The first view
The bend in the path where the whole castle appears on its rock — Germany's most famous castle sight.
Johannes Dörrstock — CC BY-SA 4.0 · kaʁstn Disk/Cat — CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Matthias Süßen — CC BY-SA 4.0 · abbilder — CC BY 2.0
By car, about an hour and a quarter — and driving is the practical way: public transport means a train plus a long walk or a rare seasonal bus. Make it a day trip with a stop in Cochem or along the Moselle.
Neuschwanstein is bigger and more famous but modern (nineteenth-century), unfinished inside and heavily crowded. Eltz is smaller but a genuine medieval castle with its original furnishings and far thinner crowds. From Cologne or Düsseldorf, Eltz is the near one anyway.
The exterior, path and valley cost nothing in practice and satisfy some visitors. But what sets Eltz apart from every rival is its original, un-staged interior — having come all this way, the roughly 40-minute tour earns its fee.
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Eltz is the German fairy-tale castle as it ought to be: towers and timbered oriels growing out of a rock in a forest-wrapped valley, reachable only on foot, and the first sight of it from the bend in the path stops people mid-stride. Many know the picture before the name — it was on the old 500-Mark banknote. What makes it exceptional is that it was never destroyed: it survived every war of eight centuries, and has belonged to the same family for more than 850 years — the thirty-third generation owns it today. Its furniture, weapons and treasures are therefore original and in place, not collected later for display. Interiors are seen on a guided tour through the knights' hall, kitchens and bedchambers as they were, and the treasury holds astonishing gold and silver work. The castle opens from April to the start of November and closes for winter.
The bend in the path where the whole castle appears on its rock — Germany's most famous castle sight.
A castle never taken and never burned, in one family's hands for 850 years.
Gold, silver and ivory gathered by the family over centuries — among the richest private hoards.
Woods and streams around the castle, with fine walking trails for a longer day.
Burg Eltz 1, 56294 Wierschem