This was one of our most anticipated hikes, a 10 km round-trip past an idyllic small town and a shadowy ancient forest to one of Germany's most iconic castles. Burg Eltz is famous among travelers -- the Germans recognize it on their old 500-Deutsche-mark banknote, and the American travel writer Rick Steves calls it his favorite castle in Europe. To us, it's simply the most beautiful castle we've ever visited.
Prior to our visit we considered three different approaches to the castle: a long and winding path from Treis-Karden, a shorter but very steep route from Müden, but we picked the most gradual hike starting from Moselkern. Starting the day from our winery/guesthouse in Cochem, we rode the local train to Moselkern and began our hike from its quaint 100-year-old station.
To reach the trailhead we first had to pass through the sleepy town of Moselkern, a 900-year-old wine-growing community set among the steep vineyards of the Mosel Valley. Getting lost was near impossible with these informal signs popping up at least once every few hundred metres.
We knew we're on the right track when we got off the train with a whole class of elementary school students on their annual excursion. The trailhead was actually more than 2 km away at the very end of the Elztal road, and we walked along with the class until they took a break closer to the trailhead.
Walking through the old town we stopped by the timber-framed Rathaus, the oldest working townhall in the Mosel Valley dating from Year 1535. Note the metal ring on the exterior wall ... that's where lawbreakers were shackled for public humiliation back in the day.
The Elztal road, by definition, follows the valley of the Elz river upstream until it was no longer paved. The road winded through a rural neighborhood with exactly one general store, one Gästehaus (advertising a cheap 40 Euros per night!), one stately manor (pictured above) and terminated after the Landhotel Ringelsteiner Mühle where the road turned into a little dirt trail. That's the trailhead towards Burg Eltz.
It was almost a 2.5 km walk from Moselkern Station to the start of the trail, which followed this pristine little valley up towards the castle. Burg Eltz itself is built around a little loop of the Elz river further upstream, so again it's difficult to get lost unless you do it on purpose.
It was early autumn and much of the ravine was still carpeted with these beautiful wild orchids. Also in season were all the exotic wild fungi (including some that looked just like Boletus mushrooms) we were afraid to touch, let alone collecting for consumption.
The trail was marked with ample signage the whole way, with the more formal ones taking this form ...
... and the informal ones spray-painted on tree trunks in this form. The orange mark is the logo of the Traumpfade trail system, a well-maintained network of 30 or so trails in the Mosel and the Rhine Valley. This particular trail is known as the Eltzer Burgpanorama, and can be stretched into a day-long hike if one prefers.
Just like magic, our fairytale castle emerged suddenly out of the dark woods at the 75 minute mark of our hike. Protected by tall timber-frame walls and crowned with a claustrophobic cluster of Gothic turrets, spectacular Burg Eltz rose a hundred metres above the valley floor with its skyscraping medieval towers. In its 900 year history the castle was attacked only once, and never conquered.
This was easily the most complete and best preserved medieval castle we've ever visited. Even to this date the castle is still owned and occupied by descendants of the original family of nobility, after 33 generations. One-third of the castle currently serves as private residence of the Eltz-Kempenichs, and only a dozen of the 100 plus rooms is open to public visits as part of the official tour.
While the exterior was impressive enough, even more amazing was the immaculate living quarters and knights' halls with their tapestries and frescoes, many preserved in the same condition as 500 year ago. The 40 minute tour was given in English, though no photos were allowed.
There's also an exhibition of the family's treasure vault of gold and ivory artifacts since the Middle Ages. We finished just in time before a mass invasion by the same elementary school students whom we overtook in Moselkern. So it's confirmed -- our route from Moselkern must have been the easiest hike to Burg Eltz.
Our self-serve lunch at the castle's cafeteria consisted of the modern peasant's fare of pea soup, currywurst and bottles of Radler. Prices were actually much more reasonable than I expected of a tourist attraction. After lunch we hiked beyond the castle for a better vista of its exterior, then started our return trip back towards Moselkern.
We arrived back at Moselkern around 16:00, 5 hours after starting our hike from the station. According to the timestamps on our pictures it took about 80 minutes uphill and 70 minutes down, quite a bit quicker than we expected of a 10 km round-trip. Soon after we boarded the next train for Cochem, where we spent the rest of our afternoon at the weekly open-air market.
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