We spent 3 nights in Cochem in early May 2024 and left just a day or two ahead of the floods that inundated the town. Cochem was a compromise choice between staying in Koblenz with excellent connections into the Rhine and Mosel and a smaller village upstream on the Mosel that would have less riverboat traffic but require a bus connection off the rail line.. We were extremely happy with our choice which was facilitated by our lodging choice. We stayed at the Villa Vinum, (Cochem, Moselstrasse 18, D-56812 Cochem, Germany, +49 (0) 2671 – 9165445, [email protected]). A great little boutique hotel just a 1/4 mile south of the train station and enough outside of the main tourist zone that we were assured of quiet nights. Cochem is a stop for river cruises and each night there was at least one river cruise tied up next to the town. As one might expect those tourists pretty much visited the core part of town and took the tour up to the castle (Reichsburg Cochem). We spent one day in the local area. We took a local bus to Beilstein (up river) which is one of Rick's recommendations in the area. My spouse stayed in Beilstein to visit the Black Madonna in St Joseph's church, the ruins at Burg Metternich and did a wine tasting. I did a section of the Moselsteig (#18), a long distance footpath that runs the length of the Mosel from the French Border to the confluence with the Rhine. This section is particularly scenic climbing up and down through the steep vineyards on the right bank to high view points. A very lovely trail at 8.3 miles back into Cochem. We had a lovely dinner graced by spargle that night at Neos (Liniusstraße 4, 56812 Cochem, Germany) which the host at our hotel recommended.
Our second day was spent in Trier, an easy 45 minute train ride to the South. We started at the Ports Nigra but quickly moved out of the main tourist zone by walking to the ruins of the Roman Baths. We had this site entirely to ourselves. Excellent interpretation in English BTW. After lunch we made our way to the Rheinisches Landesmuseum which has a significant collection of Roman antiquities and is well worth a visit.
We were glad to have gotten back to this area decades after our previous visit in another life. There is a lot to see and do in this beautiful region.