Discover the Roman heritage of Trier, Germany’s oldest town
Hike on peaceful trails among vineyards and forests high above the meandering Moselle River
Discover majestic castles such as the hilltop Reichsburg and fairytale Burg Eltz
Stay in tranquil riverside villages with timber-framed houses
Taste the delicious local Riesling at the vineyards & traditional wineries
Self-guided walking holiday along the Moselsteig Trail
The Moselsteig (Moselle Trail) is a certified quality hiking trail and has been voted one of Germany’s most beautiful walking routes. This is an incredibly scenic hike through Germany’s oldest wine region, the Moselle Valley, from the Roman city of Trier to the confluence with the Rhine at Koblenz.
The Moselle (Mosel in German) is a 544-kilometer-long river which originates in the French Vosges and flows into the Rhine at Koblenz. The most beautiful part of the Moselle is undoubtedly the slow and meandering section between Trier and Koblenz, through the low-level Eifel and Hunsrück mountain ranges. Here, you will find a landscape of rolling, vineyard-covered hills dotted with crumbling castles and fortresses. A particular highlight is the majestic Burg Eltz – one of Germany’s most romantic medieval castles, hidden away in a side valley to the Moselle. The wonderful walking trails offer stunning viewpoints and idyllic resting places above the Moselle’s precipitous banks and hairpin bends.
On this week-long walking holiday, you have the chance to walk the most spectacular stages of the Moselsteig. A regular train service along the river connects the stages, and allows you to easily shorten your walks, or to visit other villages along the Moselle as you please (train tickets not included). Along the way, you will discover medieval riverside villages with characteristic timber-framed houses, with quaint wine bars inviting you to enjoy the marvelous Mosel wine.
| 8 DAYS / 7 NIGHTS | From €850 per person sharing*
*A high-season supplement will apply during the busy summer months |
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| ACCOMMODATION |
In beautiful 3*** hotels and inns. All rooms with private facilities. | ||||||||||||||
| AVAILABILITY | You can start on any day, subject to availability, between March 23rd and October 13th. | ||||||||||||||
| INCLUDED |
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| NOT INCLUDED |
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| OPTIONAL EXTRAS |
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| DISCOUNT FOR DIGITAL ROUTE BOOK | Join us in achieving greater sustainability by choosing our digital route book, rather than the printed version. As a small thank you we will give you a discount of €20 per room (let us know at the time of booking if you would like to do this). |
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| DIFFICULTY / TERRAIN | The difficulty level of this trip is rated as moderate overall. You mainly walk on well-maintained hiking paths and trails, on graveled vineyard paths and remote forest paths. The route is well-signposted throughout. The panoramic paths lead you across some steep and rocky terrain, where surefootedness is required. The ascents and descents of the mountain ranges of the Moselle river valley will be no problem for hikers with a good basic fitness level. Daily tours can be easily and comfortably cut short by train any time. | ||||||||||||||
| WALKING WITH A DOG | It is possible to book this hiking tour accompanied by your dog. We are happy to request dog-friendly accommodation for you. Please ask us for a quote and let us know the size and breed of dog.
Please note: Additional costs for your dog (e.g. for public transport or in the accommodations) are not included in the tour price and have to be paid on site. |
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Day 1: Arrival in Trier
Trier is Germany’s oldest city and a Unesco World Heritage site. This is where you’ll find the country’s finest collection of Roman remains. We highly recommend you visit the famous Porta Nigra – the best-preserved city gate from the ancient world – as well as the Imperial Baths and the opulent St. Peter’s Cathedral. A stroll through the fascinating historic centre is the perfect way to prepare for the upcoming hiking week.
Overnight: Trier
Day 2: Walk from Trier to Schweich and train to Bullay
Distance: 17 km | Ascent: 400 m | Descent: 450 m | 5 hrs approx.
For your first walking day on the Moselsteig you cross the river Moselle and ascend to the colourful sandstone cliffs located high above Trier in the Trierer Stadtwald forest. Along a marvelous high-altitude path with wonderful views onto Trier, the river Moselle and the distant Hunsrück mountain range, you proceed to Biewer and the Eifel foothills. You hike through extensive forests and plateaus all the way to the Ehranger Kanzel and downhill to the river Kyll, then onwards through the Eifel forests and orchards to Schweich. Finally, a short train ride takes you to the charming riverside village of Bullay, with its characteristic inns known as Straußwirtschaften.
Overnight: Bullay
Day 3: Bullay loop walk via Traben-Trarbach
Distance: 15 km | Ascent: 500 m | Descent: 500 m | 5 hrs approx.
You reach the start of the tour via the legendary Moselle Wine Train and cross Germany’s longest hanging viaduct in the art-deco town of Traben-Trarbach. You ascend on steep terrain to the romantic ruins of Grevenburg Castle and follow the Franzosensteig trail via spiral staircases and via ferratas straight through the ruins. An incredibly scenic hike along the Kirster Ridge leads you to the wine-making village of Enkirch, with its historic timber-framed houses. Continue onwards through the vineyards to Bullay, where a wine tasting of the best Mosel produce awaits!
Overnight: Bullay
Day 4: Bullay to Cochem
Distance: 19 km | Ascent: 650 m | Descent: 650 m | 5½ hrs approx.
Beautiful paths high above the river lead you up to Mount Petersberg, where the summit cross offers stupendous views down onto the Moselle river bend. After the descent and the river crossing near Neef you ascend Mount Calmont on the other side. You hike up Europe‘s steepest vineyard, the Bremmer Calmont, where grapes are grown on an incline of up to 55 degrees. The climb is worth it, as you are rewarded with one of the best views on the whole Moselsteig Trail. You proceed via a Roman high-altitude settlement with a view onto the rock spire Eller Todesangst past the Galgenlay Pavillon and reach Cochem by train. This lovely riverside town is dominated by the majestic Reichsburg castle, which overlooks the town from its hilltop perch.
Overnight: Cochem
Day 5: Cochem to Treis Karden
Distance: 23 km | Ascent: 750 m | Descent: 750 m | 6 hrs approx.
A wonderfully varied walk today. You begin by ascending to the Pinner-cross, a marvelous rock pulpit located above Cochem, either on foot or by chair lift. Following hiking paths high above the river you proceed to the legendary refuge Wingerts Budche. The Dortebachtal nature reserve, the Pommerer Forest and the via ferrata through the Schilzer-basin provide pleasant walking conditions in the shade. Through green vineyards you reach Mount Martberg, where you can visit a nicely restored Roman temple complex. Narrow trails snake their way through dense woodland down into the valley and your destination for today, Treis-Karden.
Overnight: Treis Karden
Day 6: Treis Karden to Löf
Distance: 24 km | Ascent: 700 m | Descent: 700 m | 6 hrs approx.
The highlight of today’s stage is undoubtedly Eltz Castle – one of Germany’s most romantic fairytale castles, hidden away in the Elzbach Valley.
You follow the peaceful boxtree trail through evergreen forests, sometimes on steep rocky steps. You start from Müden and proceed along historic pilgrim trails into the highlands to the legendary Burg Eltz. After a break in the beer garden, you continue uphill to the Maifeld area and along the undulating ridge to Hatzenport. If you have energy left, you can climb once more to Mount Rabenlay before descending through dense box trees and along the Kehrbach Valley to reach your destination in Löf.
Overnight: Löf
Day 7: Löf to Koblenz
Distance: 14 km | Ascent: 500 m | Descent: 500 m | 4½ hrs approx.
For the finale again numerous highlights await: the castle ruin of Kobern Niederburg-castle, the Romanesque Chapel of St. Matthew, and many more panoramic high-altitude paths. The Blumslay viewpoint rewards you with spectacular views over the mighty 136-metre-high Moselle Viaduct. You continue for a final time through the lush vineyards all the way to Güls-Koblenz, the official end of the Moselsteig-trail. After a short train journey, you reach the centre of Koblenz, where you enjoy the end of your impressive hiking week at the famous Deutsches Eck (German Corner), the confluence of the rivers Moselle and Rhine.
Overnight: Koblenz
Day 8: Departure from Koblenz
Your trip comes to an end after breakfast this morning, unless you have booked any additional services with us.
Getting to Trier
Departure from Koblenz
| From Koblenz, you can reach Frankfurt airport in about 1½ hrs by direct train. Koblenz Hauptbahnhof also has excellent connections to the smaller Frankfurt Hahn Airport, Dusseldorf Airport and Cologne Bonn Airport, as well as to cities throughout Germany and further into Europe.
Please see the website of Deutsche Bahn for timetables and tickets |
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| If you need to return to the starting point in Trier to collect your car, you can do so by train. There are very regular trains along the river and the journey takes about 1½ hours. |
Tour Reviews
Nine Irish ladies decided to book this trip and we were very pleased. This is truly a wonderful hiking holiday, taking in the very best of the Moselsteig. We particularly liked Cochem – so much to explore. Neill from Wild Rover Travel handled this trip for us, and I must say he did a tremendous job for us. We had so many queries and Niall always answered very quickly. All the accommodation was as described and we had no complaints, the beds were always comfortable, and the breakfast was always really good. We also had a complex booking with some of us staying extra days before the walking started and some of using only doing 4 or 6 days. So just email Niall and make enquiries if you need this.
We really liked the fact that each walk could be shortened by either ending early and taking a train to the final destination for that day or chopping out the beginning or on one occasion the middle section of a walk. We had mixed fitness levels and some of us wanted to walk less, this was very easy to manage on this trip. We got very lucky with the new €9 monthly regional train pass, which just came into being at the beginning of our trip in Jun 2022, so transport was really cheap. We got a taxi at the end of a walk to the hotel one day by popping into a bar and asking them to book it for us. The price was reasonable.
We were provided with a trip pack at the first hotel per room with all the details and prior to that, we were sent a very detailed PDF of all the walks and of course the *.GPX tracks (also printed for us and included in the pack). But even if you don’t use a GPS or App for navigation, no worries the Moselsteig is well marked. Each room was afforded a max of 3 items of luggage for transport and the tags added to the bag did for all the days, hence you get 3 tags and that is all you need – I personally would still have my name and phone number on the bag separately in case the tag came off.
The wine tasting was a lovely experience, in what I can only describe as authentic. I asked the wine-tasting host what the difference between prosecco is and champaign was – he smiled and said I can but only show you – so he did – and what a delight of new knowledge that was – know I know why prosecco is cheap and champaign is not ;-). Give it a bit more than the hour they say, we had a table booked for dinner and had to cut it short when there was still more wine to taste.
A couple of tips that if you have not been to Germany you may not be aware know: German hotels don’t understand what a twin room is, so if you are sharing a room and want two beds, you probably won’t get it even if you ask, because in Germany they do not always exist, rather you get two mattresses on a double bed which does not pull apart, so just be prepared for that and if you don’t like that book a single room. Also, nothing opens in Germany on a Sunday or a Bank holiday, except for petrol stations and bakeries – so buy your water for your Sunday walk etc the night before. Not all the hotel/apartments had a lift, so we had to carry our 20kg bags (did we really need that must suffer – good questions?) up a couple of flights of stairs on more than one occasion – but we are strong fit hikers – even our most senior hiker of 74 was able to carry the bag.
On a final note, for us at least getting ready for a walk, getting a bag to reception for 9 am, walking 24k, finding the next hotel, getting a shower finding a place for dinner and having dinner and getting ready for the next day was a bit too much to fit into one day – if you also want to drink some wine and see the town/village – another reason why cutting some of the walks short was helpful – or maybe if you walk faster than us you won’t have that issue. But if you have the time and money, it would be worth booking an extra night in some of the bigger towns and having a day off to explore and chill.
Everything described in this walking trip by Wild Rover Travel is 100% accurate and I would book a trip again with them with no hesitation. Thanks, Niall for all the hard work in getting our most complicated booking sorted with no issues.
Asta and the gang
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