Bernkastle kues

Never stayed in Bernkastle except overnight on a river ship, but some day hope to. Hotel standarhs in Germany are very high. Recommendations aren't worth much because nearly everybody loves wherever they stay-- all Bernkastle hotels have at least **** out of ***** stars in TripAdvisor (via Michelin lists more hotels). If you must have a recommendation, get a Michelin Red Guide to Germany or check Fodor's web site. After a few weeks of travel in Germany, we stopped looking up recommendation & went by looks and price.

the remarkable old city center is very small and compact. I would stay there or very close.

You picked a great place to stay. Look for the hole in the wall wurst stand & get a Bratwurst mit brot und senf. one of the world's great lunches or heavy snacks

I suspect that B-K is more expensive than, say, Traben-Trarbach. One advantage of staying in B-K might be a hotel Concierge who can get you a last-minute appointment for a high-end wine tasting that really should have been booked before you left on the trip. Assuming you want to do that.

Both towns I named have many tourists, but the visit area seems larger and less crowded in T-T. Besides being turned away from a winery in B-K where we didn't have a reservation (which did sour our opinion), we thought the historic center was a little too groomed and touristy. (Opinion!) In T-T, we found a public walk through an vineyard, and encountered a quiet winery-guesthouse where we had some (extremely modest ... ) wines for tasting. There's also a nice steep climb to a view over the river in T-T.

We simply took a look and had coffee inside, but T-T does have an authentic historic hotel, Romantik Jugendstilhotel Bellevue.

thank you tim and KB very helpful, any other towns you might recommend in the mosel valley like beilstein prefer something less toursty and quaint

Be sure to read this nearby post, not for so much for Koblenz but for the other mentions:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/koblenz

will do
thank you tim