Mosel/Trier Advice

Hi Sarah, We found Cochem to be an terrific base town. I think you'll find Cochem to be fine for visitng wein/biergartens at night. Probably just what you're loking for. Doubt you'll be bored and feel the need to go elsewhere. Beilsheim? Do you mean Beilstein? If Beilstein, it's cute but small. Worth a look. Burg Eltz was the highlight in the area for us. Paul

I did indeed mean Beilstein. Glad to hear your experiences match what I've read about. I'm gonna go ahead and book a hotel in Cochem and enjoy!

Hi Sarah, If interested, we have some photo's at: www.worldisround.com/articles/338870/index.html www.worldisround.com/articles/338874/index.html www.worldisround.com/articles/338906/index.html Paul

Sounds fun! Beilstein is pretty tiny--maybe worth a couple of hours at most to take a look at the castle and enjoy a meal or glass of wine at Haus Lipmann. Riding bikes along the Mosel would be delightful, but check locally about the route between Cochem and Beilstein. We were there 2 weeks ago and the riverside bike path was under construction, forcing the bikes up on the narrow road.

We have alwys traveled by car. The Mosel is nice and quiet, kind of like the Rhine on Valium. The advantage to a car is that there are so many little places along way that you may want to stop at and just look around that will only be fleeting glances as you go by on a train as well as the fact that you travel at your convenience and your luggage is delivered to your hotel door. Also if, per chance it rains, life is much easier and dryer in a car. Don't miss Berg Eltz, the unique thing about it is that it has been in the von Eltz fanily for over 30 generations and it has not been destroyed and rebuilt, it's all original. It is much easier to drive up to than it is to walk up to. The climb up to helps explain why it was never over run by an enemy but you can also understand why when you look down on it while comming down from the parking lot. Beilstein is a neat little worth a quick stop. Also, don't miss Bernkastle.

Eh, I think we're going to stick to the train. My friend has to take it anyway, I have a DB 25 card, and we're up for the hike to Burg Eltz. We're also going to be there over a weekend, so we can take the bus up and walk down, perhaps. Thanks again for everyone's advice!

I think the train works fine. Head to Trier early, use a half day to look around, see the ruins, grab a bite, then train to Eltz (the hike is great) in the afternoon. You will be back to Cochem in plenty of time for dinner, check out a Weinstube - I'm not sure about beer gardens in the area, it's more of a wine region.

Thanks, Brad, that's our plan. Weinstubes are fine, we have plenty of them here in BW. All I care about is a nice outdoor area to sit and something tasty to drink (provided the weather is good enough - crossing our fingers). Will utilize a regional ticket to save money. But we have 2 full days (we all arrive Friday afternoon, staying Sat and Sun night) so should we really try to do Trier and Burg Eltz in one day or should we split them up? We enjoy leisurely meals outdoors (obviously). Thinking of visiting the mustard mill and some vineyards in Cochem proper as well... Additional help perhaps: we are all leaving Cochem on Monday morning, my friend has to go to Frankfurt to fly out, but my husband has another couple days off. It seems like it might be a perfect time to train to Koblenz, hop on a Rhine boat, hop off at St. Goar or Bacharach, spend the night at a cheap place, then boat/train back to Stuttgart on Tuesday. I know this is a highly touristed route and I've read the blue book and a few others about it, but if anyone has any insider tips they want to share, I'd appreciate it...

Not too far from Beilstein is my favorite city in Germany. BERNKASTEL-KUES!!! Very gorgeous city with the old quaint Fairytale Germany. Definitely a must see town. A nice off the beaten roman ruin farm house not too far by car is a place called Mehring. Worth about 30 minutes.

I'm a guide book fanatic, James, so if I'm planning a trip somewhere I consult all the books I have that cover the area. This includes the blue book, the DK eyewitness guide , some weird book called "Daytrips Germany", several Lonely Planet guides, etc. I just wanted to make sure that people knew I had read the blue book for this area so I didn't get advice to either a) read the book or b) advice that just repeats what is in the book. Obviously those are both common responses to questions on this board. But at least for Mosel/Rhine trips the blue book seems to pretty much cover what everyone else does. I'm not seeing a lot of variation in advice of places to visit. One of the reasons I posted here, to ask if there's anything super interesting we might miss.

Hi Sarah Cochem is big enough to enjoy for your purposes. I recommend Vargas restaurant, the Reichburg castle and many pleasant evenings along with river. Trier is certainly worth a day trip if you like the Roman thing-great museum of antiquities there. We stayed on far side of Moselle in a hotel that had great view of town and castle and could walk across bridge to be in town in just a few minutes. I think it was the Hotel Mosel and I would give that a check as well Enjoy Mike
DC

I always stick up for Beilstein. If you have an car it's a great little town. I liked walking around at night...it will be a short walk though. It all depends what your looking for, I'm not sure I would stop in for more than an hour during the day.

Well, we wont have a car, we'll be traveling by train, which seems like a fine option for the area anyway. We're all fit and are looking forward to the pretty hike to Burg Eltz. We'll be staying at Hotel Zenhthof in Cochem, which seems to be a nice option. Will check out all the food recs though, really appreciate those. We'll probably need the hiking to deal with the extra calories from heavy German meals and wine.

Something to consider is to get a hotel room with a balcony overlooking the Mosel River, if possible. It's such a lazy, scenic river and sitting on a balcony with a bottle of wine or whatnot, watching the river traffic (including swans) float by is, in my opinion, a great way to end the day. Dang, wish I was there right now!