Having travelled by train 2 springs ago, staying in Beilstein was not feasible. But I DID take a daytrip on the boatline, and had 4 hours to explore town before boat pickup (maybe a bit too much time for this tiniest of 'towns'). I DID take the suggested Rick Steves climb up to the old castle ruins (lovely walk and views from above, with an outdoor cafe for relaxing). I passed only ONE person on the hike beyond the castle ruins to the old Jewish cemetary...it was a lovely solitary walk and time for reflection---I highly recommend it.
I did have lunch in Haus Lippman's vine-covered cafe and watched the local ferry transport people back and forth, and the cyclists go by across the Mosel...oh, to return soon!

Mosel Wine pecking order:

Tafelwine - table wine - generic
Qualitatswein - better quality with i think grapes largely coming from one area

Qualitatswein mit Pradikat (sp?) more specific origin on grapes

Auslese - late harvest - sweeter

Eiswein - the rarest - made from grapes only after they have frozen on the vines - a dessert wine

we stayed in cond, a quiet area across the river from cochem. from our balcony, we had a view of cochem and a castle, high on the hill, that was lighted at night. our one bedroom apartment was great in every respect. we drove one day to check out the rhein and enjoyed bacharach very much, but cochem was a better base, since we biked up and down the mosel.

Thanks everyone. Your info, trip reports, advice and photos are very helpful! If anyone has a recommendation on where to stay in or near Rothenburg, I'd appreciate any info on that also. Maybe a new post for that?

Paul

It's been quite some time, but we liked Gasthof Goldener Greifen in Rothenburg. It's about s600 or 700 years old (I found that out when I clunked my head going in the room one night after a few too many schnapps....they grew them shorter back then).

Good location inside the walls. My wife still remembers the fantastic comforters.

I think I have read recent reviews of people who have liked it, but you might want to check it out on the web. Just google the name.

A nice castle hotel with a good restaurant just a few kms. east of Rothenburg: Burg Colmberg.

http://www.burg-colmberg.de/

We stayed in Shillingsfurst which is on the Romantic Road between Rothenburg and Dinkelsbhul. I don't know if this is what you're looking for but it's the entire second floor of the house (one big room) for less than 50 euros a day. (last years rates)
The owners don't speak English, but they turned out to be one of our favorate hosts on our entire trip. Here's a link:

http://translate.google.com/translat...andert%2Ede%2F

Be warned that if you decide to take a hike among the vineyards, you will be in for a shock. The Mosel hillsides are covered with vineyards, and the vineyards are covered with slabs of slate. Yes, there are pathways that connect the villages, winding over the steep hillsides. But the sun turns those hillsides into furnaces, thanks to the heat-absorbing and heat-reflecting slate. We know because we decided to make the hike from Traben-Trarbach to Bernkastel. Big mistake. We almost were fried by the time we escaped from those infernal grapevine-covered slopes. Must have been 110 degrees up there.

And don't go into the vineyards themselves but stay on the paths tractors use - fear of disease - i've been yelled at before for taking a better look at the grapes.

Wow, thanks everyone! These are exactly some of the questions I have about the Mosel area. I hope to visit next year!

July seems to be the busiest season here followed by Aug - lots of dutch and belgians flock here because of the hills i guess

Jun or Sep would be perfect

one neat thing about the Mosel is the ubiqutious Wine Festivals that every town has once or twice a year - if you are driving or biking the valley it's a given that you will stumble across one of these intoxicatingly fun events and then literally stumble away

Pal, you are right on. September was a perfect time to visit the Mosel.

For those who stay along the Mosel, here is a little short cut to Burg Eltz I wrote about in my trip report.

"We finally met our first Americans at breakfast. They had tried to drive to Burg Eltz the previous day, but had gotten lost. I am not a big Rick Steves' advocate, but sometimes he does give good advice, and he did not fail us on this morning.

The Americans we had met left ten minutes before us. I had read in 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 to 15 minute walk down to the castle from there."

Views of the castle on that short hike are terrific!

We did the entire tour, and afterward, as we were leaving, two very sweaty Americans met us and were perplexed that we had already taken the tour.

They had gone the other way and had to take the long, hot hike up. I'll never forget the look that poor man's wife gave him.