This past weekend we went out to Burg Eltz after hearing all the talk and ‘hype’ that it was a must see. Even according to Rick Steves’ it is favorite castle in Europe, so of course it had to be near the top of my ‘must-see’ list. Plus it was another place to cross off the Panther Paws day trip list, along with Burg Pyrmont. Needless to say my expectations were set pretty high and I have to say I was really disappointed with our visit, I’ll explain why. My all time favorite castle so far here is still Vianden in Luxembourg.
When you arrive at the Burg Eltz parking there is a guy you have to pay to park, it was €1,50. You can either park to the right and use the walking path to get to the Burg or park ahead and ride the shuttle. The shuttle is €2/person each way. So it would’ve been €20 for our family to use it both ways.
We chose to walk to the castle, it’s a nice walk through the forest although if you fell off the path you’d be rolling downwards for awhile, LOL! It took us 17 minute to walk there, which is a downhill walk. The walk back uphill is a bit harder.
As you round the corner you get a nice view of Burg Eltz. By all standards it looks amazing and it’s a great view.
When you walk through to the Burg there is a ticket office/souvenir shop on the right, go in here to get tickets. They have an English tour every 15-20 minutes so if you miss the first one you have to wait. Here is what I didn’t know ahead of time, you HAVE to go on a tour to see the inside of Burg Eltz. I am not a fan of tours, for a few reasons, but for this one in particular. Of the 80 rooms in the castle you get to see 9 or 10 rooms, the tour last 45 minutes. Also you may NOT take any pictures during the tour. The majority of information we learned on the tour I had already read in my Rick Steves’ book.
Courtyard area where you have to wait for entrance with a tour guide. We got there and waited 5 mins for the English tour but then a bunch of Europeans (who spoke English & not German because they came back from the German tour because they couldn’t understand) pushed through to the front and we got left out because they could only take so many people. Then we had to stand around and wait 20 minutes for another tour and hope we could get into that one. I so wish people here understood how to line up!
You can also visit the Treasury with your ticket, and it was OK.
Nothing that knocked our socks off or anything like that.
You can also walk down near the stream and look around if you’d like.
Overall I think it’s was expensive for what you got to see and restricting since they don’t allow pictures. We had a much better experience at Vianden where it’s a self-guided tour and you can see almost the whole castle. I’d say if your in the area it’s worth walking down to take a pic, but I wouldn’t waste my time/money paying for the tour.
They do have a little cafe area as well but we didn’t try it.
On the way back we decided to stop and take some pics of Burg Pyrmont since it was on the way home. We only took pictures of the outside because I didn’t want to pay to see another castle after the Burg Eltz experience and the kids were starving. There is a parking area down below that you can hike up to the castle if you’d like. If you want to visit the cost is €4,50 adult and €3 kids under 12. They are only open for tours on Sundays.
There is a mini chapel on the bridge as well.
There is also some parking up near the castle but it was pretty full.
Know Before You Go:
Where: Burg Eltz in Munstermaifeld, Germany & Burg Pyrmont in Roes, Germany
How To Get There: Approximately 1 hour drive from the Spangdahlem area to Burg Eltz and around 45 minutes to Burg Pyrmont. Approximately 1 hour 50 mins from Ramstein toBurg Eltz. We put Burg Eltz as a point of interest into our GPS.
What: Burg Eltz tour, Burg Pyrmont visit.
Cost: Burg Eltz: €9 adult, €4,50 kids under 12. We had a discount coupon from the Tour the Eifel event on base, which gave us a little off but not much, it was €38.50 ($53) for our family of 5, Bub & Boo counted for the adult rate.
Burg Pyrmont: €4,50 adult, €3 kids under 12.
Where to find info: Online, above links
Panther Paws
Too bad it was so disappointing. It does look lovely from the outside though.
Yeah I’d say if your going to look AT it then it’s OK, IN it not so much, LOL!