The river Moselle infos and river cruising experiences

[notamermaid]

Now that looks certainly inviting! I see you spotted and captured the "Stadt Bonn" on camera. I was not sure so I looked it up, she sails for Personenschiffahrt Gebrüder Kolb, that is the big excursion boat company on the Moselle. Here are the ships: https://www.moselrundfahrten.de/trier/unsere-schiffe

You can switch to English language to read about the trips they offer.

 

If one fancies DIY a trip on the Moselle as an extension to a river cruise - I mean throwing in an excursion boat rip and exploring a stretch of the Moselle - is a nice idea especially if your river cruise is relatively short like the ones offered from Frankfurt to Basel (which would a be pre-cruise Moselle trip in that case) or something ending in Cologne. Trains are so easy to use in the area, which adds to the appeal.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[ural guy]

100% agree on trains being easy and a great resource.  And that the region is wonderful to travel through, boat/bike/train/rental car, whatever.

 

What  folks may not realize is that the regional train will stop at seemingly all the villages along the way.  So you can head out on bikes or a hike, and if you're feeling energetic, go an extra 10 kms or so, and grab the train at a further station.

 

You may stop for lunch, and find out about a place just a little further that sounds worth exploring.  You have the flexibility to go check it out.  On the Inn, heading upstream from Passau, the train was running every hour.  

[gnome12]

37 minutes ago, ural guy said:

100% agree on trains being easy and a great resource.  And that the region is wonderful to travel through, boat/bike/train/rental car, whatever.

 

What  folks may not realize is that the regional train will stop at seemingly all the villages along the way.  So you can head out on bikes or a hike, and if you're feeling energetic, go an extra 10 kms or so, and grab the train at a further station.

 

You may stop for lunch, and find out about a place just a little further that sounds worth exploring.  You have the flexibility to go check it out.  On the Inn, heading upstream from Passau, the train was running every hour.  

Be careful on the Moselle. Because the river is so windy, and the trains do NOT completely follow the river, there are places where you can't get a train.

[notamermaid]

11 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

Be careful on the Moselle. Because the river is so windy, and the trains do NOT completely follow the river, there are places where you can't get a train.

That is indeed the case. There are bus lines along the river where the train line goes through the hills and there is a short stretch of a train side line that connects to a section of the river. This the layout of the main train line: https://www.moseltalbahn.de/freizeit/strecke-moseltalbahn

Between Cochem and Wittlich is Bullay from where trains head down to the Mosel and end in Traben-Trarbach, the line is the RB 85: https://www.moselwein-bahn.de/de/fahrplaene-strecke/fahrplaene

 

The main line is the 690. To give you an idea of the frequency of trains, both fast and slow, here is an old timetable: https://winningen.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Fahrplan-DB-Trier-Koblenz.pdf

 

notamermaid

 

[ural guy]

Thanks for clarification.  I found frequent stops on the Inn heading upstream from Passau, as stated, also upstream on Rhine from Koblenz, when I biked to Boppard, I think it was.  (I remember what I had for lunch in both places though).  Other places I've just done round trips.

[notamermaid]

As you mention the Rhine - interestingly on the Main you have also the case that the train lines go along the river and not, depending on section. And there is also a difference between the fast track and the slower trains. But details I would put in the Main thread should this topic come about.

 

The Rhine Gorge is great for transport hopping. You can get a train, cross over on a ferry, take a bike with you, take an excursion boat. The only thing you cannot do is cross the river frequently in a car or coach - there is no bridge and you need to check which is the car ferry and which is only for foot passengers and bikes. There is also no railway bridge, the crossover between the banks happens near Koblenz. The Moselle works slightly differently, it has more bridges but only one railway line that connects Koblenz with Trier, while the Rhine Gorge is served by two distinct lines, one on the left bank (fast and slow trains) and one on the right (regional trains).

 

As we are on the subject of trains, everyone: if you book a river cruise from Trier or a Luxembourg port but you start the pre-cruise in Paris you can consider not taking the coach from Paris to your ship but take a train. A couple of companies also offer train ride instead of coach within their package. Or indeed fly straight into Luxembourg if you prefer that.

 

notamermaid

 

[ganski]

We took the Goethe from Koblenz to Rudesheim, it departed at 9 AM , it made many stops along the Rhine picking up and dropping off travelers. It was very relaxing and enjoyable, an excellent way to experience the castle section of the Rhine for a fraction of the cost. The beer was outstanding and reasonably priced, we also passed quite a few Viking longships along the way 

[ural guy]

On 12/29/2022 at 8:06 AM, notamermaid said:

 

 

The Rhine Gorge is great for transport hopping. You can get a train, cross over on a ferry, take a bike with you, take an excursion boat. The only thing you cannot do is cross the river frequently in a car or coach - there is no bridge and you need to check which is the car ferry and which is only for foot passengers and bikes. There is also no railway bridge, the crossover between the banks happens near Koblenz. The Moselle works slightly differently, it has more bridges but only one railway line that connects Koblenz with Trier, while the Rhine Gorge is served by two distinct lines, one on the left bank (fast and slow trains) and one on the right (regional trains).

 

As we are on the subject of trains, everyone: if you book a river cruise from Trier or a Luxembourg port but you start the pre-cruise in Paris you can consider not taking the coach from Paris to your ship but take a train. A couple of companies also offer train ride instead of coach within their package. Or indeed fly straight into Luxembourg if you prefer that.

 

notamermaid

 

Here is a link showing the ferries that notamermaid references.  You could spend time post cruise for a nice week long stay, for what some companies want for a 3 night extension.  Just stretching the comfort zone a bit.  The local tourism industry has made it easy and not that intimidating.

 

http://www.loreley-info.com/eng/rhein-rhine/timetables/ferry-ferries.php

[notamermaid]

And here are the ferries on the Moselle, Wikipedia is quite good with this one (for the reason of being comprehensive it also lists the ones no longer running): https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Moselfähren

 

There are many road bridges which you can easily identify here as they have the road number and emblem listed: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Moselbrücken

The Balduin bridge is the one at Koblenz bringing you into the old town from Lützel, it has no road number in the list which may be due to the fact that it is within the city boundaries not officially serving a wider area. Not sure though. This is the bridge: https://www.rheinsteig.de/en/a-balduinbruecke

 

From Balduin Bridge you can see Ehrenbreitstein Fortress of course and William Turner, the British painter, chose this view for a painting. which reminds me, he also painted along the Moselle a bit: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-on-the-mosel-d36101

 

Anyway, lots of ways and opportunities to cross the river.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Last autumn I was delight to read of a Moselle-only cruise by Viva Cruises and posted about the company's itineraries. So naturally I ask myself "what are they planning for this year"? Yes, the Moselle-only cruise Koblenz return trip is back and they also offer river cruises that combine the Moselle with the Rhine. But not only that, they also have the four rivers offer that used to be only possibly on the international market with Nicko Cruises in their portfolio (Stuttgart to Saarbrücken). Here are the Moselle cruises: https://www.viva-*****/en/cruiselisting?destinations=Mosel%2CMoselle&departures=all&dates=all&ships=all&adults=2

 

By the way, the rivers have risen and the Moselle is high but at Trier is levelling off. It did not get to flood mark I. If you are new to the topic on the Moselle: the Moselle can flood considerably but low water does not happen in any way (99 percent) that could affect river cruising as the whole navigable Moselle is controlled by locks, for our purposes here I mean from Metz to Koblenz.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

The Moselle at Trier has reached flood mark III, that is 695cm. No ships are allowed to sail on the Moselle now. It is expected to last into Wednesday, meaning the river will reach its peak during tomorrow and then fall below the flood mark III again. It is mild flooding that is expected to happen every two years.

 

This is what the graph at Trier gauge looks like right now:

 

The weather pattern is interesting right now, much rain has fallen to the West of the Rhine but not quite as much in the valley and in the East so that the Moselle is carrying a considerable amount of water while the Rhine has not risen to official flooding level (yet). Therefore we see high levels upstream from Koblenz but very high levels downstream from Koblenz where the Moselle of course drains into the Rhine. Cologne went to flood mark I at lunchtime, an alert status that necessitates first measures, and may well reach proper flooding status when the Moselle's volume of water reaches the city.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The Moselle water level at Trier is back down to 622cm, all going as expected. Situation has eased. Snow has come to the hills! South of the Moselle the Hunsrück hills have seen quite a bit of snowfall so the winter resorts - yes we have them - are ready for customers. It is close to zero Celsius in the valley, the hills being at zero or a little below.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

We have talked a bit about the Moselle's large tributary, the Saar. Few ships go up that river from Konz, or indeed start in one of the ports on the Saar. Amadeus River Cruises offers a cruise in 2023 (and 2024) that sails the Rhine, Moselle and Saar. The unusual inclusion of Grevenmacher as a stop, mostly to get close to Luxembourg city, adds to the appeal of this itinerary I find. Nice to be able to read so many details (I think it is a leaflet designed for use in/by travel agents for their customers): https://www.amadeus-rivercruises.com/fileadmin/media/06_DOCUMENTS_AFFILIATES/ARC_USA/01_Travel_Agent_Section/NEW_Individual_Program_Itineraries_2023/Saar_Moselle_Fairytales_CGN_CGN_USD_2023_1.pdf

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Luxembourg you can smell the money there, when we were there the strangest thing I was surprised at was sat outside the Louis Vuitton a beggar not exactly Vuitton style. Given the numbers of police around I’m surprised they weren’t moved on.

[notamermaid]

I have read interesting news in a local paper. As I do not want to go past the "give me your data, then you can read" wall, here is the info I was able to gather without doing that. Traben-Trarbach in the Middle Moselle section is getting a landing stage for 135m ships. Viking apparently had updated a big one not so long ago, but now a small landing stage has got a new owner, so that one will either be renovated or scrapped and replaced by a new one. Not sure if it is Viking that bought this one. The town has done a major tourism marketing push in the last few years and is also hoping to profit more from river cruise tourism. Perhaps I can gather a bit more info as the year progresses. Meanwhile, let us have a look at the town. Under the radar? Not really with German folk and several river cruise itineraries stopping there this year. As an example, on one online portal the companies are Phoenix Reisen, Plantours Reisen, SE-Tours, Viva Cruises and 1AVista Reisen, sailing 15 routes that stop at Traben-Trarbach on 52 itineraries.

 

In 2021, TUI introduced a Moselle itinerary that also stops at Traben-Trarbach. It must be popular as they are still offering it this year: https://www.tui.co.uk/river-cruises/moselle-cruises/

 

It is quite an interesting place, a former wine trade hub with exquisite Art Nouveau architecture showing the prosperity the town enjoyed at the beginning of the 20th century. Not sure why they call it Art Deco, as that is normally considered the style that followed: https://www.traben-trarbach.de/en/art-deco.html

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Traben-Trarbach also has a castle, the ruin called Grevenburg. There is not much left of it at all, but apparently the view is spectacular from up there. If you manage to get up there - not too difficult, it is accessible by a small road - you can eat something in the small restaurant called Burgschenke. The building is "built with love" to resemble something old. It is not old at all. After a long renovation the plateau with view is open to the public again and the Burgschenke has got a new proprietor. A Joseph Griffin from California! So should you happen to order a "Würstchen" up there on the hill, do not be surprised to hear a familiar accent...

 

News article behind paywall unfortunately.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

On other threads we have talked about strikes at locks. Seeing that the Moselle has many locks and in three different countries it is of course possible that such a situation can arise on this river, too. In March the locks at Koblenz and Trier were affected. As river cruise ships hardly ever sail into France the current situation should not affect any river cruises on the international market (but could affect one or two German ones, have not checked the sailing dates). I think the odd bike and barge cruise goes as far as Metz.

 

These interruptions on the other hand can be planned into the schedules years in advance: annual maintenance lock closures. On 23 March the regional authorities confirmed the lock closure to be from 12 to 21 June this year.

 

These are the locks on the Moselle written in blue:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Moselstaustufen#/media/Datei:Karte_der_Moselstaustufen.png

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Over in the Rhine thread I have recently posted about the excavations in Mainz that have unearthed great finds. Well, if you go about major building projects in Trier and start digging what happens? Yup, you find Roman stuff as well. And this latest find may rival Mainz. It is a Mithraeum with statue. This is the article from the regional broadcaster, with video: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/trier/kultstaette-bei-ausgrabungen-in-trier-entdeckt-100.html

It says it is the site of the old police station.

 

And info about this find I have luckily been able in English, meaning the author on this website picked up the story only a few days after it was revealed in Trier: https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/66995

 

The archaeologists are allowed to dig for 18 months! They only started in February so quite a bit of time still to find a few interesting items. Very difficult to top the statue, though.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

On 10/6/2022 at 10:17 AM, gnome12 said:

In Mülheim I saw was seem to be an old river cruise ship turned into a hotel/restaurant/excursion boat. 

That is post #428. In post #430 I explained that this is the ex-Prinses Juliana, now River Bär, a ship operated as a hotel ship by the local hotel. Unfortunately, the hotel had to give up the ship due to staff shortages. But it has ended well for the vessel. She has been given back her Prinses Juliana and is now operated as a hotel ship, i.e. stationary, that is still allowed to sail like an excursion boat by what looks to be a Dutch hotel chain: https://enjoyhotels.com/de/enjoy-deluxe-hotelschip-prinses-juliana

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

I can hardly believe I have not posted this before. So here goes, for the stats fans especially, but also for general interest. The "ultimate" info about the Moselle in facts and figures: http://moselkommission.org/index.php?id=180&L=5

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

I have just heard that a WWII bomb has been found in Trier. It is regarded as dangerous and everyone in a certain radius has already been evacuated, basically immediately. It is in Olewig, a suburb away from the river. As I write the Viking Alsvin is in Trier. There has been no mention of river traffic being affected, only airspace partially. A tense evening. The bomb will be detonated on the spot.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The bomb has been detonated. Everything went smoothly in the end and 5,400 people have been able to return home.

 

We know that sadly this is not the last bomb that will be found. Hopefully the next report about digging will be about the discovery of Roman artifacts again.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Cruisecritic is reporting from an Avalon Waterways cruise on the Moselle: https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles/can-you-stay-active-on-a-river-cruise-yes-live-from-an-avalon-waterways-active-discovery-european-river-cruise

 

The comments about Cochem have made me think...

 

The photo of a castle taken out of the cabin is of the Hotel Schloss Lieser, a prestigious place - you guessed it - connected to wine.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

About Cochem and the excursions on the Avalon Waterways cruise. I was in Cochem for the first time in my living memory (I cannot rule out having been chauffeured around in a pram on the many day trips we did) this early March and was a bit shocked when I finally saw the Historische Senfmühle. This "mill" is housed in a modern building with what appears to be the local fire brigade and a multi-storey car park(?). I did not go in so cannot comment about the place itself but it sure does not look like a romantic mill tucked away in a quiet valley. I found Cochem interesting but so early in the year not much was happening and as it was Sunday almost all shops were closed. The Reichsburg is impressive to look at and the small street up there looks challenging. Of course, you may taken in a coach.

 

So could there be interesting alternatives in Cochem? Again, I have not been to the places I am about to mention but they merit a closer look next time I am there. For a "classic tour"  would a walk with commentary on history and visit to the mill not be the standard? I mean the mill may well be nice. Or just wandering around. Or including this gemstones museum: http://edelstein-museum.info/en/

 

For the "discovery tour", could the bunker be a good choice? It is a bit of a walk up the hill but doable and the inside is a bit more of a challenge than just a town walk: https://www.bundesbank-bunker.de/en/

 

For the "active tour", could the wildlife park nearby be good? Not saying you need to walk there, as that would be a real hike. How about a walk to the "Rastbank zum Riesling"?

 

Uphill but doable and with a different view over Cochem perhaps.

 

But for me, as I have been to the area, the more active with some discovery thrown in would be a coach ride up the valley of the Endert brook (which I found picturesque in March) to the volcanic lake Ulmener Maar, see the old tunnel and have a walk around the lake. That is about 2km. Of course, on the way the coach could drop you off to do some more walking back into Cochem rather than be taken straight to the ship.

 

Just a few ideas thrown into this thread. If you have any comments or have other suggestions, or perhaps you have seen something unusual in Cochem, it would be great to hear it.

 

notamermaid

 

[DougK]

I was in Cochem last spring. I agree that the Historische Senfmühle is completely underwhelming. After locating it, and having to do a double-take that the modern building was really correct, I did go in, but saw only the gift shop. The mustard was quite tasty, and I bought some, but it's not a place I'd go to again. Reichsburg is pretty, and there are multiple paths to get there or back, some more suited for walking than the direct steep street. And the town itself is worth wandering through. But what I most enjoyed was going to Burg Eltz (about as far away from Cochem as Ulmener Maar, 15 miles or so). Not only is the castle itself lovely, but there is good hiking in the surrounding grounds and country.