The town was named after Saint Goar who settled here in 550 and founded a Christian hostel for travellers and for the poor.

 
A collegiate church stands today on the site where he lived and built a chapel. St. Goar, who led a solitary life, managed to develop his cell into one of the earliest German cloisters. Although many legends have sprung up around the saint, he was most famous for his hospitality.

Considering the number of hotels and restaurants relative to the size of the population, he must have passed on this virtue to the town’s inhabitants. Besides a Romanesque crypt from the 11th century, the collegiate church displays graceful vaults from the 15th century as well as several Gothic wall paintings.

In addition to the collegiate church, there is a small parish church with a Goar epitaph from the 14th century. The Coblence Gate served as the bell tower; the oldest depiction of Saint Goar is carved into the capstone of its cross vault. In the 12th century, the counts of Katzenelnbogen became the administrators of the settlement. In order to collect and protect the Rhine tolls, Count Dieter V. von Katzenelnbogen had Rheinfels Castle built in 1245.

Towering high above St. Goar, the biggest castle on the Middle Rhine is significant both for the construction style of the counts of Katzenelnbogen as well as for the castle and fortress style of the landgraves of Hesse-Kassel prevailing between the 16th and 18th centuries. A walk to the township of Biebernheim is also worthwhile: from there, a footpath along the edge of the Rhine Valley ridge leads to several outstanding lookout points which reveal spectacular views of the Rhine and the Loreley nearby.