The river Moselle infos and river cruising experiences

[gnome12]

Thanks @ural guy . They say the weather will improve tomorrow. I hope so. 

[gnome12]

First day of cycling today, from Cochem to Zell (38 km). The weather was better today (no rain) but quite cool and cloudy snd kind of dank. The sun came out about 4 pm for a short period, and tomorrow looks much better. Still cool in the morning, but some sun by the afternoon and full sun about 3. We cycle to Bernkastel-Kues, about 44 km. 
 

The barge is quite nice. Definitely not river cruise standard, but quite comfortable. The passengers are mostly Canadians, with the balance Americans. Well travelled. 

[gnome12]

Yesterday we rode the Maar-Mosel trail. They bused us up to Daun, and we rode (mostly) downhill back to Bernkastel-Kues. It was a vary interesting ride, with volcanic lakes, bridges, and 3 stretches of old train tunnels. Very different from riding along the Moselle. I used an e-bike for the first time because some of the climbs, though fairly short were fairly steep. I’m not sure I love the e-bike; even the regular bikes provided are fairly heavy snd the e-bikes even more so, but it got me up hills I might not have been able to do. 
 

Today, I’m being lazy, at least for the morning. I  skipped cycling and enjoying a peaceful sail along the Mosel. Lots of vineyards and some interesting towns. In Mülheim I saw was seem to be an old river cruise ship turned into a hotel/restaurant/excursion boat. 

[Canal archive]

Wow that’s long. Thanks for your insights gnome12.

[notamermaid]

According to the trusted folks on Binnenschifferforum this is the ex Prinses Juliana from 1976, a former Dutch river cruise ship. Renovated in 2017 and since then owned and operated as the Riverbär by the hotel owners there in town on the Moselle, she is a hotel, excursion boat and is very rarely used as a river cruise ship on the Rhine and Moselle (my knowledge from reading about the ship last year). Length 95m, width 11m.

 

notamermaid

 

[gnome12]

Just got passed by Tauck Grace coming out of the lock that we were about to enter. She looks really nice!

 

There have been lots of river cruise boats all along the river. 

Edited October 6, 2022 by gnome12

[gnome12]

@notamermaidWe are currently on the train from Trier to Metz, just crossed the border into France. Thank you for all your train information; all of the regional day passes have worked great. We are currently using the Saar-Lor-Lux one. 
 

As to the biking part of the trip which is now over, we mostly lucked out on the weather. No rain although the last few mornings have been cold and foggy. The biking has been generally fairly easy, but the bikes are heavy. I ended up using an ebike for 3 days, for me it made things much easier even though they are heavier than the regular bikes. 
 

Currently, the weather is beautiful; full sun, blue skies, and a fair bit of colour change. 
 

We are off to France now for 5 nights, then back to Frankfurt and home. 

[ural guy]

Gnome12-  Glad you enjoyed yourself.  Probably because I'm spoiled by motorcycles, I loved the E-bikes on our Vantage trip.  On a free day, I biked around 50 kms and revisted Trier; another time I skipped the Koblenz walking tour and headed 'upstream' for about 35kms.  On a regular bike I might make it 1/4 that far.  Enjoy being able to break free from all the other cruisers and have some alone time, and my wife can enjoy her break from me.

 

He are some pics from Bernkastel, mid November of 2018.

 

Vineyard above town.

 

Town square.

 

Door to wine cellar, changes color with sunset.

 

Along the river.

 

And Cochem castle.

 

To us, use to pretty harsh winter, November was a great time to cruise.  Even when it did get cold, warmer than home, and a lot fewer other tourists out.  We didn't see any other river ships the 4 days we were on the Moselle.

 

 

[gnome12]

@ural guyThe pictures look lovely. You had considerably more colour change than we did, but I noticed more colour as the week progressed. 
 

Still quite a number of river cruises on the Moselle last week. 
 

As to weather, we really lucked out, as you seem to have done. I’m not sure you can depend on it in November. 

[ural guy]

Gnome, correct, we were lucky with weather.  We stayed in Belgium until the end of November, with our two youngest 20 something daughters flying out to meet us in Brugge.  They lost 2 days due to snow that shut down NYC airports, two days of amazing hot chocolate they missed.  Ghent tried to make up for it.

 

We toured around Ypres and got the more typical grey, misty, chilled to the bone by end of day weather.  Made us appreciate the earlier stretch that much more.

 

I would love to do a tour by e-bike.  The bike trails along the rivers are in amazing shape, great signage.  Then it is easy to jump on a regional train if you hit rain or want to explore elsewhere.  The train cars have a bike symbol right on them.

 

Daughter is awaiting her next assignment, and Stuttgart is on the short list of options.  Fingers crossed, she spent her first seven months in Germany, has visited a few times, and after 4 years in Alaska, GE will be warmer by far!

 

[notamermaid]

On 10/9/2022 at 5:22 PM, ural guy said:

Daughter is awaiting her next assignment, and Stuttgart is on the short list of options.

Stuttgart sounds good. Interesting city with rich cultural life.

 

On 10/9/2022 at 5:22 PM, ural guy said:

I would love to do a tour by e-bike.  The bike trails along the rivers are in amazing shape, great signage.  Then it is easy to jump on a regional train if you hit rain or want to explore elsewhere.  The train cars have a bike symbol right on them.

The Moselle is a great region for that, indeed.

 

notamermaid

 

[ganski]

In September 2022 my wife and I did a bicycling trip along the Mosel , we landed in Frankfurt took the train to Koblenz and then to Mosel.We were able to walk from the train station to our hotel near the river. Our first day of riding we went 29 miles to Trittenheim , the next day 24 miles to Zeltinger, the next day 25 miles to Zell, the next day 31 miles to Treis-Karden and the last day 26 miles to Koblenz It was a wonderful trip , so much better than a river cruise, drank delicious wine and ate fabulous food too. Late September was perfect weather ,it never rained at all. I would highly recommend this bicycle trip , very flat, easy to navigate and bicycle trail most of the way . After our overnight stay in Koblenz we took the paddle wheel steamer Goethe to Rudesheim stayed there 2 nights and took the train back to Frankfurt. One of our favorite bicycle stops was Bielstein , a beautiful tiny town that the river ships go by and was very lovely 

[notamermaid]

@ganski Thank you for your impressions of your tour and the recommendations. You mention Beilstein, indeed a small gem on the Moselle. The town has been a favourite among German travellers for decades. We have talked about Beilstein here in a previous year but I am not sure if I have not posted the website: https://beilstein-mosel.de/en/

 

Some info on river cruise ships. Here is google maps:

This is Beilstein with it castle, notice the marker in red, it indicates the landing stage for Viking (river cruises). I have not read about any international ships stopping there recently. If you know more do drop us a line here. From the German entries it appears that only 110m ships are stopping in Beilstein.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[ural guy]

Ganski-  Sounds like a very nice time.  Guessing you rented bikes in Koblenz?

[ganski]

We started in Trier and picked up our bikes there at our first hotel close to the river and when we finished in Koblenz we left our bikes.This was a very easy to do bicycle trip. This past September we did a Bavarian Bicycle trip that was more extensive, longer and more difficult. We landed in Munich and took a train to Bernau which is close to Lake Chiemsee, we bicycled a big loop going to Berchtesgaden , Salzburg and back around the Lake. We experienced rainy and cold weather which made the biking difficult, this coming September 2023 we are doing a Bike and Barge trip on the Fluvious starting in Amsterdam , and finishing in Bruges 

 

[ganski]

[ural guy]

Great pictures, thanks.  Did you guys just pack super light, or have a luggage shuttle?  I'm just seeing one pannier and a small backpack on the one bike.

 

Two fears on this type of trip for me would be the weather (which didn't favor you on your Bavarian trip), and the bike seat being uncomfortable.  With a rental, it's roll of the dice.  My motorcycle seats have my butt conditioned to luxury!  

 

 

[notamermaid]

Thank you for the great photos.

 

On 12/25/2022 at 11:10 AM, ganski said:

this coming September 2023 we are doing a Bike and Barge trip on the Fluvious starting in Amsterdam , and finishing in Bruges 

The Fluvius sails some great and unusual itineraries, have fun. And do post about it if you feel like it, we do not read much about the small river cruise ships and barges.

 

notamermaid

 

[ganski]

We did pack light , 2 small bags each and luggage was left out 9 AM each day and taken to our next hotel. We have used Eurobike for our trips, yes weather can be a big issue , rain jacket , rain pants , shoe covers and waterproof gloves are a must. I wear bike shorts and never had a seat issue , I have also bought my own saddle to make sure I’m comfortable, most of the cycling is 20-30 miles a day I think my longed in Bavaria was 48 miles , I cycled the Erie Canal in July from Buffalo to Albany and that was 400 miles and I did 2 days of 65 miles 

[ganski]

These are some pictures of my Bavarian bicycle trip 

[ural guy]

Ganski-  Thanks again.  Bringing your own seat makes 100% sense.

 

Middle daughter went to SUNY Brockport, she loved walking along the canal.  

 

 

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, ganski said:

I have also bought my own saddle to make sure I’m comfortable

That is a good idea!

 

I looked up the German version of your trip next year, the Fluvius sails the itinerary as a charter by SE Tours, you are obviously going through a different operator: https://www.se-tours.de/de/reisen/rad-schiff/fluvius-amsterdam-bruegge

As we are in the Moselle thread I wanted to post this to also show that this company offers tours in English on the Olympia as a bike and barge tour. The Olympia has the plus that it is not as small as a barge. She is an older and renovated small river cruise ship. This trip is similar to what gnome12 did but longer in distance: https://www.se-tours.de/en/tours/bike-and-boat/olympia-koblenz-saarburg

 

This is one of the few itineraries that are not on the Rhine and Moselle on a river cruise ship, although in 2023 I believe the choices for the Moselle-intensive itineraries are bigger in number than they were in 2022.

 

notamermaid

 

[ural guy]

Here is the link I found for the Fluvius:

 

https://www.boatbiketours.com/boat-bike-tours/belgium/best-of-holland-and-belgium/

 

The only tour I've found that is 100% on the Moselle/Saar:

 

https://en.radreisen.at/germany/bike-and-boat/moselle-and-saar-by-bike-and-boat

 

I am really wanting to do this.  Looking back, I realize that some of my best memories of my 4 river cruises are when I took a ships bike and just went out and explored.

 

[ganski]

We are on the September 17 Best of Holland and Belgium Fluvius trip , we start in Amsterdam and depart around 1:00 PM 

[ganski]

When we bicycled the Mosel I observed many different river boats traveling on the river. I think the route from Trier to Koblenz is my favorite one to travel , we did a river cruise 17 years ago and then decided to take the same trip but bicycle it this time with no regrets. I would recommend this to anyone who wants a bicycling holiday experience, very flat , easy to navigate, great wine along the way, beautiful towns to stop at along the way too