Tips on places of interest

There’s so much to see in around the Moselle area and from Cochem you can reach and get to know many places without a problem. Whether you go by train or with your own car, Cochem is the ideal place to start from!

Around Cochem there are 34 castles and ruined castles. We recommend of course the imperial castle in Cochem and the world famous Eltz castle. But naturally Thurant castle in Alken, the Marienburg castle in Alf/Bullay and the castle Metternich in Beilstein are especially worth mentioning.

Near Cochem, lets say 50 km away as the crow flies, there are some of the most famous mineral water sources in German;. eg.: the Apollinarisbrunnen,
Gerolsteiner Sprudel, Rhenser, Selters, Tönnissteiner, Brohler, Arienheller,
Dauner Sprudel and many, many more. And where there’s good water there’s good beer and here in the Saarpfalz aerea too of course. Even though Cochem 
lies at the centre of a famous wine region.  These are really places of interest of a special kind and what sort of countryside is it whose earth brings forth such goodness.

In Cochem you should tour the town either by yourself or with a tour guide. Whatever you do, don’t miss the  imperial castle in Cochem, the Capucin cloister and the medieval old town and city walls.

In Idar-Oberstein don’t miss the church in the rocks and the precious stone museum with the diamond market, and from here it’s not far to Simmern with its “Schinderhannes” tower. The famous robber gang leader was caught here.

Waiting for you in Koblenz is the castle, the “German corner” and the fortress Ehrenbreitstein, which boasts a regional museum.

Traben-Trabach is, along with it’s wine, known for it’s art nouveau buildings designed by well known architects which combine well with Bernkastel-Kues and its wonderful medieval market place.

The state spa of Bad-Bertrich offers the only Glauber’s salt source in Germany and a roman kettle. From here it’s not far to the Vulkaneifel with its splendid volcanic lakes.

The abbey Maria Laach on the Laacher lake , the biggest of all volcanic lakes, housed not only the first Chancellor of Germany, Konrad Adenauer, during the war, but today it is also without a doubt a well-recommended place to visit. 
On the way back is the little Eifel town of Mayen with the Genoveva castle en route. But you should certainly take a short break in the Eifel village of
Monreal  to sample a piece of typical Eifel cake!

Trier– Germany’s oldest town is easy to reach by train in 45 minutes. Here you can admire the Porta Nigra, the amphitheatre and the basilica ( the former palace of the Roman Emperor ) The people of Trier are already looking forward to your visit and will proffer you with a Viez (apple wine) on the market place. The many museums are also worth a visit.

Luxemburg- the European City is, with its many changing faces, definitely 
worth a visit and maybe you’ll meet the Count of Luxembourg or another 
famous European figure there.
If you want to go further abroad, that’s no problem as Metz (France) and its famous cathedral also lie on the Moselle and it’s possible to reach it by car or 
train easily as a day excursion.

Now let’s go in the other direction: the Rhine is waiting for us along with the famous Loreley, St. Goar, Boppard, Linz, Andernach, Rüdesheim and Assmannshausen. Well-known castles and the federal city of Bonn. Anyone who has never seen  Cologne Cathedral should snap up the opportunity to do so too. The train and motorway connections are excellent. And actually from nature’s point of view Cologne with its Roman-Germanic museum and chocolate museum is our state capital and not Rhine-Hessen Mainz of the artificial federal state of Rheinland-Pfalz. You notice that from many things even today, however Mainz and neighbouring Wiesbaden are still worth a visit, Although the people of Mainz argue with the people of Trier over which of the two towns is the oldest in Germany, us “Moselaners” know better! 

We had almost forgotten the Nürburgring (the green hell). That’s not quite true 
as you will find the famous race track and museum amongst our many links. We have, of course, missed out many interesting places of interest, because if you thought that was all there is to see here then you are wrong! There are more 
places to discover once you have arrived!!

However there is another famous race track in the Eifel, or better said in the Ardennes as the Eifel is called in Belgium. Spa/Franchorchamps. So, formula one fans note carefully, from Cochem to Spa you need just 1 ½ hrs ( and our secret
tip – the tickets are cheaper there too!) And going back to mineral water, the well-known water comes from there too.

We must just mention the Saarland, with the Saarpfalz, the Hochwald forest, 
the wonderful Saar valley and the state capital Saarbrücken, because if you 
think that there’s just coal mines and iron works there, then you’ve been fooled. Much French- Lorraine flair doesn’t make the Saarlanders in the least bit French, they are the only Germans who are german by choice. But today that doesn’t really matter anymore as we are all proud Europeans and you will notice that particularly well in Cochem, if you listen to the international mix of language. I think Cochem is a European holiday town.

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