At BOPPARD , 14km downstream from St Goar, the Rhine gorge starts to level out and the valley landscape becomes a gentler one of rounded, vine-covered slopes. The town benefits enormously from an unspoiled and relatively quiet Rhine promenade running along its entire length, having forced the rail authorities to lay the tracks on the opposite side of the centre, instead of their customary position by the river.

Boppard's dominant building is the late Romanesque Severuskirche on Markt platz. A twin-towered structure, brightly painted in white and yellow, it was built during the thirteenth century to house the remains of St Severus, Bishop of Ravenna. Contemporary with the church are the wall-paintings illustrating the life of the saint and a poignant triumphal cross. The squat Gothic Karmelitenkirche , near the Rhine quay, has elaborate fifteenth-century choir stalls, a couple of seventeenth-century altars and various tombs of local bigwigs. At the east entrance is a recess which houses the fourteenth-century Traubenmadonna . Traditionally, local vine growers place the first ripe bunch of grapes of the year by the statue and leave it there until it withers away.

At the end of Kirchgasse, which is just off Oberstrasse (Boppard's main street), are the remains of the Roman Stadtmauer , which has weathered the years remarkably well. Four watchtowers survive of the 28 which guarded the military camp of Baudobirga, laid out in the fourth century on the site of present-day Boppard. Remains of more recent fortifications can be seen at the end of Bingergasse. The Binger Tor was built during the Middle Ages and has survived more or less intact, bar the odd bit of crumbling here and there. Between Burgplatz and Rheinallee is the Alte Burg , a castle and residence built by the archbishops of Trier to consolidate their grip on the area. The central keep, with its apertures for the pouring of boiling oil, molten lead and the like, was built around 1327, while the more civilized-looking wings were added during the seventeenth century. These days the building houses the Museum der Stadt Boppard (April-Oct Tues-Sun 10am-noon & 2-5pm; free). Part of this is devoted to Michael Thonet, a son of Boppard, who, during the early nineteenth century, perfected the technique of laminating wood and earned himself a fortune for his highly distinctive furniture, of which there is a fine collection on display.

At the northern end of town, a chairlift (DM7.50/?3.75 single, DM11/?5.50 return) ascends to the belvedere known as Vierseenblick (Four Lakes View) because the only parts of the Rhine which are visible are four seemingly separate stretches of water. A short waymarked walk away is another viewpoint, the Rheinschleife , which commands a magnificent panorama over the Rhine's most spectacular bend.