The Weltenburg Abbey on the Danube is a monastery and brewery that has been brewing beer for over a thousand years. Not only are they respected throughout Germany for the cultural and historical aspects, but the on-site brewery has won a few highly respected awards in the world of beer drinkers. The Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel received the “World Beer Cup” as the best dark beer in the world in 2004, 2008, and 2012.

We parked across the river from the Brewery and took this ferry raft across to the peninsula to the brewery. When we got to the other side my son yelled “Lower the anchorrrrr!” and the guy laughed and then almost took out the kids with his enormous anchor on a stick he kept swinging from side to side. It takes about 5-10 minutes to walk to the brewery from where the raft lands (depending on if you have small kids with short legs) so it took us about 15 minutes which included various stops, including one to pose on top of this rock.

We arrived at 11am and the Beer Garden was already hopping and the beer was flowing. As far as facilities go, there’s a really nice bathroom, but no ATM in sight so do yourself a favor and get cash before you get on the raft, because you will need it for the tour, the beer, and any souvenirs you might want.

The Brewery Tour is available April through October and it’s in German, but if you smile and nod a lot, you’ll blend right in. Plus, for 11,80 Euros per person you get quite a bit of beer at the beer tasting part of the tour and your own Weltenburger beer glass to take home.

My favorite beer was the Weltenburger Anno 1050 (one of their lightest), which has won the gold medal with the “European Beer Star” in the German Style category. My son’s favorite is the apple juice (Apfelsaft)!

There are about a million flat river rocks, perfect for skipping, along the banks of the Danube. It was a really hot day in Bavaria so we cooled our feet (and one of us accidentally cooled our butt) in the very chilly water. There were people in kayaks and other various floating-intertube-type things enjoying the slow-moving river.

We also got to see the inside of the monastery where some monks were singing some really pretty songs.

Overall it was a neat experience and even fun for the kids when we weren’t yelling at them to be quiet.