Introduction to Traben-Trarbach, RP

TRABEN-TRARBACH is 24km downstream from Bernkastel-Kues, though only a fraction of that distance away as the crow flies. Traben, on the northern bank, was once a prime strategic site, as the two ruined fortesses above the town testify. Schloss Grevenburg, now reduced to a couple of walls, was blown up in 1697 in accordance with the terms of a recently signed peace treaty. In 1734 Mont Royal, built just 44 years previously by Louis XIV, suffered similar treatment, leaving the citizens free to get on with more peaceful pursuits like building half-timbered houses.

Most of these are actually in Trarbach on the opposite bank, where they rub shoulders with more substantial upper-middle-class villas from the nineteenth century. Also on the Trarbach side of the connecting bridge is the Brückentor, a monumental gateway designed by the Jugendstil architect Bruno Möhring, who created several other buildings in town in the same style, including the Haus Huesgen, Am Bahnhof 20, and the Haus Breucker, An der Mosel 7, both on the river bank in Traben.

Traben's Bahnhof is the terminus of a branch railway which connects with the main Trier-Koblenz line at Bullay. The tourist office is nearby at Bahnstr. 22 (July–Oct Mon–Fri 9am–noon & 2–5pm, Sat 10am–noon; Nov–June Mon–Fri 9am–noon & 2–4pm; tel 0 65 41/8 39 80, fax 83 98 39, www.traben-trarbach.de). On the Traben side the accommodation options include a guesthouse, Germania, Kirchstr. 101 (tel 0 65 41/93 98; DM60–79/€30–39), and hotels such as Krone, An der Mosel 93 (tel 0 65 41/8 38 70; DM125–149/€63–74), Oase Moselschlösschen, Neue Rathausstr. 12–16 (tel 0 65 41/83 20; DM125/€63–DM249/€124), and Bellevue, in a large Jugendstil building at Am Moselufer (tel 0 65 41/70 30; DM150/€75–DM299/€149). There is far less choice in Trarbach: the best address is Moseltor, Moselstr. 1 (tel 0 65 41/65 51; DM150–199/€75–99). The youth hostel is at Hirtenpfad 6 (tel 0 65 41/92 78, fax 37 59, jh-traben-trarbach@djh-info.de; DM27/€13.50 or DM33/€16.50), about fifteen minutes' walk from the Bahnhof on the same side of the river. Also in Traben are camping facilities at Rissbacher Str. 165 (tel 0 65 41/31 11), while there's another site 2km down the road at Wedenhofstr. 25 (tel 0 65 41/91 74) in Wolf. All the hotels listed above have recommendable restaurants, with that in Krone being particularly renowned. Traben-Trarbach's Weinfest is held during the last weekend in July; there's another on the last Sunday in June in Wolf.

Information by Rough Guides

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