I don't like writing less than favorable reviews but 2022 Cochem is that & less however positively speaking, the entire area is splendid.
Experiencing a delightful trip there in 2017, we were looking forward to a second round of delight. The town was more lively then & the citizens were friendlier. It was like Christmas Market in May.
Jump to 2022. Cochem has become a "cash" only town. We visited three well established restaurants & two hotels with a "cash only" policy. If this is stated somewhere, it's not a well known fact. Fortunately we had sufficient Euros so cash only was no problem & there are a few ATM's. The citizens in August, 2022 seem to have become curt, bordering on rude. The town exists mainly for the boat traffic along the Mosel. In fact much of the town shuts down after the last boat departs around 18:30hrs. The name of Cochem should be changed to "Bootsstadt."
We hit the wall after 6 hours & returned to our hotel in Moselkern, very close to Burg Eltz. This small town is so quiet & country German you can almost hear the grass growing.
My advice, for what it's worth, would be to walk around Cochem for about 2 hours, get back on the train going south & stay in the absolutely beautiful town/city of Trier. It is packed with wine shops, Roman ruins, markets, restaurants of all cuisines, historical antique shops, etc. & they do accept credit cards! Trier is also accessible by river cruisers. This is all after a relaxing night or two in Moselkern which has limited hotels & restaurants but plenty of beer & wine & a 5 hour round trip to Burg Eltz.
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