The Moselle and the Romantic Rhine — vineyards, castles and a cathedral

You set off through the Rozvadov crossing and then along the motorway past Nuremberg towards Würzburg. Trier sits on the Luxembourg border, in the opposite corner of Germany from the one you enter it by — doing it in one go is simply not sensible. You spend the night roughly halfway, in Franconia, and the next day leaves you an unhurried morning to finish the drive.

The Romans founded Trier as Augusta Treverorum before the Common Era, and you can tell on every other corner. The main draw is the Porta Nigra, the blackened sandstone gate on the northern edge of the old town. The cathedral of Dom St. Peter and the Church of Our Lady stand a short walk away — the Roman monuments and both churches have been on the UNESCO list since 1986. An afternoon is enough for all of it, plus a coffee on the market square.

In the morning you walk through the Kaiserthermen, the amphitheatre with its accessible cellars under the arena, and the Constantine Basilica with its vast throne hall. After lunch you head upstream along the Moselle to Bernkastel-Kues. The road follows the river and the vineyards drop to the water so steeply that the grapes have to be picked by hand — the drive itself is half the experience.

The market square in Bernkastel is lined with half-timbered houses from the 15th to the 17th century and the Renaissance town hall of 1608, with the parish church of St Michael a few steps away, its bell tower originally built as a defensive tower. The ruins of Burg Landshut stand above the town — the summer seat of the archbishops of Trier, which burned down at the end of the 17th century. On the Kues bank you will find the Cusanusstift, the hospice of Nicholas of Cusa with its preserved library, and in the cellars of the surrounding wineries riesling from sites that include the famous Bernkasteler Doctor. In the afternoon you carry on through the loops of the river to Cochem. The Reichsburg above the town can only be seen on a guided tour, the courtyard included; tours run daily from 9:30 to 17:00 and there is no parking at the castle itself — the vehicle stays down in town and a footpath or a shuttle bus takes you up.

From Cochem you follow the Moselle down to the confluence at Koblenz and then turn upstream along the Rhine. Above Sankt Goarshausen the slate rock of the Loreley rises from the water at a point where the channel is narrow and the current treacherous — hence the legend of the maiden whose singing sent boats to the bottom. On the opposite bank in St. Goar stand the ruins of Rheinfels Castle, shelled by French revolutionary troops in the 1790s; today you can walk the inner and outer circuits, climb the clock tower and go through the castle museum. A ferry carries you between the two banks.

At Koblenz the Moselle flows into the Rhine, and on the spit between the two stands the Deutsches Eck with its equestrian statue of Emperor Wilhelm I. A cable car crosses to the far bank and up to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress; it runs daily from ten in the morning and you can buy a combined ticket that includes the fortress. From up there you see both rivers at once, and it becomes obvious why the fortress was built exactly here.

In the morning you drive on to Cologne, where the cathedral stands right next to the main railway station and is visible from practically anywhere in the centre. If you have the legs for it, more than five hundred steps take you up to the gallery of the south tower. In the afternoon you turn for home and spend the night somewhere halfway, so that the last day is not spent entirely behind the wheel.

The last day is pure driving. Depending on where you slept, you return either via Erfurt and Dresden to the Cínovec crossing, or via Nuremberg to Rozvadov. Set off early in the morning if you can — German motorways tend to jam up in the afternoon.