Hi all,
My husband and I are traveling through Germany the end of August.

We are planning on a two night stay in the Mosel Valley. We will be driving from Andernach.
Can anyone advise us on towns, hotels, and must see places in this area? Should we stay both nights in one place as home base, and explore from there? Or each night in a different village?

We are in our mid 50's and have a flexible budget
Many thanks!

I'd recommend Cochem,a fairy-tale town with a fairy-tale castle (though an eersatz medieval castle) as a great base. Burg Eltz is a short drive away and is one of Germany's most awesome authentically ancient castles (so famous once pictured on the back of the old 500 Deutsche Mark note!)

Drive Cochem to Beilstein and that area for one of the most beautiful stretches of river. Check out cute towns like Traben-Trarbach and Zell - wineries dot the river.

Check Fodor's Guide to Germany or other guidebook for lots of more details but you can't go wrong.

You may even want to rent a bike and do a short or long bike ride in one of Europe's primo biking venues - bike paths hug the river the whole way.

Cochem: https://www.google.com/search?q=coch...hrome&ie=UTF-8

Cochem's a good suggestion for 2 nights. You may not want to leave. Bernkastel is a good car destination. I'd take the cruise to Beilstein and back.

Is spend both nights in Cochem.
It has its own castle above the vineyards to explore, and there are a multitude of pleasant daytrips to experience.
I second Burg Eltz, above nearby Moselkern, Traben-Trarbach, Winningem for wine tastings, and Trier for its Roman history.
More than enough to do over just two days!

Thank you! So helpful! I have the latest Fodor's Germany guidebook, so can look further. Great to know where to start!

Recommendations for hotels in Cochem? Guide book has Exploring and Where to E
at for this town, but no hotels?

Cochem Hotels: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotels-g...te-Hotels.html

For a short trip like this Cochem is a good plan.

Don't ignore Trier as an alternative. Roman bits are fine, Trier wine district (now with a Syrian wine princess this summer) is small but perfectly formed.

We stayed in Cochem last year for a few days. I wouldn't stay there again. We cycled part of the Mosel Radweg and found Beilstein very charming. Much smaller and thus far less touristy than Cochem. Some nice hotels there, too! (Haus Lipmann, for example).
No need to change hotels for just 2 nights.

"We stayed in Cochem last year for a few days. I wouldn't stay there again."

It's interesting that our impressions vary so much. An acquaintance of mine stayed there a month and barely left town, he liked it so much. It does attract lots of visitors.

But so does Beilstein. Beilstein is very small. Adorable - but more than a couple hours there?? I dunno.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...2-08_CN-01.jpg

I have stayed in Cochem many times with bike groups and nearly everyone loved it- I can see where Beilstein may appeal to some who like tiny towns and countryside surrounding it but most will be happier IMO in Cochem. But not all. And it depends on when you go to Cochem - very crowded in July and slightly less so in August but other months relatively few tourists.

It mainly depends on what you want to do. We like to explore, either by bike or by car. We have no interest in spending more than one hour in a town like Cochem, or Beilstein, or any other small tourist town, looking at souvenir shops. Anyway, the meandering Mosel is much, much, nicer in Beilstein than it is in Cochem.

I too would say stay in Beilstein if you can, rather than Cochem, which we didn't particularly like.
With a car you can use Beilstein as a base to explore, or get a boat.