Cochem car rental or private tour guide?

Do you have in mind specific wineries that you can't get to without a car? The wineries here aren't spread out all over the place like those in Napa-Sonoma. Many wineries are right in town and can be reached on foot. Here are just a few in Cochem. There are wineries in other towns too, towns you can get to by train or bus easily enough.

Weingut Haxel & Rieslingstub'n
Endertstr. 26-28
56812 Cochem
Tel. 02671-7297
weingut@haxel.de
Haxel website

Familienweingut Rademacher
Pinnerstr. 10
56812 Cochem
Tel. 02671-4164
info@weingut-rademacher.de
Rademacher website

Weingut Andrae Göbel
Fährstraße 9
56814 Ernst/Mosel (maybe 2 miles outside Cochem - walk, bike, bus, taxi)
Tel. 02671-7447
info@andrae-goebel.de
Göbel website

H. H. Hieronimi Wein- u. Sektkellerei
Stadionstr. 1-3
56812 Cochem
Tel. 02671-221
info@hieronimi-wein.de
Hieronimi website

More Cochem winery addresses here. Check locations before you decide you need a private driver or a rental car.

Cochem is pretty small. Most people can walk around. There are buses in town. When I visited in 2008, I took a bus from near the Bahnhof to the "castle", but I realized when I got there I could have walked. There was no bus at the bus stop when I was ready to leave, so I walked to town.

Weingut Rademacher is right across the parking lot (hign side) from the Bahnhof - easy to get to on foot.

On the subject of winery tours, I took the tasting, not the tour, at Rademacher, then wondered why. Unless you want to see how they make the wine, or you are going to buy several cases and want to taste them to see which ones you want, I see little point in going to a wine testing. The only advantage of a tasting is that they will be smaller glasses of each, so you can try more, but they charge more than an equivalent amount of wine at a restaurant. There will probably be a far greater selection at most restaurants. Just order some to try. That's what I did at the restaurant Alter Moselbahnhof in Bernkastel.

Thanks so much Russ and Lee. I did not know there are vineyards in town. Did either of you visit any towns around the area?

I have 3.5 days in Cochem so I thought maybe one day to see the surrounding villages. What do you guys think? Had a bottle of Riesling from Joh. Jos. Prum last night and loved it. My white of choice is usually Riesling (Dr. Loosen). But usually drink red.

I have 4 nights in Cochem.

Mentioning Napa we are headed to Sonoma in March. Looks like Russ may live in CA.

Dot

"Did either of you visit any towns around the area?"
Yes, and I suggest that you do too. Winningen (near Koblenz) is severely underrepresented on English-language travel boards like this one, but it is particularly attractive. Every narrow street seems to be stuffed with attractive wineries and eateries. Bernkastel is well known for good reason. The amazingly well-kept half-timbered buildings there are eye-popping. See photos below.

Winningen
Bernkastel (wikipedia)

Wine blog on Winningen that may interest you.

Trier (Roman roots) is of course a major destination you can read about anywhere. Other towns I've stayed in and/or enjoyed visiting include Bullay and its sister town Alf across the river. Burg Arras castle nearby can be reached on foot from Alf after a fairly short hike. Zell is a couple of miles upstream from Bullay - easy biking along the riverfront bike path. This is a good area for walking/hiking/biking. The Marienburg and Prinzenkopf lookout can be reached on fairly short walks too. Scenes from this part of the river:
Marienburg 1
Marienburg2
Panorama from Prinzenkopf
Zell
Alf (left) Bullay (right)
Alf
Burg Arras castle-hotel and museum
Walk to Burg Eltz from Moselkern

Beilstein is a tiny town that you can cruise to in one hour from Cochem - it's maybe the most popular cruise destination.

Winningen, Cochem, Trier, Bullay, and Moselkern have train stations. Getting to the other towns... Alf: train to Bullay, walk to river and just ferry across from Bullay. Zell: connecting bus from Bullay. Bernkastel: In '74 I took a train there but the tracks were ripped up. Now, take a train to Wittlich, bus from there.

Thanks so much Ross for the marvelous reply.

Lots of great info to chew over.

Dot

sorry for the typo Russ

According to a wine book I have, Bernkastel is "ground-zero" for Riesling wines. The book specifically points to the Doktor vineyards right above town as growing grapes for the best wine. I ate lunch at a restaurant in town, right below the Doktor vineyard and sampled three different wines of the area off of their wine list.

It is possible to get to Bernkastel-Kues by bus from the Wittlich Bahnhof.

As for Beilstein, a quaint little town with a few nice cafes, but little else. One of the few places I can truly say I wished I had had a car - I would have left after an hour instead of waiting four hours for the return bus (on a Sunday). It was November and the castle ruins were closed for the season. There was nothing else to see.

The main attraction in Zell is the carved rock statue of the schwarze Katze in the town square.

I spent one day in Cochem, where I did visit a winery as well as the castle. The castle does have a falconry show, but it didn't fit my schedule.

On weekends, there are regularly scheduled buses from several Mosel towns (Treis-Karden is one) to Burg Eltz.

"On weekends, there are regularly scheduled buses from several Mosel towns (Treis-Karden is one) to Burg Eltz."

This Castle-Bus #330 runs seasonally - 4 times a day on Sat and Sun - starting May 1. As I recall you're traveling in September and the bus will still be in place at that time. So you may want to use it if you're staying over Sat or Sun. The ride takes 25 minutes from Moselkern, vs. the walk, which takes about twice that long. It might be a good heads-up for you if you have rain or mobility issues. That said, in good weather, it's a fairly gentle, very scenic, and memorable walk to the castle from Moselkern.

According to this page from the Burg Eltz website, the bus runs on weekends from May to October. Except for a couple of days in March, all of April, and November 1, the bus runs when the Burg is open.

Added: Not trying to say that the bus runs on weekdays, but emphasizing that most of the months that it doesn't run is when Burg Eltz is also not open.

"Except for a couple of days in March, all of April, and November 1, the bus runs when the Burg is open."

I THINK Lee's latest post on the bus schedule, though stated differently, provides the same info. as mine, except that his might give the impression that the bus runs on weekdays - which, if you check that castle page, it does not do. You can only use it on Saturdays, Sundays (and holidays) from May through October, even though the Burg is open every day.