Moselle Premium Cruise: Cochem to Metz in 8 Days

Day 1 – Cochem (0 km)
Check-in and embarkation from 2 p.m. in Cochem. After the welcome meeting with the crew, your tour leader walks you through this compact Moselle town of timber-framed houses, cafés and steep wine slopes, and takes you up to the majestic Reichsburg castle that watches over the valley.

Day 2 – Cochem to Zell (39 km)
You ride to Beilstein, one of the best-preserved historic villages on the river, with the ruins of Metternich castle above it. Further on you pass the Bremmer Calmont, Europe's steepest vineyard, where the slopes tilt up to 60 degrees. The day ends in Zell, home of the Zeller Schwarze Katz wine, and a good place to taste it.

Day 3 – Zell to Bernkastel-Kues (45 km)
Along the left bank to Traben-Trarbach, famous for its Art Nouveau architecture, then through the wine town of Kröv to Bernkastel-Kues. The medieval half-timbered houses around the market square are the picture everyone takes home. You rejoin the ship in Kues after a walk through town.

Day 4 – Bernkastel-Kues to Neumagen or Schweich, cruise to Trier (28 km, long option 54 km)
The valley opens up and the vineyards run to the horizon: Brauneberg, Piesport, Trittenheim. Around lunchtime you reach Neumagen, a wine centre already in Roman times. Board the ship here or keep riding to Schweich. On board you cruise to Trier, the oldest city in Germany, founded around 15 BC and still full of Roman monuments, the Porta Nigra above all.

Day 5 – Trier to Saarburg (28 km)
A morning walk through Roman Trier with your tour leader, then free time in the city. After lunch you follow the Moselle and the Saar to Saarburg, an old town in the most beautiful stretch of the Saar valley, with a 10th-century castle and a 20-metre waterfall dropping right through the centre. Dinner tonight is ashore, in one of the local restaurants.

Day 6 – Saarburg to Remich (45 km, long option 53 km)
Two routes today: the longer one is easy and follows the rivers, the shorter one is hillier and more demanding. Either way you cross into the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, where the Moselle marks the border. You stop at a Luxembourgish cooperative that makes Crémant, the Moselle's answer to Champagne, and near Remich you can see a Roman mosaic floor still in its original place, three million tesserae showing gladiator scenes.

Day 7 – Schengen to Thionville, cruise to Metz (30 km)
You cruise to Schengen over breakfast and start riding from the little town that gave its name to the agreement, right on the three-country border. You cross into France without a single checkpoint, pass the fortress of Sierck-les-Bains and roll through the French countryside and friendly villages to Thionville, with its medieval ramparts and the basilica of St Maximin. The ship picks you up and cruises to Metz, where the cathedral of St Étienne holds the Chagall windows.

Day 8 – Metz (0 km)
Breakfast on board and disembarkation by 9:30 a.m.