A Day Trip to Cochem, Germany

Cochem is a lovely town on the River Mosel in Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. This beautiful town is famous for its vineyards (and, hence, its local wine), breathtaking views of the river and the famous castle that sits atop a hill and is visible from practically everywhere in Cochem.

We live in Darmstadt, a city about 150 km southeast of Cochem. A day trip is quite easy because of the short distance between the two cities. Recently, during this spring vacation, we made a day trip to this charming town. This article talks about our experience in Cochem. I shall also share information about other places you can visit along with this visit if you have more time.

Before I get into the details about places to visit, let me give my readers information about reaching Cochem, travelling within the city, accommodation, etc.

Reaching Cochem:

By Road

Cochem is well connected by road. We drove from Darmstadt to Cochem. We covered 150 km in about 2 hours.

If you don’t have a car in Germany, you can consider renting one from SIXT. We have rented their cars several times and found them of top-notch quality. The paperwork is hassle-free, and their service is great.

You might also want to read my articles:

How to get a driving license in Germany- Step-by-Step guide

My Experience with renting a car in Germany

By Train

You can also reach Cochem by train. The train station on Cochem is called Cochem Bahnhof.

If you are coming from another location in Germany, you can book your tickets through Deutsche Bahn. If you are coming from a city outside Germany, you can check the various options on OMIO. You can compare all the options to reach Cochem on the OMIO website.

Travelling within the city:

The town is very small, and most places can be reached on foot. So, there is no real need to buy a day ticket or anything else to visit places within the town. You will understand this better further in the article, where I have talked about the places to visit in Cochem.

However, if you wish to use it to reach some specific places of your choice, you can check out the public transport website: https://www.vrminfo.de/en/

Accommodation in Cochem:

If you live somewhere close to Cohem from where a day trip is possible, you don’t have to worry about accommodation. If you just consider the town of Cochem, one day should be enough to explore it (you will learn more about it further in the article).

However, you can make Cochem your base if you want to explore a few more places around the city. I will discuss this further later in the article. You can check out accommodations in Cochem here.

Experiences during a day trip in Cochem

This is how we planned our day trip in Cochem.

We started around 8 am from Darmstadt and were in Cochem around 10 am. Since we drove down in our car, we parked our car at this location, which was right in the city centre. This allowed us to explore all the places we wanted to see on foot. This is a paid parking spot, and you can pay with a card or cash.

We stopped by a cafe right in front of the parking lot and enjoyed coffee and house-made cakes. My review of this cafe is posted here.

Then, we headed towards Reichsburg Castle.

About Reichsburg Castle:

The Imperial Castle of Cochem, also called the Reichsburg, is the most prominent landmark in Cochem. Since it sits atop a hill, it is visible practically everywhere in Cochem. The original castle that stood in place of this newly constructed castle was built around the 11th Century, with the primary purpose of monitoring the ship movement on the river Mosel and collecting taxes. Later, in the 17th Century, this castle was almost completely destroyed. In the 19th century, a rich merchant from Berlin, Louis Fréderic Jacques Ravené, bought the property and constructed the castle on lines similar to the original one. This castle became his family home for many years. While he and his family lived on the upper floor, the lower floor was open for public viewing. Ravené took inspiration from various styles and built the castle. He used his personal wealth for all the collections.

It took us about 20 minutes from the parking place to reach the castle. It is an uphill walk through the old city and Cochem market area. Note that no parking is available at the castle, so the only way to get there is by foot.

The castle can only be visited with a guided tour, which lasts about 45 minutes and is offered in German and English. We found the tour interesting and informative. We also loved the lovely views of the Mosel River and the adjoining valley from the castle terrace.

The official website of Reichburg Cochem is https://reichsburg-cochem.de/?lang=en. Before visiting, you can check it for opening times, etc. You can buy tickets at the ticket shop at the castle’s entrance. The shop also sells souvenirs. There is a cafe adjacent to the shop with washrooms for public use.

After the castle visit, we returned to the city square. It was around 12:30 and time for lunch.

We had a delicious Italian lunch with wine from the Mosel region. We absolutely loved the wine, and I would recommend my readers not to miss it when in Cochem. My review of the restaurant is posted here.

It was almost 2:30 by the time we finished lunch. After lunch, we headed to the Bundesbank Bunker.

About Bundesbank Bunker:

The Bundesbank bunker was the German central bank’s bunker to preserve currency. From 1964 to 1988, the Bundesbank stored up to 15 billion Deutsche marks in this top-secret facility to protect West Germany from a national economic crisis in the event of potential hyperinflation that the Cold War might cause. The Bundesbank Bunker is a 1,500-square-metre bunker built 30 metres below the surface. In the event of a nuclear war, the bunker would have protected up to 100 civilians who could have survived two weeks there. In addition to the vaults, there were also sleeping and working rooms, a warning post and a radio room with a direct connection to the Interior Ministry. The system had its own electricity supply by diesel generators and fuel reserves. The drinking water supply was secured by means of a deep well and a 40,000-litre tank. A sand filter ensured the air supply for breathing.

The bunker can only be visited through a guided tour, which lasts about 50 minutes. Since the bunker is located on the other bank of the river and is an uphill walk from the market area, and given that there is no parking available at the place, the only two ways of reaching there are by walking Or by taking the shuttle bus. Note that the shuttle service is also not available all through the year. So check their website https://www.bundesbank-bunker.de/ for all the information before you plan your visit.

The last possible visit to the Bunker was at 3 pm, and we arrived just in time. The visit lasted about an hour. By 4 pm, we returned to where we had parked our car near the river bank. The path along the river is a lovely one. We spent time walking along the bank and enjoying the sights and sounds of the city.

Here, if you wish, you can take a river cruise on the river Mosel. The ticketing shop is under the bridge. You can either buy the tickets there or buy them online to avoid long queues and waiting times.

Around 6:30 pm, we decided to head back. We were back home in Darmstadt around 8:30 pm.

If you have one more day at Cochem, you can add the following to your experiences:

A visit to the Mustard Mill in Cochem: More information is available on their official website.
A hike/Chair Lift up to Pinnerkreuz: This is a viewing platform with lovely views of the Mosel River and valley. More information can be found on their official website.
Do a Bike and Boat Tour with Picnic and Wine Tasting.

If you have made Cochem the base for visiting other places, here is the list of places you can visit from Cochem:

Burg Eltz– A 12th-Century Hilltop Caste, about 31 km northeast of Cochem. More information is available here. By the way, you can also make a day trip from Frankfurt to Burg Eltz.
Koblenz– A beautiful town at the confluence of Mosel and Rhein, 56 km northwest of Cochem. You can read my article about a day trip to Koblenz.
Trier– A lovely city most famous for its Roman ruins, 96 km southwest of Cochem. You can read my article about a day trip to Trier.
Bacharach– A picturesque town in the Mainz Bingen region, 64 km southeast of Cochem. More information can be found here.