Traben-Trarbach

The Mosel is not a big area for English speaking tourists. I speak a sort of broken German, useful for simple communication and most people assume I am from Netherlands, as they do get quite a few from there, But that is also part of its charm. Its a great area for bike riding, wine sipping. See if there are any weekend festivals in the area as they are a lot of fun.

The wineries there are a little different than what you may be used to. We stayed at a Weingut in the area a few years back, with a working winery on the ground floor/basement, 2 guest suites and family living quarters on the first and second floors. The Weingut was located in town, with the family vineyards in a section on the side of the hill outside of town, which they commuted to via tractor. This seemed to be a typical operation. The "brand" was named after the town, Briedel, "Briedel Herzchen". The nearby town was Zell, and their brand was "Zeller Schwarze Katz", which you may have heard of.

T-T is not undiscovered, especially by bicyclists, and I have not slept there, but it is very nice. You might find rooms at a winery not far from town. 3- year olds don't care where they stay. I don't use tour guides, but except in the former GDR, no waiter I've ever addressed in German has failed to respond in English. High end wineries require reservations. This newsboard likes Cochem.

We found a T-T public walkway through a working vineyard. Nice rock-park steep but improved path could probably be done with a child watched closely. Lawyer-Fences are uncommon in Europe.

Traben-Trarbach is also in the VRM district, so you can travel with an all zone Minigruppenkarte for 27.60 EUR for a day (after 9 am weekdays, anytime weekends) to Bullay, with connecting trains to Cochem, and points beyond. If you start in Boppard, the guest card there will cover travel to T-T.

I've stayed in Cochem, Bullay and Bernkastel.

You have 3 nights. Is it your intention to visit the other places you named?

Bernkastel does NOT have a lack of transportation. Between 7 am and 12 noon, there are in fact 9 different train + bus trips from Bullay or Cochem to Bernkastel - "Forum, Bernkastel-Kues" is the correct stop for your "to" destination at the DB itinerary search page. Take the train to Wittlich and change to the bus there - the bus is timed to meet your train, so the trip from Bullay is 48 minutes total. Add 10 minutes more if you are staying in Cochem.

You are correct that Bernkastel is a weak travel base. Bullay is a great one. It is also great for hiking around and scenery, peace and quiet. For a little more action, wine experiences and restaurant choices you will take the train from Bullay into Cochem (10 minutes) or to Traben-Trarbach (18 minutes.)

Cochem is also a convenient travel base and has much more to offer the tourist (which you and I both are.) I acknowledge that Cochem gets busy with tourists in summer in the middle of the day but not that is too touristy to visit or to use as a base town (weekdays are less crowded.) I think I've probably spent 18-20 nights there over the years. I love the place dearly.

Bernkastel is similarly trafficked by tourists, but its old town is totally stunning. Absolute fairytale. Suggestion for a very full day: train to Traben-Trarbach / cruise from T-T to Bernkastel (about 2 hours ) / then bus + train back to Bullay or Cochem. There are 6 different bus + train combinations between 16:00 and 20:00 that will get you from Bernkastel back to your base town.

Thanks for the replies. No, I wasn’t thinking on visiting all 3. If we stayed in Traben-Trarbach, my plan was to bike to Bernkastel. There is a winery or 2 I’ve plotted along the way. I’ve already scouted out bike rentals that have attachable seats or carriages for my toddler. And if we visited Bernkastel, we wouldn’t visit Cochem. The only other day trip we’d do is Eltz Castle.

If staying in Cochem, I haven’t researched a similar scenic bike ride with a vineyard stop or two. Sans toddler we’d take transport and do the same route, but that that is probably over our daughter’s limit for the day.

We spent a week on the Mosel a couple years ago and loved it. We selected Bullay because of the apartment we found, but we could have easily enjoyed Traben-Trarbach (we called it "Tray-Tray") as a base as well. There is a little six-mile "wine train" between the two that makes either end very convenient. We don't speak German other than basic please and thank you, and did just fine all along the river. Tray-Tray definitely had more dining options and some amazing architecture. Bullay was a little sleepier and fewer tourists for sure. We are wine people but also don't have a huge taste for Riesling, and we still enjoyed ourselves. Weissburgunder or Pinot Blanc is what we often ordered.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/germany/wine-tours-in-germany

Quoting myself from another thread:

I don't agree with the reasoning in the next post, but I avoided suggesting B-K because it's perhaps the most popular, i.e. touristy town in that part of the Mosel. Even Traben-Trarbach is less touristy, and it's touristy (but also, nice.) I found Mulheim too dull to stay in without a car, but we had one. Years ago, the most important winery in B-K had a sign, in several language on its doorpost. Summary: "Here's a list of retail stores you can buy our stuff. No appointment here? Get lost."

We've based in both Sehl Cochem and Graach. If you only have two full days and are seriouly considering Burg Eltz, around Cochem is a good choice. Maybe allow some time to visit Beilstein by boat or bike.