Burg Eltz

We took a private car to get here and the drive was beautiful! There is a parking fee. You have 2 options to get to the castle: 1. Walk down hill with lots of rocks or 2. take the shuttle, we walked! Beautiful castle inside and out! It's amazing how the family is on their 33rd generation! We took the shuttle back and it was $2 euros per person!

What a cool and beautiful place! There are a couple things you should note for your visit:
- The hike to and from the castle may be challenging for some but it is so worth it. It is a beautiful little hike. Downhill on the way there and uphill going back to the parking area.
- For those not up for the hike there is a shuttle. (I think there is a small charge for the shuttle)
- There is a small charge for parking so have a few euro's ready for that when you pull up.
- The castle and the grounds are beautiful and they do the tour in English if your German is not that good.
- Don't miss the treasury. This was a really cool extra that I'm glad we didn't skip.
- We went to the smaller of the two cafes and had ice cream and snacks.
For the American audience that may not be use to it, keep in mind that Germans still smoke liberally in outdoor areas. This is normal so if you don't want to be around that you may want to skip the outdoor cafes.

Nestled into the countryside and hidden from streetview is the storybook Burg Eltz.

To start, visiting Burg Eltz takes a bit of planning. You'll want to either hire a tour company to drive you there from a bigger city like Frankfurt (about an hour drive), or rent a car. We went on a small tour and while it was really fun to hear the guide talk to us about the countryside and what we were seeing etc. I do think we could have handled the drive had we decided to rent a car.

Once you arrive, if you are American and familiar with the National Parks here in the states, it's going to remind you a lot of US National Park Service parking lots. It's not a massive lot, but in general big enough for tourists and busses to offload people as they arrive. I'm not sure if it costs anything to park but my gut says it probably does as I think I saw some euros exchanged from our driver to the parking attendant.

Once you are parked, you have two choices: to either walk directly to the castle along a street, or take the hiking path. I cannot stress how much I encourage everyone to take the hiking path. It's a very easy hike through meandering forest and once you can get the castle into view it's breathtaking. Kind of like how I imagine the castle from Beauty and the Beast to be hidden in the film, is how this is tucked away. It takes a while before it will come into view which adds to the general charm and mystique of the place. All of this being said, the road is great for the walk back if you don't want to hike uphill, there is a shuttle bus that will take you up the road if you are tired, and because of the shuttle and the fairly even path of the road, it makes this castle much more accessible to those who have mobility needs.

While at the actual castle there are two lines for tours - one for a German speaking tour, and one for an English speaking tour. This is important to note because we were there on a German holiday and the German speaking line was over an hour wait, while the English speaking line was only about 20 minutes. So, make sure you inquire about which line you are in! The tour itself is very good. The tour guide we had clearly took his job very seriously and had a lot of interesting information to share. My biggest takeaways were that this is one of the most intact medieval castles in Europe, largely due to its remote location as it avoided many bombs that impacted other parts of the continent, and that it is still occupied by descendants of the original owners. Knowing that this is still in the family was really remarkable and added to the general uniqueness of this historic location.

Overall, it was a gorgeous castle to visit, and as many others have noted it's well nestled into wine country, so make a day of it and sample some riesling at one of the nearby villages on your way back to the city!

Expect a pretty long walk from the parking lot to the actual castle itself. Once you see it for the first time you'll be amazed to see how much has gone into it to keep it fully restored and detailed for all those years. Tours available and a small gift shop inside the castle.

Dog owners- Your pet is allowed outside of the castle.

This was a fantastic place to explore around the outside and grab lunch with the pup! Parking was 2 euro. There's a shuttle bus (the pup was allowed on it), and it's 2 euro each way. We walked back to the parking... it really was not a bad walk.

Overall, we didn't due the tour, but had a great time anyway! Googled the history to learn about the place. All in all a great little day!

This is by far my favorite castle thus far. We hiked from Moselkern to this castle (a nice 90 minute hike through the woods), it felt like we stumbled upon this amazing gem buried in the woods.

This castle has been in the same family for 33 generations, and the restoration shows the care this family has taken to preserve this treasure.

This castle is well worth the visit!!

This was best castle on our vacation in Germany. And I can highly recommend it. Tours were offered in German and English. The staff was well educated in there material. The setting is just stunning. Thank you for the great tour!

A must see Castle!!! Simply breathtaking. I would highly recommend walking up to the castle and do a trip in the morning while the sun is still young. It only takes about 15 minutes through the woods. The walk path is pretty nice and calming. Once you turn on this curve about 500 meters from the castle entrance, you will find this amazing outlook of the castle. I've travelled all over Germany and this is one of the hidden gems of the country.
There are two places in the castle where you can get food and eat. Very affordable and mostly quick fix foods - from fries to salads, and a couple of german local cooking. Of course there are tours of the castle - good price and worth going!

The image of this castle was for many years on the Deutschmark. It's not in the tour books but to me it was the perfect outing. A beautiful walk, a real castle inhabited by the same family for 33 generations, good food, and no crowds. From there we drove to the Moselle and then the Rhine.

Well worth the trip! You pay €2 to park. Shuttle is an option, but we reserved that for the return trip- it was all downhill walking to the castle. Shuttle is €2/person.

Tour was very informative and the duration was perfect, in my opinion. Be prepared to pay cash! English tours are available and feel free to bring your dog! Lol