Things to do in Trier
And where to stay, the best time to visit, what a day costs, and the traps to skip.
Best time to visit Trier
• a note or something on ✦ an occasion worth the trip
Best months overall, with full boat timetables in late spring and harvest wine season in autumn.
Worst months, short grey and wet, with boats and seasonal taverns reduced or dark.
Peak heat in the valley bowl, do ruins early, river and cellars at midday, wine festivals begin.
Christmas market from late November to 22 December, calm on weekday mornings and packed at weekends.
Shoulder season, quieter sights and spring menus, with changeable weather and thinner boat schedules.
What's on
- Karneval February or March to Rosenmontag
Street carnival from Weiberfastnacht with the Rosenmontag parade and full taverns.
- Altstadtfest last weekend of June
The city's biggest open air festival, stages and wine stalls through the old town squares.
- Mosel Musik Festival July to early October
Classical concerts in wineries, churches, Roman sites and halls along the Moselle.
- Olewiger Weinfest early August, usually first weekend
Olewig wine festival, growers stands and long tables taking over the wine village streets.
- Harvest wine festivals September and October weekends
Rolling growers festivals in Moselle, Saar and Ruwer villages around Trier.
- Trierer Weihnachtsmarkt late November to 22 December
Christmas market across Hauptmarkt and cathedral square with Moselle mulled wine.
Best things to do in Trier
Porta Nigra
The best preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps, climbable inside, and the gate that explains the whole city.
Hohe Domkirche St. Peter zu Trier
Germany's oldest cathedral, layered from a Roman imperial wall to Gothic, sharing a cloister wall with Liebfrauenkirche.
Liebfrauenkirche
One of Germany's earliest Gothic churches, built on a rose shaped plan beside the cathedral and full of light.
Konstantin-Basilika
Constantine's throne hall, the largest single room surviving from antiquity, kept bare so the Roman scale speaks.
Kaiserthermen
Unfinished imperial baths where the real visit is underground, through vaulted service corridors and furnace passages.
Amphitheater Trier
A hillside Roman arena with vaulted passages below where gladiators and animals waited before the show.
Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier
The one essential museum, with Roman mosaics, grave monuments and the model that makes Roman Trier click.
Hauptmarkt
Trier's great market square of knights, fountains and cafes, with a wine stand pouring local Riesling by the glass.
Where to stay in Trier
Altstadt and Innenstadt
first trip, all round base
Every Roman sight is a short walk, restaurants are on the doorstep and the station is walkable.
Olewig
food trips, returners and quiet
A wine village inside the city under its own vineyards, built around estate taverns and hotel restaurants.
Nord and Nells Park
drivers and families
Greener and larger hotels with easier parking, a short bus ride or walk from the centre.
Think twice about
- Trier-West and Pallien
Ordinary traffic heavy main road streets with little charm and a bus ride to every sight. Not a safety issue, a holiday quality issue.
- Ehrang, Pfalzel and Mariahof
Respectable residential districts far from the centre with thin evening dining and a taxi dependency after buses thin out.
Best restaurants in Trier
BECKER'S Restaurant
Trier's culinary summit, modern menus in Olewig paired with wines from the chef's own family vineyard.
Restaurant Schlemmereule
An intimate celebration dining room near the cathedral, with seasonal menus and strong Moselle wine guidance.
Bagatelle
A small chef led room cooking precise seasonal food, with a lunch menu locals rate as a fine dining bargain.
Brasserie Trier
The city's default good dinner, a buzzing French style brasserie that handles mixed tables and groups well.
Weinstube Kesselstatt
The cathedral facing wine tavern of a great estate, with Riesling by the glass and a garden under old trees.
Eurener Hof
A traditional hotel restaurant Trier families book for occasions, with two dining rooms and a serious wine list.
Pizzeria Restaurant Frankenturm
The reliable family Italian by the Frankenturm tower, serving pizzas and Mediterranean mains to a local room.
Kartoffel-Restaurant Kiste
The potato house, with a huge menu of dumplings, gratins and schnitzel plates in generous everyday portions.
Outdoor things to do in Trier
Mosel-Radweg
Flat, mostly traffic free river cycling from Trier through wine villages, with trains for the ride back.
Moselsteig
A well marked long distance trail above the Moselle, best from Trier as the Nittel stage or a Petrisberg circle.
Petrisberg
The vineyard viewpoint above the amphitheatre, reached by the Olewig wine path, giving the definitive Trier panorama.
Bock Casemates
Luxembourg City's fortress tunnels and Corniche walkway, an easy second capital day trip from Trier by train.
Bernkastel-Kues
The Moselle postcard town of half timbered squares, castle ruins and the famous Doctor vineyard above the roofs.
Saarburg Waterfall
A waterfall dropping through the middle of Saarburg old town, reached best by the slow boat up the Saar.
Burg Eltz
The Moselle's great never destroyed castle in a wooded side valley, a full day from Trier combined with Cochem.
Golf Club Trier e.V.
The Trier area's established eighteen hole club course at Ensch, set in Moselle wine country downstream.
Best hotels in Trier
Hotel Villa Hügel
Trier's luxury villa hotel above the old town, with a small spa, garden terrace and the city's most polished dining room.
Becker's Hotel & Restaurant
A design hotel in the Olewig wine quarter built around its famous restaurant and the family vineyard.
Romantik Hotel zur Glocke
A historic pedestrian zone house with soundproofed rooms, a cellar restaurant and a much praised breakfast.
Park Plaza Trier
The reliable full service four star near the cathedral, with spa, sauna and rooms that suit groups and families.
ante porta - DAS STADTHOTEL
A fresh design led small hotel a short walk from the Porta Nigra, handy for early trains and short stays.
ibis Styles Trier
The honest central budget pick, modern and bright with breakfast included in most rates and family rooms.
Is Trier expensive? What a day costs
| Budget | €55 a person |
|---|---|
| Classic | €115 a person |
| Splurge | €260 a person |
A day of food, drink, sights and getting around, before the room
What to book ahead
- Bischöfliche Weingüter Trier: weeks ahead
- Bock Casemates: a few days ahead
- Saarburg Waterfall: a few days ahead
- Burg Eltz: a few days ahead
- Golf Club Trier e.V.: a few days ahead
- Maximin Grünhaus: weeks ahead
- Hotel Villa Hügel: weeks ahead
- Becker's Hotel & Restaurant: weeks ahead
- Book Beckers and Schlemmereule one to two weeks out for weekend dinners in season.
- Book Bischoefliche premium tastings and Ruwer estate visits, they are appointment formats.
- Book hotels early for Altstadtfest, Olewig wine festival, harvest weekends and the Christmas market.
- Book Moselle boat sailings in August and on autumn wine festival weekends.
Is Trier safe?
- Emergency number in Germany is 112.
- The station perimeter is the least pleasant night walk, use the Altstadt or Paulinstrasse approaches.
- Watch for pickpockets in festival and Christmas market crowds.
- Moselle paths close in high water and vineyard paths are slippery on wet slate, obey barriers and carry water in heat.
Trier travel tips: tourist traps to skip
- Front row Hauptmarkt terraces charge in slower service, sit one lane back for the same coffee.
- Coach group lunch rooms on Simeonstrasse are the weakest kitchens at the highest footfall.
- Souvenir bottles labelled with famous vineyard names are not a tasting, drink single vineyard Riesling by the glass instead.
- Do not skip the Barbara Baths and Roman Bridge because listicles rank them low, they are free and uncrowded.
Getting around Trier: public transport and more
- Walk the core, it is about 1.5 km from the Porta Nigra to the Imperial Baths.
- Use SWT city buses for Olewig, Zurlauben and the university, paid in the SWT or VRT app.
- Buy the AntikenCard if you will enter three or more state Roman sites.
- Trains run to Luxembourg in about 40 to 50 minutes, Koblenz in about 1 hour 20 and Saarbruecken in about 1 hour 20.
Who Trier suits
| Solo travellers | Good |
|---|---|
| Groups of friends | Good |
| Couples | Great |
| Bachelor parties | OK |
| Families | Good |
| Bachelorette parties | OK |
Make Trier your trip
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