Your Bernkastel-Kues city experience

Bernkastel takes great pride in its remarkable abundance of beautiful half-timbered houses dating from the 16th and 17th centuries. The best place to start is the market square. The ‘Spitzhäuschen’ will particularly catch your eye – a small, narrow house dating from the 15th century. Take a leisurely stroll through the narrow streets and have a look at the shops. You’ll find a number of interesting boutiques and craft workshops here. The historic sweet shop “Bonbon Willi”, for example, makes sweets just as they did 100 years ago.

The climb to Landshut Castle, which takes about 30 minutes, begins at the Spitzhäuschen; the castle was built on the foundations of a Roman fortification. The “Princastellum” gave the town its name. From up here, you’ll have a sweeping view of the Moselle Valley. A circular trail with multimedia displays provides information about the history of the site. If the climb up to the castle seems too strenuous, you can also take a vintage bus up.

On the other side of the Moselle, right next to the bridge, you’ll see a late-Gothic collegiate church complex that you really must visit. It was built by Nikolaus von Kues, the son of a wealthy merchant and shipowner. As a priest and scholar, he rose to the highest echelons of public life in his day and was even regarded as a serious contender for the papacy. He founded the complex as a ‘hospital for the poor, for elderly and worn-out men’ from all walks of life. It was never destroyed and continues to serve as a care home to this day, as Nikolaus von Kues had endowed it so generously with material resources and provided it with such wise statutes that it has been able to survive to the present day.

Take a look at the Gothic chapel with its winged altarpiece, an early work by the Cologne Master of the Life of Mary. As part of a guided tour, you can also visit the library, which is regarded as one of the most valuable private libraries in the world.

One of the abbey buildings houses a wine museum with a large wine cellar, where you can sample wines from across the entire wine-growing region!

Nikolaus von Kues’s birthplace has survived – at least in part. Following the death of their father, Cusanus and his siblings transferred ownership of the building to the monastery, and from then on it served as the residence of the monastery’s rectors. 

Today, Cusanus’s birthplace houses a permanent exhibition as well as temporary art exhibitions and events.

Luxury saloons and those little moments of personal joy: this elegant technical museum showcases 90 years of German motoring history. More than 100 cars, motorbikes and vans – everyday runabouts and historic milestones alike – vie for attention in the Zylinderhaus. But that’s by no means all: there’s also a row of historic shops almost as tall as the building itself, an old petrol station and much more besides.

For many people, going out in the evening and treating themselves to something really special is part of a great holiday. Is that true for you too? You’ll find plenty of great places to stop for a bite to eat in the Bernkastel-Kues holiday region:

Incidentally, the Moselle owes its wine-growing tradition to the Romans. This is evidenced by a number of ancient wine-pressing sites that archaeologists have discovered in what are still today the finest vineyard sites. For example, you can visit the Roman wine-pressing sites in Erden, which have been partially reconstructed and brought back to life using augmented reality. Simply download the free ARGO app onto your smartphone beforehand.

Have you ever sailed on a reconstructed Roman ship? I bet you haven’t! Then you really must treat yourself to a cruise on the Moselle aboard the Stella Noviomagi, which sets sail from Neumagen-Dhron.

On the subject of the Romans, you should definitely also take a trip to the Roman city of Trier with its UNESCO World Heritage Site! It’s about 50 kilometres from Bernkastel-Kues. You can find out more about Trier in our Trier guide.

Klausen is a very important Marian place of pilgrimage in the Diocese of Trier and attracts several thousand worshippers every year. Its late-Gothic pilgrimage church is also regarded as one of the region’s most significant destinations from an art-historical perspective. This 15th-century religious building owes its origins to the Augustinian Canons, a reformed order that emerged from a Dutch devotional movement known as the ‘Devotio Moderna’. Nicholas of Cusa, whom you have already encountered at St Nicholas’ Hospital, was very supportive of the movement and championed the cause of the Augustinian Canons settling in Klausen. The Dutch reform movement aimed to counteract signs of decline within the Church and to lead the clergy back to the ancient virtues of monasticism – humility, poverty and obedience. 

Some even regard “Devotio Moderna” as a precursor to Lutheranism and Calvinism. Erasmus of Rotterdam is also said to have been educated in this school of thought. A central duty of the Augustinian Canons was the copying of books, which resulted in an outstanding library containing many manuscripts. A particular art-historical highlight in the Klausen pilgrimage church is the high altar – a carved altar from the Brabant School dating from 1482.

It’s best to take part in a guided tour led by an expert to ensure you really do see everything. You can reach Klausen by car from Bernkastel-Kues in about 20 minutes.

"Zeltinger Himmelreich" – this isn’t just a well-known vineyard, but also a truly rustic open-air theatre production brimming with humour, local colour and catchy tunes! Zeltingen-Rachtig is probably just about the only village that has its own operetta. And, of course, it’s all about wine and love. The audience sits right in the middle of the market square against a historic backdrop. The performers are all locals, some of whom have been taking part since they were children. Now that’s what you call a living tradition! 

So here’s our tip: why not enjoy a balmy summer’s evening at the Mosel operetta ‘Zeltinger Himmelreich’?