Burg Eltz - worth it?
 

From what I can find, this castle seems to be kind of a pain to get to by public transportation - plus my friend and I will be between hotels that day and we'll have our packs with us. Arriving by train, how far is it/what kind of terrain are we looking at? Is there a place to leave luggage at the train station? One website mentioned a bus in passing - is there a bus to the castle and where can I find more information on it? Finally, I guess I'm asking if this particular castle worth the bother when we'll probably have an opportunity to see several others along the Rhine?

Goodness gracious - YES

DO THE ELTZ!

I cant answer your questions about transportation - we had a car, but nearly everything else on the Rhine is a ruin and frankly overrated as far as I am concerned.

Burg Eltz is a classic original beauty whose setting makes it worth the visit alone - how many castles are DOWN at the bottom of a valley?

Very worthwhile, walk each way 45-50 min. from Moselkern, not exceptionally strenuous my 74-year-old in-laws managed it fine. Ben's website tells you what you need to know:

http://www.bensbauernhof.com/burgeltzfrommoselkern.html

Agree. Burg Eltz is amazing. Not only the castle itself but the surroundings.

Maybe you can get some information from the following website:

http://www.burgeltz.de/e_index.html

Yeah, I went to the Burg Eltz website, but all it says is that you can get there by train and nothing more - most of its info is for those arriving by car. (thanks for the bensbauerhof website, though). Does the hiking trail from the train station go past the car park with the shuttle? I'm also concerned about time - we're trying to fit a lot in in the few days we'll be in the area. Should we plan a half day for Berg Eltz - show up mid afternoon and still get to Trier before dark?

Another question - which train stop at Moselkern do we want? On bahn.de there appear to be at least 2 - Moselkern & Moselkern KD.

Burg Eltz is super!

We went by taxi. Definitely worth it.

Shouldn't that be ELZ?

Harzer

"Shouldn't that be ELZ?"

No, it shouldn't.

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

well, it is a nice castle, but if you are short on time, i would suggest the castle in cochem- http://www.reichsburg-cochem.de/e_frame.html i really like this castle better, the pub. trans. is probably better, and there are other things to do right around the area.

Cochem = "nice"
Eltz = "superb"

Half a day for the castle will be fine. You have to end up somewhere else by nightfall anyway.

You will have no problem seeing Burg Eltz in transit. Several years ago we stopped at Burg Eltz and Trier on our way to Luxemburg to catch a night train to Avignon. Took the train to Moselkern from Koblenz with luggage. We stored our luggage somewhere, I think at the Moselkern train station but I am not certain of this. We hiked up to the castle and took the tour.

Afterwards we hiked back down to the Moselkern station and caught the train to Trier. We spend a couple of hours looking around Trier before heading off to catch our night train. We had no problems and it was well worth the stop (both Burg Eltz & Trier).

The train from Moselkern to Trier seems to run about every half hour. Some required a change to a faster IC train in Cochem. The direct train is a slow Regional train but the scenery is gorgeous.

BTW, the Moselkern KD station is where you would catch Köln-Düsseldorfer ferry line that runs up and down the Rhein & Mosel rivers. There is only one Moselkern train station and is quite small. It is hard to miss.

Ok, ok! I bow to the general consensus that Burg Eltz is too good to miss. LOL. And thanks for the info about the train station, ripit.

Ripit: Is the Moselkern KD station in Moselkern? I will be staying in Bacharach with three teenagers. We will be taking the train to Moselkern to then hike to Burg Eltz. It would be nice to ride the boat back to Bacharach if it is possible to catch it right there in Moselkern. Do you know how we could do this? We will be there in early July. Thanks!

K - yes the stop is right in Moselkern. The ships only stop in Moselkern 2x per day. One in the early afternoon heading towards Cochem and one later in the afternoon heading towards Koblenz. If you time it right, you can take the afternoon cruise back to Koblenz. It takes about 3 hrs. Here is a link to a pdf with all of k-d schedules and information for 2007:
http://www.k-d.com/englisch/interakt...-2007-engl.pdf

Just keep in mind that there are several trails to the castle. We got on a "scenic" trail that turned out to be the trek from hell on a day when temps got into the low 90s and the humidity was the same.

Ripit: Thanks for the helpful information! I will check out the schedules and see what we can work out.