Burg Eltz - Train station?
 

We will be staying in Trier, then travelling by train (or maybe boat) to Koblenz. We want to stop at Burg Eltz along the way.

Is it accessible by train? If so, which station should we get off at? Is there a luggage locker to stash our luggage? Can we walk to the castle from the station, or do we need to take public transportation/taxi?

Any info to help us get to our destination would be greatly appreciated.

Robyn & B.J.

If my memory serves me correctly, you will need a car to go to Burg Eltz.

There may be a bus or day tours from Koblenz. When I went we drove. It is not off a main road.

The station is Moselkern. It isn't much of a station. You may even want to make sure your train stops there (but even if not listed it may stop....kind of confusing). No left luggage or lockers when I was there in 98 (and no one in the station that could answer questions). You'll hike for approx. an hour from the station to the castle through a forest. Beautiful hike, but not as much fun with packs.

Other posts have talked about doing that, and the Burg Eltz Web site has directions by train:

http://www.burg-eltz.de/e_index.html

Artstuff,

We were wondering the same thing back in 2001 when we set out to see the Burg. The info is a little sketchy about how to get there by train, but Moselkern is where you stop. Always check the schedule because every train does not stop. At the station we found a person who let us leave our luggage in a secure part of the small station. This is a common practice because he wouldn't even take any money for his trouble. I have heard that there is public transport to the Burg, but we couldn't find any. The walk throught the woods is about an hour of steady walking through the woods over various terrain. It is a medium to difficult walk. Halfway along the path you will find a small restrauant, stop to take a break. Always watch for the signs, which are all in German (Weg = path or walk). Stay on the path. When you finally arrive at the castle you will have a long stairway to climb, your final challenage. Make sure you start this trip early in the day because you must now walk back to the station where you luggage is waiting for you. The last tour of the day is at 4:30. I hope this helps. I think it was well worth the walk. Have fun.

Greg

Hi! Did the walk from Moselkern to the castle in 2002. All the posters above are right on. One little thing however is that you need to walk throught the town first, and we found that the path was not marked so clearly. But eventually you pass underneath the rail line and then you're fine.

Boy, I had no idea some people hike an hour to get to Burg Eltz. I thought it was quite a "hike" in the car.

If you hike in, remember you need to hike out AND make certain that when you get to that train station there is a train going where you want to go (or you've packed sleeping bags and a tent).

Reading all this, I would still get there by car.

We came in Moselkern by train and walked up to Burg Eltz. As the other posters said it is about an hour each way. While the walk was not difficult it took us every bit of an hour and we passed people the entire route. We planned our trip to catch the ferry from Moselkern to Cochem which was a nice trip through one of the locks. Almost all of the trains stop in Cochem to return to Koblenz. The boats on the Mosel are slow because of the locks but we enjoyed this trip. I selected this part of the Mosel since I read it was the most scenic. I recall it was about 1.5 hours.

None of the other posters suggested a taxi from the station. I read it was possible but it was a small station and I did not see any taxis when we came into town.

Thanks for all your valuable input. We were hoping NOT to rent a car on this travelling holiday, however, we REALLY want to see Burg Eltz, and though we don't mind hiking an hour each way, we don't want to do it in bad weather, if it should arise.

Robyn & B.J.

We used the train between big cities where a car would not be especially useful, then a car for the rest of the trip which was to smaller places. It really worked well for us. With the care we were able to go where we wanted when we wanted--driving was easy and parking free everywhere we went.

I had to literally run from Burg Eltz to the station at Moselkern to catch my train. It wasn't a fun 1/2 hour!

Something others may have mentioned: There may be other transportation (taxi, tram, etc.) available during the summer, when it is busier (we were there in the spring). I think we walked past what looked like a tram (parked) that might have been used to take people up the castle (or I assumed that was its function).