SEPTEMBER 2022
We decided to do a last minute summer camping trip to the Mosel. We were originally planning on going to Bremen, but all campsites were fully booked because of a festival, so we made other plans instead. The Mosel valley is a stunning piece of nature, with beautiful vineyards and quaint villages lining the Mosel river. In this blogpost you will find my recommendations for this area, including cycling, hiking and Fachwerk villages.
Low budget camping at the Mosel valley
The Mosel valley is a very famous spot to go camping, you will find all sorts of campsites lining the Mosel. Most of them are focused on campers that come back multiple times a year or who own a holiday home at the campsite. These campsites are absolutely massive and fully booked well in advance! However, you can also find many campsites, where you can stay for a small fee, but that do not have any facilities. We parked next to the Freibad of Ellenz-Poltersdorf, this supposedly costs € 7 per night, but noone came to collect it when we stayed there. So we were able to stay between the vineyards for free, and we even had a view of the Metternich Castle of Beilstein! It’s a shame the weather didn’t really cooperate, as it was a very gloomy weekend, but otherwise it would have been even more stunning. Last year, we also did a camping trip to the Mosel and we visited Cochem & Burg Eltz. That year we stayed at a no-facilities campsite near Cochem for € 6 per night. I personally find this the most fun way to go camping, as you do not have to make reservations and the campsites are not as massive as the more “organized” ones. You usually share these campsites with max 10 other campervans, also giving a safe feeling.
I personally found Ellenz-Poltersdorf a very charming village. It is less touristy the more famous Beilstein & Cochem, but closeby enough to visit these towns by bike. The only downside to the less touristy towns is that because of COVID a lot of restaurants have staffing issues, seriously limiting your lunch and dining options. We found that lots of restaurants were closed during lunch and that you needed to make dinner reservations timely.
Visiting Beilstein
Ellenz-Poltersdorf is only a short ferry ride away from Beilstein. You can bring your bicycle on the ferry for € 2 per person. The ferry operates between 9AM-6PM. Beilstein is one of the most beautiful villages of the Mosel valley, and next to Cochem, also the one that has the most restaurants. Unfortunately, Beilstein gets really busy during the day, as buses and boats with elderly stop at Beilstein. So I would recommend to visit Beilstein as early as possible and to make dinner reservations in advance. The historic center is absolutely worth a visit, the fachwerk buildings are very well maintained and decorated with flowers. It is such a charming little town. You get beautiful views of its surroundings by walking up to the Metternich Castle ruins.
Cycling & wine tasting in the Mosel valley
If you want to explore the Mosel valley you can best do this by bike. We rented bikes from Fahrradverleih Cochem and they dropped off the bikes at our campsite. The Mosel valley features many bicycle lanes and it is very safe and easy to cycle around. The cycle lanes are mostly next to the Mosel, so they are very flat and comfortable. You will find yourself surrounded by stunning landscapes and hills full of vineyards. Every few kilometers you will find a cute village, where you can do a spontaneous wine tasting at a “Weingut”.
Hiking
We also planned to go hiking for a day at the Calmont Klettersteig. This Via Ferrata goes right through the vineyards and will provide you with stunning views over the Mosel. However, we fell ill due to a virus of Huug (not the wine tastings) and we had to cancel this activity. However, if you are into hiking, this seems like a very good option!
