Better head quarter town on the Mosel instead of Koblentz?

I have figured out to enter some search words, like Cochem, and Koblenz and Mosel, to learn the details of the area. There is a lot of information there already.

Ruth; Cochem is a very nice place to stay. Boat/bus trips are easily arranged to towns, or a castle [Burg Eltz] along the Mosel. Two days for sure and if you wanted to do a day trip to Trier, stay three days. Dick

Agree that Cochem would provide the best accommodations, restaurants, nightlife, etc., with train and boat access.

We loved Beilstein but it isn't serviced by the train and is much smaller than Cochem.

We also stayed in Bernkastel-Kues which is one of the prettiest towns on the river IMO, but again, I don't think it is serviced by the train.

Stay in Cochem and see as much as you can of the small towns along the river as well as Trier which has some great Roman ruins.

Thank you all. We depart Charlotte for Frankfurt on 12-8-2009. I am getting excited.

Cochem is nice, but if you have a car there will be opportunities to stay most anywhere, particularly that time of year. I would just meander until I found something I liked. To back track a bit, I would really think about renting a car, you'll miss quite a lot not having one + it will be difficult to get to many places, not sure about getting to Burg Eltz. Would likely be cheaper as well.

"I would really think about renting a car, you'll miss quite a lot not having one + it will be difficult to get to many places, not sure about getting to Burg Eltz. Would likely be cheaper as well."

Burg Eltz is the one destination that might necessitate a car for two "mature ladies" - depending on how "mature" and how good your walking skills are, you may or may not want to make the one-hour walk to Burg Eltz from the Moselkern station:

http://www.bensbauernhof.com/burgeltzfrommoselkern.html

Otherwise, I completely disagree with the suggestion that you should get a car to see the Mosel. Train service is frequent and dependable from Cochem and hits the major destinations along the Mosel. Here are the main line stops with the RB train:

Koblenz Hbf
Koblenz-Moselweiß
Koblenz-Güls
Winningen
Kobern-Gondorf
Lehmen
Kattenes
Löf
Hatzenport
Moselkern
Müden
Treis-Karden
Pommern
Klotten
Cochem
Ediger-Eller
Neef
Bullay
Bengel
Ürzig
Wittlich Hbf
Salmtal
Sehlem
Hetzerath
Föhren
Schweich
Quint
Ehrang Ort
Ehrang
Pfalzel
Trier

An offshoot line from Bullay takes you to:

Reil
Kövenig
Traben-Trarbach

Bernkastel-Kues is reachable via a short bus ride from the Wittlich station; buses are timed to coincide with train arrivals.

A network of buses runs in and out of Cochem to other destinations you might have in mind (Beilstein, Zell, Bad Bertrich (spa town) come to mind.

You can plan train and bus travel in the area using this page:

http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en

Cars cheaper than trains??? The area is fairly compact and train/bus prices reasonable. There are group daypasses (Rheinland-Pfalz ticket) that you buy from ticket machines and cover trains and buses in the area that cost 27 Euros/day; one ticket can be used by up to 5 people traveling together to see the entire Rhine/Mosel region. This is nothing compared to the costs of car rental and gasoline.

And of course, if you're really "mature", you might not be all that comfortable driving at home, much less in new territory and with signs in a different language.

Boats are good too. Beilstein is a leisurely 1-hour boat ride from Cochem through lovely scenery.

Use the excellent public transit system in place there. You'll have a ball.