Beilstein

Beilstein takes just a few hours to see: barely 150 residents and a handful of cobblestone streets along the Moselle River, dominated by the ruins of Metternich Castle. May-October is best, coinciding with the growing season on the vineyard slopes surrounding the village. It's cheap compared to Rhine destinations, with few lodgings and almost no mass tourism. Nicknamed «Sleeping Beauty of the Moselle» for how little it has changed over the centuries, it's one of Germany's best-preserved wine villages, without the tourist flow of Cochem or Bacharach.