Family holidays in Rhineland-Palatinate: regions and prices

Which region suits which age?

The Eifel is the region for families who want short journeys. Volcanoes, craters, mines you can walk into, and several wildlife and adventure parks besides. It works well when the children are still small and one outing a day is plenty. The individual destinations are listed in our article on family holidays in the Eifel.

The Moselle is the castles-and-water region: a castle on almost every bend of the river, flat cycle paths along the bank, boat trips. Best for children from about six, when a castle tour starts to hold their attention. The Moselle is not in the Eifel, even though the two border one another.

The Middle Rhine Valley between Bingen and Koblenz is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and for children it comes down to three things: boats, a cable car and a fortress. The Koblenz cable car carries you across the Rhine and up to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, the high point of the week for many children.

The Hunsrück is the region for walking and long views. Its best-known attraction is the Geierlay suspension bridge: 360 metres long, 100 metres above the valley floor, and free to cross. Not one for children who are afraid of heights, a triumph for everyone else.

The Nahe valley and the Edelsteinland, the gemstone country around Idar-Oberstein, is the insider tip for children between six and twelve. The Steinkaulenberg gemstone mines take you into a real working mine, and afterwards you can hunt for stones in the open-air area. It is that rare combination of museum and treasure hunt.

The Palatinate is the south of the state: vineyards, ruined castles, a mild climate, and in Plopsaland Deutschland at Haßloch (formerly Holiday Park) the largest theme park in Rhineland-Palatinate.

The Westerwald is the quiet option, a landscape of lakes with little going on. If you want a programme of attractions, this is the wrong place; if you want peace, it is the right one.

The destinations at a glance

Sources: seilbahn-koblenz.de, edelsteinland.de, plopsa.com, technik-museum.de. As of August 2026, subject to change.

One thing stands out from this table straight away: distances within Rhineland-Palatinate are greater than the map leads you to expect. From the Osteifel to the Palatinate is around two and a half hours by car. That is no longer a day out, it is a journey in its own right.

School holiday dates 2026 and 2027

The school holiday dates decide two things: the price and the crowds. If you can book at the edges of them, you save on both.

As of August 2026, source: schulferien.org.

Two observations that help with the planning:

The summer holidays overlap for only two weeks (20 July to 7 August 2026). Those are the two weeks when holiday homes and days out in the Eifel are at their busiest, because both states are travelling at once. If you are flexible, go in the first half of July or the second half of August.

The autumn holidays are staggered, with Rhineland-Palatinate two weeks ahead of North Rhine-Westphalia. That gives four weeks in which only one state is on the move at a time. For families with pre-school children, who are not yet tied to term dates, this is the most relaxed time of the year.

Some attractions set their opening hours by exactly this. Tollipark Mayen, for instance, opens daily during the Rhineland-Palatinate summer holidays, but only from midday in the weeks when North Rhine-Westphalia alone is on holiday.

Visitor’s tax: do children pay too?

In Rhineland-Palatinate the visitor’s tax, still called Kurtaxe in many places, is levied by the individual municipality, not by the state. There is therefore no state-wide rule on the age at which children start to pay. The range runs from “from the 7th birthday" through “from 12" to “from 16".

What this means in practice:

• The charge is collected by your host, not by the municipality. It is usually not part of the nightly rate you see, but is added when the bill is drawn up.
• It often comes with a guest card offering discounts, and it is worth asking for it rather than letting it go unused.
• In many places, people with a recognised degree of disability of 50 or more are exempt.

Age limits and height restrictions

This is where the tears come most often on a family holiday: your child is standing in front of the ride they have looked forward to for the whole journey, and is turned away.

What counts is almost always height, not age. And children are measured on the spot, with their shoes on. Two examples from Rhineland-Palatinate:

• At Plopsaland Deutschland in Haßloch, height even determines the ticket price: under 85 cm free, 85 to 99 cm 22 €, and from one metre the full price.
• At Klotten Wildlife and Adventure Park on the Moselle the limits are 0.90 m for the smaller rides, 1.10 m for the log flume and 1.20 m for the rollercoaster. Between the ages of 4 and 6, an adult has to sit in the next seat on the rollercoaster.

A practical tip: measure your child before you set off, barefoot and in shoes, and write down both figures. In borderline cases around 1.20 m, the sole of a shoe sometimes settles it.

Mines and caves follow a different logic. There the problem is usually not height but the length of the tour and the dark. Guided tours last 40 to 60 minutes with no way of leaving early, and it is 8 to 9 °C all year round. For children under five that is often too long and too cold.

Cot, high chair and changing facilities

In holiday homes, equipment for toddlers cannot be taken for granted, and it is rarely shown in full on the booking page. Check before you book:

• A travel cot or a full-size cot, and whether a mattress and bed linen come with it. Many homes provide the cot but not the linen.
• A high chair: whether there is one, and whether it has a harness.
• Stairs and galleries. Holiday homes with an open gallery in particular tend to have no stair gates. If your child is at the crawling stage, ask about this explicitly.
• A hob guard, socket covers, a terrace door that locks, depending on your child’s age.
• Somewhere to change a nappy, and a bath. A shower with no bath is awkward with a one-year-old.

In our three homes a cot and a high chair are ready for you on request, free of charge and, if you need them, two of each. Tell us when you book and both will be waiting. For stair gates, hob guards and a bath, please ask us directly; we will tell you honestly what each house can offer.

Swimming with small children: a lake is not a public pool

Rhineland-Palatinate designates official bathing waters, and the state tests their water quality during the season and publishes the results in its bathing water portal. The ratings run from “poor" to “excellent".

What that monitoring does not mean: that anyone is keeping watch.

• At the great majority of bathing lakes there is no lifeguard. The rule is “swimming at your own risk".
• The swimming season in Rhineland-Palatinate runs from 1 June to 31 August. Samples are taken only within that period.
• Underwater visibility in lakes is often less than a metre. A child who goes under cannot be seen, unlike in a swimming pool.
• The bed of the lake does not shelve evenly, and there is no poolside to hold on to.

At the Riedener Waldsee there is also a ban on jumping in and a restriction to one designated bathing area. The full rules are in our article on swimming in the Riedener Waldsee.

None of this is an argument against a swimming holiday by the lake. It is an argument for buoyancy aids in high-visibility colours, and for staying within reach in the water.

And what if it rains?

Rhineland-Palatinate has one thing going for it on a wet day: a great many mines. Slate, basalt, gemstones, people dug all over the state, and a good number of those workings can be walked through today. Underground, the weather is beside the point. A selection for the Eifel is in our article on the Eifel in the rain.

What this means for a stay in Rieden

Our three holiday homes stand in Rieden in the Osteifel, on the slope above the Riedener Waldsee, around 150 metres from the shore. Susi takes two to four guests, Annika and Tommy up to six each, both with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, so children and adults need not sleep in the same room. The terrace of every house is fenced and has a barbecue, a seating area and a hooded beach chair, and it is about eight minutes on foot to the playground by the lake. Which house suits which size of family is set out under Holiday Homes.

Three points that belong in your holiday planning. You can arrive Monday to Saturday, but not on a Sunday. The minimum stay is three nights. And the lake on your doorstep is no substitute for a swimming pool: the swimming season ends on 31 August, and there is no lifeguard. If you want to make use of the staggered autumn holidays in Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, do enquire early, because those are the quietest weeks to come with children.

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