fireworks display in Trier that was similar to the Rhine in Flames event. Oddly enough, it seemed to be an adult affair, in that my 14-year-old daughter appeared to be the youngest one there. In the U.S. this type of event would have lots of children.

It was just really interesting to participate in this. The Germans were very vocal with lots of "oohs" and "ahs" over the fireworks show, which was indeed quite good.

If you buy a beer from any of the many tents, be aware that they will serve you in a glass and charge you a deposit. Return the glass, get your money back. I wasn't aware of quite how this worked, so my first beer or two I just set my glass on the counter and walked away. Duh!

Frank's experience with being charged a deposit for glasses is one that you find in many instances in Germany. Events like Oktoberfest, Christmas markets, medieval fairs etc. have stopped serving drinks in disposable containers and use more environmentally friendly glasses for which a deposit is charged. Or you keep the glass/mug as a souvenir :-)

Had the glass-deposit experience in Amsterdam street-fairs as well. Luckily, you could walk with the beer and refill or collect the deposit at a different bar across town, perhaps rum by the same caterer.