Mosel Wine Road

The Mosel Wine Road ranks among Europe's most dramatically beautiful river drives. Over 240 kilometres from the Luxembourg border at Perl to the mighty Rhine at Koblenz, the route follows the Mosel River through a landscape of impossible geometry: vineyards clinging to near-vertical slate slopes, half-timbered villages tucked into river bends, and ancient castles perched on every strategic crag. The Mosel's meanders are so extreme that the river covers four times the straight-line distance between its mouth and the German border — which means you are never driving in a straight line and never bored.

The story of the Mosel begins in antiquity. The Romans conquered this valley in 58 BC and immediately recognised the potential of its south-facing slate slopes for viticulture. They planted the first Riesling vines and built Trier — Augusta Treverorum — into the second most important city in the Western Roman Empire. The Porta Nigra, a massive Roman gate standing 2,000 years later in the city centre, is the best-preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps. The Roman Baths and the Amphitheatre complete a UNESCO World Heritage package that alone justifies a detour to Trier at the route's southern end.

From Trier, the road hugs the river north through an endless succession of wine villages. Bernkastel-Kues is perhaps the most picturesque: a market square of half-timbered burgher houses facing the vine-draped ruins of Landshut Castle above. The twin towns (separated by the river) produce some of the finest Mosel Rieslings, and dozens of family wineries welcome visitors for tastings. At Bremm, the route passes the Calmont: the steepest vineyard in Europe at 65 degrees, where harvesters use ropes and monorails to navigate the precipitous slate terraces. The contrast with the flat, winding river road below is almost comical.

Cochem's imperial castle (Reichsburg) dominates a river bend with the photogenic authority of a movie set — it was extensively rebuilt in the 19th century but no less impressive for it. From Cochem, the route winds northeast through the Terrassenmosel, where the valley briefly widens before plunging into the spectacular Mosel loop at Boppard. Just before Koblenz, a short detour up the Mosel's tributary leads to Burg Eltz: a castle that has never been destroyed, captured, or sold, belonging to the same family since the 12th century. Three branches of the Eltz clan still live there. It is perhaps the most photogenic medieval castle in Germany.

For VW T3 drivers, the Mosel is a gift. The river road (the B53/B49) is almost entirely flat, following the river bank with barely a rise. The dramatic gradients visible above — the 60-degree vineyard slopes — are for the winemakers, not you. Engine temperatures stay cool, fuel consumption is minimal, and the pace naturally slows to match the barges gliding past. The main challenge is parking in the narrow village centres during summer weekends, when German day-trippers arrive en masse for wine festivals. Arriving on a Tuesday or Wednesday in September during harvest season gives you vineyards in action and wine straight from the press.