Moselle Valley trip
Oct. 1st, 2025 09:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kmusserSo Sam and I went on a little adventure, a hiking trip in the Moselle River valley in Germany going from Trier to Bernkastel-Kues. This is wine country known primarily for its Riesling and much of the hiking was through vineyards.
Doing a hiking trip was a first for both of us, we went through a company called Macs Adventure that booked our lodgings and handled the luggage transfers so we could hike with just daypacks. Also every stop has breakfast included, so that's a nice start to our days. That aspect went very smoothly and would definitely consider using them again. There was some trepidation on whether we'd actually be able to handle the hiking, but we did fine, really only one day that we felt was too long, though we did also deviate from the planned path a fair amount and skipped the hike two of the days - still overall we hiked a total of 77.4 miles over 10 days, so not too shabby.
Our German is pretty rudimentary, but language did not cause any great problems. English was common in the more touristy areas and while it was not in the more remote areas our little bit of German was enough to let us muddle through. Also I have to say using Google Lens to do translations is a game changer for reading menus and signs.
I put together a map of where we visited at https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1ia75nLjsx82fnKla2IWIDN3qcRUsodA&usp=sharing
and you can see our photos at https://photos.app.goo.gl/vcyydaA5G8kRTsCR8
Day 1
We start off with an overnight flight on SAS to Copenhagen, transferring to short Luxair flight to Luxembourg. Flights are uneventful which is always nice. From the airport a bus directly to Trier. It's evening by the time we get there so head directly to our hotel, which is tiny but very close to the city center. We do a little exploration and find some döner for our first meal and there is a wine stand in the central square so we get our first Riesling as well. Yum.
Day 2
This is our day to enjoy Trier before we begin hiking. Trier is an old Roman city and there is a bunch of cool Roman stuff to see. Right near our hotel is the old city gate and past that there is the medieval era town square. We walk down to the river to see a Roman era bridge that is still being used for vehicular traffic. From there to an archeological museum which is also near Roman bath ruins. The museum has lots of cool stuff, I think the highlight there is the mosaics which are just incredible. Poke our noses in a few medieval churches. Have lunch at a Syrian restaurant. Sam forgot her heel cups, so we stop in a pharmacy that's been there since 1241 to get some, like you do. Return to the city center for more wine - the stand rotates through local wineries allowing them to do tastings in the city without needing a permanent store. Not surprisingly it is rather popular. For dinner we find a bar where we can get some wurst and we also get some Viez which is the local cider and quite tasty.
Day 3
Time to start hiking! It's a fine foggy day to get us going, we cross the river and quickly start climbing the bluffs on the other side. I'm sure there are usually some fantastic views overlooking Trier, but we just get nothingness - it feels very Pacific Northwest hiking through foggy forests. We descend into a tiny town called Biewer and rather than climb back up the bluffs for no view we decide to follow city streets to the next little town. We were hoping for a restaurant somewhere in here, which is not to be found, but we do pass an Aldi and grab snacks there. The next town is Ehrang where we do at least find a bar so take a little refreshment break. By then the fog has cleared a bit and so we do go back up after Ehrang and get some lovely views of the river valley. Our first day of hiking is also our longest and the last couple of miles we are seriously dragging, the end of the hike crosses a few fields and has to cross the town of Schweich before getting to our next motel. We crawl across the street to another döner place for dinner and then collapse. This was the only day that felt was longer than we were really comfortable with, but still we did it and were able to hike the next day without any troubles.
Day 4
The best weather day of the trip, absolutely gorgeous out, so a hiking we will go. Heading out from Schweich the trail goes up into the bluffs right away and pretty much the whole day we're going through vineyards along super steep slopes and lovely views of the river valley. I think some of our best landscape pictures are from this day. Our next stop a little town called Mehring, the descent into town is very steep along some harrowing stairways, glad it is not raining this day! Have a delicious dinner at our hotel of schnitzel and wine. This and the next few towns it's clear that wine dominates everything here, there are grape vines right in town, we had one over our heads at dinner, and while most of them aren't open because it's harvest season, it seems like every other house in town is a winery.
Day 5
The weather forecast calls for rain all day, so we decide to skip the hiking and drink wine instead. We have our first tasting at a winery right around the corner from the hotel - all very tasty. We do not find a 2nd winery open, but do find a bar happy to let us have more wine on a gray and rainy day. A yummy lunch involves more schnitzel. Then we hop a bus to get to the next town we were supposed to hike to, Leiwen. There because we're staying at a winery we get yet another wine tasting because we haven't had enough, there's is probably the nicest yet that we've had. Dinner is a lovely restaurant that looks like a medieval hall.
Day 6
It's still a little drizzly, but we decide to risk it and resume hiking. It ends up being a pretty nice day, drizzles on and off but stays very light and does let up as the day goes on and we get some more fantastic views. Through a small town, again hoping for a restaurant, but nothing is open, we're better prepared than on the first day though and have decent picnic. We deviate from our given trail to check out sarcophagus of a Roman wine merchant in the middle of a vineyard, crazy to think folks were basically doing the same thing here 1,500 years ago. We continue on to our next town of Neumagen, which like Trier dates back to Roman times and there are some ruins here. We have a nice dinner at our hotel - this is also where the cool wine map in the pictures is from.
Day 7
Today has a long difficult hike planned, instead of the doing the whole thing we cut out the first big climb and follow the bicycle path along the Moselle instead, still long, but easier. On our way out of Neumagen we pass what claims to be the smallest wine bar in Germany (sadly not open) and the reconstructed Roman era wine ship, which was very cool. Our altered plans take us through the town of Piesport which would've been skipped, giving us a chance to do a grocery and lunch stop there. After Piesport we rejoin the planned trail climbing back up to the bluffs overlooking the river and hiking through more vineyards. It's still drizzly, but not too bad. Stop at a Roman spring for picnic snacks. We continue on into the town of Monzel, this was the 2nd longest hiking day after the first one and we are tired but not completely trashed. Also our accommodations keep getting nicer as we go along, here we get a full apartment and glass of Riesling to greet us. Dinner is just down the road, we pre-booked here because there's only one restaurant in town so wanted to be sure to get in.
Day 8
Another day of heavier rain so we again decide to forego the hiking in favor of wine. We take the bus to the little town of Lieser, which would've been skipped with the planned hike. There we gawk at the Lieser castle, which is also a winery, but not open. We take a nice long break at a winery that is open and have some tasty wines and then lunch almost next door (more schnitzel). From there back on the bus to our final city of Bernkastel-Kues and largest city since Trier. Bernkastel is the older more touristy side of the river. Our hotel is on the Kues side - it's still raining quite a bit when we get in so we stick to the hotel restaurant for dinner which is quite good.
Day 9
A day of exploring Bernkastel-Kues, we go wandering through the older part of town despite it still being drizzly, stop in a cafe for coffee and sweets. We make the mandatory stop at Vinothek - a massive wine celler that will let you try as much as you want for a flat fee, we make it through 26 and most of the wine we brought home is from here. A very tasty lunch of goulash in the old train station. After that a last grocery stop for souvenirs and some more wandering. We actually have a little trouble finding a dinner spot, getting turned away from one and a 2nd being cash only. Make a stop at a tiny bar for drinks before ending up at another döner spot for our last dinner. Also to mention, Bernkastel does have a castle, but we did not hike up to it, just viewed from afar, it has apparently been turned into a high end restaurant.
Day 10
Just the long trip home. Bernkastel does not have a train station, so we taxi to the nearest one in Wittlich and then train back to Luxembourg. There is a free tram from the train station to the airport, get to see at least a little of the city from the tram. Then a thankfully uneventful flight home, even catch a glimpse of Greenland from the plane.
Doing a hiking trip was a first for both of us, we went through a company called Macs Adventure that booked our lodgings and handled the luggage transfers so we could hike with just daypacks. Also every stop has breakfast included, so that's a nice start to our days. That aspect went very smoothly and would definitely consider using them again. There was some trepidation on whether we'd actually be able to handle the hiking, but we did fine, really only one day that we felt was too long, though we did also deviate from the planned path a fair amount and skipped the hike two of the days - still overall we hiked a total of 77.4 miles over 10 days, so not too shabby.
Our German is pretty rudimentary, but language did not cause any great problems. English was common in the more touristy areas and while it was not in the more remote areas our little bit of German was enough to let us muddle through. Also I have to say using Google Lens to do translations is a game changer for reading menus and signs.
I put together a map of where we visited at https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1ia75nLjsx82fnKla2IWIDN3qcRUsodA&usp=sharing
and you can see our photos at https://photos.app.goo.gl/vcyydaA5G8kRTsCR8
Day 1
We start off with an overnight flight on SAS to Copenhagen, transferring to short Luxair flight to Luxembourg. Flights are uneventful which is always nice. From the airport a bus directly to Trier. It's evening by the time we get there so head directly to our hotel, which is tiny but very close to the city center. We do a little exploration and find some döner for our first meal and there is a wine stand in the central square so we get our first Riesling as well. Yum.
Day 2
This is our day to enjoy Trier before we begin hiking. Trier is an old Roman city and there is a bunch of cool Roman stuff to see. Right near our hotel is the old city gate and past that there is the medieval era town square. We walk down to the river to see a Roman era bridge that is still being used for vehicular traffic. From there to an archeological museum which is also near Roman bath ruins. The museum has lots of cool stuff, I think the highlight there is the mosaics which are just incredible. Poke our noses in a few medieval churches. Have lunch at a Syrian restaurant. Sam forgot her heel cups, so we stop in a pharmacy that's been there since 1241 to get some, like you do. Return to the city center for more wine - the stand rotates through local wineries allowing them to do tastings in the city without needing a permanent store. Not surprisingly it is rather popular. For dinner we find a bar where we can get some wurst and we also get some Viez which is the local cider and quite tasty.
Day 3
Time to start hiking! It's a fine foggy day to get us going, we cross the river and quickly start climbing the bluffs on the other side. I'm sure there are usually some fantastic views overlooking Trier, but we just get nothingness - it feels very Pacific Northwest hiking through foggy forests. We descend into a tiny town called Biewer and rather than climb back up the bluffs for no view we decide to follow city streets to the next little town. We were hoping for a restaurant somewhere in here, which is not to be found, but we do pass an Aldi and grab snacks there. The next town is Ehrang where we do at least find a bar so take a little refreshment break. By then the fog has cleared a bit and so we do go back up after Ehrang and get some lovely views of the river valley. Our first day of hiking is also our longest and the last couple of miles we are seriously dragging, the end of the hike crosses a few fields and has to cross the town of Schweich before getting to our next motel. We crawl across the street to another döner place for dinner and then collapse. This was the only day that felt was longer than we were really comfortable with, but still we did it and were able to hike the next day without any troubles.
Day 4
The best weather day of the trip, absolutely gorgeous out, so a hiking we will go. Heading out from Schweich the trail goes up into the bluffs right away and pretty much the whole day we're going through vineyards along super steep slopes and lovely views of the river valley. I think some of our best landscape pictures are from this day. Our next stop a little town called Mehring, the descent into town is very steep along some harrowing stairways, glad it is not raining this day! Have a delicious dinner at our hotel of schnitzel and wine. This and the next few towns it's clear that wine dominates everything here, there are grape vines right in town, we had one over our heads at dinner, and while most of them aren't open because it's harvest season, it seems like every other house in town is a winery.
Day 5
The weather forecast calls for rain all day, so we decide to skip the hiking and drink wine instead. We have our first tasting at a winery right around the corner from the hotel - all very tasty. We do not find a 2nd winery open, but do find a bar happy to let us have more wine on a gray and rainy day. A yummy lunch involves more schnitzel. Then we hop a bus to get to the next town we were supposed to hike to, Leiwen. There because we're staying at a winery we get yet another wine tasting because we haven't had enough, there's is probably the nicest yet that we've had. Dinner is a lovely restaurant that looks like a medieval hall.
Day 6
It's still a little drizzly, but we decide to risk it and resume hiking. It ends up being a pretty nice day, drizzles on and off but stays very light and does let up as the day goes on and we get some more fantastic views. Through a small town, again hoping for a restaurant, but nothing is open, we're better prepared than on the first day though and have decent picnic. We deviate from our given trail to check out sarcophagus of a Roman wine merchant in the middle of a vineyard, crazy to think folks were basically doing the same thing here 1,500 years ago. We continue on to our next town of Neumagen, which like Trier dates back to Roman times and there are some ruins here. We have a nice dinner at our hotel - this is also where the cool wine map in the pictures is from.
Day 7
Today has a long difficult hike planned, instead of the doing the whole thing we cut out the first big climb and follow the bicycle path along the Moselle instead, still long, but easier. On our way out of Neumagen we pass what claims to be the smallest wine bar in Germany (sadly not open) and the reconstructed Roman era wine ship, which was very cool. Our altered plans take us through the town of Piesport which would've been skipped, giving us a chance to do a grocery and lunch stop there. After Piesport we rejoin the planned trail climbing back up to the bluffs overlooking the river and hiking through more vineyards. It's still drizzly, but not too bad. Stop at a Roman spring for picnic snacks. We continue on into the town of Monzel, this was the 2nd longest hiking day after the first one and we are tired but not completely trashed. Also our accommodations keep getting nicer as we go along, here we get a full apartment and glass of Riesling to greet us. Dinner is just down the road, we pre-booked here because there's only one restaurant in town so wanted to be sure to get in.
Day 8
Another day of heavier rain so we again decide to forego the hiking in favor of wine. We take the bus to the little town of Lieser, which would've been skipped with the planned hike. There we gawk at the Lieser castle, which is also a winery, but not open. We take a nice long break at a winery that is open and have some tasty wines and then lunch almost next door (more schnitzel). From there back on the bus to our final city of Bernkastel-Kues and largest city since Trier. Bernkastel is the older more touristy side of the river. Our hotel is on the Kues side - it's still raining quite a bit when we get in so we stick to the hotel restaurant for dinner which is quite good.
Day 9
A day of exploring Bernkastel-Kues, we go wandering through the older part of town despite it still being drizzly, stop in a cafe for coffee and sweets. We make the mandatory stop at Vinothek - a massive wine celler that will let you try as much as you want for a flat fee, we make it through 26 and most of the wine we brought home is from here. A very tasty lunch of goulash in the old train station. After that a last grocery stop for souvenirs and some more wandering. We actually have a little trouble finding a dinner spot, getting turned away from one and a 2nd being cash only. Make a stop at a tiny bar for drinks before ending up at another döner spot for our last dinner. Also to mention, Bernkastel does have a castle, but we did not hike up to it, just viewed from afar, it has apparently been turned into a high end restaurant.
Day 10
Just the long trip home. Bernkastel does not have a train station, so we taxi to the nearest one in Wittlich and then train back to Luxembourg. There is a free tram from the train station to the airport, get to see at least a little of the city from the tram. Then a thankfully uneventful flight home, even catch a glimpse of Greenland from the plane.