Burg Eltz (and the Mosel)
 

We have a full day to visit Burg Eltz. How long do you think it will take to see the castle?

Which town should we head to to eat/ shop and explore? Any favorite restaurants? Should we take a boat trip? If so, how long- and where from?

Any help would be great! (My Germany guidebooks are not very detailed on the Mosel...)

Here is a website that might help you: http://www.bensbauernhof.com/burgeltzfrommoselkern.html

We stayed in Bacharach and took the cruise ship for a short part of the Rhine, then traveled the rest of the way by train. We hiked the distance from the train station in Moselkern to Burg Eltz and then back. I have forgotten how long the tour lasts but I am sure you can go online to find that out. We enjoyed the scenery and the tour. It was an all day trip for us.

Hotel Haus Lipmann in Beilstein has a very nice restaurant overlooking the river--outside terrace. Or can dine inside if it's a stormy day.

Hi,
We just went to Burg Eltz 3 months ago. If you're walking to/from the castle from the parking lot(we walked down, took the van back up), I'd allow about 2 or 3 hours. The van costs 1.50 Euro each way p/p. If there's a crowd, it may take a few trips to get on as the van doesn't hold many people.
We liked Cochem best among the Mosel towns. The others are all nice, but Cochem was the largest (not very large) with the most dining options. There is also a castle just above (overlooking) Cochem that we didn't tour.

Our photos are at:

www.worldisround.com/home/pja1/index.html

Paul

Haus Lipmann is also a lovely place to stay, and they speak excellent English there too. We had the half board menu (€15pp)when we stayed there. It was very good!
The walk up to the castle and on to the Jewish cemetary is really nice.

Rick Steves has good detailed instructions on how to drive to Burg Eltz (minimal hike to entrance). The tour only takes an hour or so; we had to wait a while while they collected an English-speaking group. (This was in May.)

Rick Steves likes the Mosel; you might take a look at his guidebook.

We ate lunch in Cochem on a busy Saturday market day. Then we drove on to Beilstein and walked up to the top where we found an outdoor restaurant with a nice view. Wished we had eaten there.

Used the train to get to the station at the bottom. Timing I agree with pja1.

Cochem is a bit of a dissapointment to me very trashy, full of tourists all the time and generally not my thing though Italian up the hill is ok.

I liked Traub and Traubach (stayed twice) at a variety of Art Deco restaurants/Hotels. But many of the smaller towns are worth a night's visit

We also enjoying staying in Beilstein at Haus Lipman. Their restaurants were very good as well. We were there at the end of October so many things were closed. This area, IMO, was much prettier than the Rhine towns. Burg Eltz took two hours at the most to tour--English tour was not available at the time we toured. We had planned to take the longer hike to BE despite being jet-lagged. Flew into Frankfurt and drove straight to BE but there was only one small sign on the autobahn that indicated the turnoff to BE. We missed it so continued on through farmland and eventually woods to the parking lot. The hike down was steep but a pleasant walk. Took the shuttle back up. There is a small restaurant there-- more of a snack bar really.

Agree with Mirmar, Rick Steves has good info on the Mosel. We were there in April, and had the place almost to ourselves. Tour takes about an hour, and it's fun to spend some time walking around (I don't remember it being a very long walk from the car park.) We stayed in Beilstein and though tiny, we had wonderful food and accommodation. It's fun to check out some of the other small towns as well.

We stayed at Hotel Gute Quelle - I believe the proprieter is Irish, so they have an English menu if that helps. We also took a day trip to Trier (which is a great city) from here.

We also stayed at Haus Lipmann (loved it). Here are a couple of suggestions from my trip report; one on how to get to Burg Eltz; the other on a place to eat (and maybe stay) in Cochem. Have fun!

"I had read in Rick Steves' book not to follow the signs to Burg Eltz, because those were longer hikes. Instead we ignored the Eltz signs in Moselkern and followed the signs to Munstermaifeld as he had suggested. We kept the faith because it seemed like we were headed in the wrong direction.

"However, in about seven kilometers we came to a T in the road. Signs to Burg Eltz were seen again. We made a left and went though Wierscheim and from that town's exit sign it was only 2km to the Burg Eltz Upper parking facility. It was an easy
10 -15 minute walk down to the castle from there.

"It was then on to explore a little of the Cochem. The part of Cochem directly on the river is pretty touristy so we went up a few alleys and found a nice outdoor patio to have lunch. It was part of the Hotel Lohspicher, and we chatted with the owner who also served us.

"The special was Zweibelkuchen (a delicious onion pie) that we had with a glass of young wine called Federweinber. It was great. The inside of the restaurant looked very nice as did the hotel. We might stay there if we ever come back."

((H))

The Rick Steves directions are the best for shortest walk, but I wouldn't detour to take them. If you're on the river road already, take the "regular" route. The walk down to BE gives you one spectacular photo op after another and even old, decrepit I can hike back out in a half hour. You would certainly want to be on the river for dining, sightseeing and shopping as you leave. I think the castle opens at 9:30, so you might want to go somewhere for lunch? My favorite gasthaus in the area is the Hotel Sewenig in Mueden. Right on the river but near the castle, it's an old half-timbered building added onto and modernized over the years, comfortable in addition to nice views and great food typical of the Mosel/Eifel region. Lunch from 12-2 and they also have their own wines. See www.hotel-sewenig.de/Eingangsseite.htm (all German site). However, there are many, many picturesque little cafes and gasthauses along the river and you might want to just wander until one catches your fancy. I love to photograph Cochem (esp. from the road above the castle) and it's a great place to shop for typical souvenirs (walk up into the center of town, off the river) but I don't spend much time there because it's so crowded with tourists and junky places. You can take boat rides from there, but I really like to drive the river road to see more, when possible. It's not like a boat trip on the Rhine, where there's one spectacular castle after another. The Mosel is quieter, more homey and more rural, smaller castles and more vineyards and ruins. Trier is a great (big! busy!) town where you can easily spend a half day just in the pedestrian center, between the Porta Nigra and the cathedral (where reputed Christ's robe is held) or just beyond there to the Emperor Constantine's throne room (now a church). It's much less touristy than Cochem and obviously very historic (tourist info at the Porta Nigra, with parking right behind it). Bernkastel is also a great wine town with castle ruins and lots of shopping, photo ops around the medieval town square, and good restaurants.
Finally, have you checked the Burg Eltz website? www.burgeltz.com. Has some links to local villages. At any rate, best castle in Germany--good call on visiting there, no matter how much time you spend on the Mosel.