Mosel Valley Road Trip: Koblenz to Trier (3 Days)

The Mosel does not go anywhere in a hurry and neither should you. It is 178 kilometres from Koblenz to Trier the way this trip drives it, detours included, but the river loops back on itself so often that the road spends the whole day changing its mind — and the slopes above it are some of the steepest planted vineyards in Europe.

Day 1 — Koblenz to Cochem, by way of Burg Eltz (65 km)

Start where the Mosel meets the Rhine and drive upstream on the B416. Turn off at Moselkern for Burg Eltz, the castle on every poster of Germany — owned by the same family for more than 800 years and never destroyed.

You cannot drive to it. From the castle car park it is a 1.3 km walk through the forest, or a shuttle bus for about €2 each way. The interior can only be toured from April to early November; outside those months the approach and the outside are still yours, and the woods are emptier.

Sleep in Cochem, under its Reichsburg on the crag above the roofs.

Day 2 — The big loops to Bernkastel-Kues (64 km)

The best driving day. Below Bremm the river doubles back almost on itself under the Calmont, whose terraces run at an angle that looks like a mistake until you see people working them.

Stop in Traben-Trarbach, a wine town rebuilt in art nouveau after a fire, which makes it the odd one out on a river of half-timber. Finish in Bernkastel-Kues, whose market square is the picture everyone takes — including the Spitzhäuschen, a 1416 house so narrow it looks like it is being squeezed by its neighbours.

Day 3 — Down to Roman Trier (45 km)

The last stretch runs through the Middle Mosel and its Riesling villages — Piesport, Trittenheim, Neumagen — before the valley opens out.

Trier is the oldest city in Germany and it shows: the Porta Nigra, the imperial baths and the basilica are Roman, standing, and on the UNESCO list. Drop the car and walk; everything is inside a twenty-minute circle.

The sticker you need at both ends

Germany charges no toll or vignette for cars — the proposed Pkw-Maut was struck down by the European Court of Justice in 2019 and never came back. The truck toll does not apply to you.

But both ends of this drive sit inside a low-emission zone (Umweltzone). Koblenz and Trier each require a green Umweltplakette on the windscreen, 24 hours a day, with no exemption for driving straight through. The sticker costs about €5–10; the fine for going in without one is €100 and a penalty point.

German rental cars normally carry it already — check the windscreen before you leave the desk. If you are bringing your own car from abroad, buy one before you travel.

What it costs

Use the cost calculator to price fuel and nights for your exact dates. There are no road charges on this route, so the fixed costs are parking, the Burg Eltz shuttle if you take it, and the tastings you will not be able to resist in Bernkastel.