Gräfenstein Castle

Great Castle ruins. Open free access. Plenty of parking with a short hike up hill to the castle. Full access. You can climb the tower.

I really liked it here. Besides one hour Forest walk and a extra 15mn tour around the castle you have much to visit at the castle estate for a fair price. Extras are the churches and very funny bells tower you can ring yourself with the kids !

Nice little hike to the castle where you have great views and a spot to eat lunch.

This is probably one of my favorite ruins so far, and we’ve seen about 30. First of all, it’s free, unmonitored (so 24/7 access), has a large and relatively close dedicated parking lot, and has 30-60 minutes worth of exploring. E came here today as a party of 2 Adults and 3 kids (ages 5,3,.5; I wore the baby and the other two walked). The lot has tons of space, a lot of which was shaded, and two picnic tables. There is a sign over the path to the castle that you can’t miss. The trail is zig zag but fast (took the 3yo 10ish minutes to walk), but definitely not stroller friendly due to rocks, roots, and steps). There may be a stroller friendly path that we saw leaving the castle but I don’t know where it ends up. The castle itself has awesome history being from the 1200s and is just impressive to look at. It has amazing views from several locations, but particularly from the tower. The tower is actually tucked away in a place that makes it easy to miss, so keep your eye out for a dark stairwell going up and use your flashlight because the first two flights are very dark. There aren’t any picnic tables within the castle but there are plenty of rocks that served the purpose at the base of the castle. We saw many dogs and bicyclists on this warm July Monday afternoon. There was a small amount of litter but nothing crazy. There is a map on a sign and online explaining what each of the rooms was, which I recommend using. I might actually come back to this one!

Excellent castle ruin. Had a really enjoyable experience hiking up to the castle and exploring it.

Steep walking path but worth it. 360° view at the tower top and pretty view of the town. Plenty of parking below. Another mountain view is a short 3k hike away to Winschertfels. You can see the castle from this vantage.

Incredible burgruine! Park in lot at bottom of Hill and walk up to the top of the hill to get to the Burg. Really amazing place to explore and take pictures. Both times I have been there is was the only person so it's a very peaceful place with great views! If you go up the tower make sure you have a flashlight.

One of the best castle ruins weve seen. We went on a sunday evening and no one else was there

Waw! Beautifull view on top of the tower!

Free access to a state owned, 800 year old castle. Steep climb, but great views.

Wonderful old castle with amazing views and historic details

Used to hike to this ruin quite often while stationed in Muenchweiler in the late 70's. One of my favorites!!

It’s a best view that I have ever seen!!

Favorite castle in the Kaiserslautern area. You can camp, have fires, rappel off the tower, climb the walls. Love this place!

Beautiful and quiet place with a spectacular view.

Great castle to visit with really nice views. Free entry but it's good hike up to it. If you choose to climb to the top of the tower I recommend using a flashlight (your phone will work). The stairs are narrow and there are places with little light. The castle is in great shape. From the opposite side of the parking lot there is also a trail leading to another lookout with views of this castle.

Beautiful castle ruin. Plenty of space to roam around and explore. I came for a festival and had a lot of fun. A bit of a hike. Parking at the time was difficult but I think that would not an issue on a normal day.

One of my favorite ruines in Germany. Really lets your imagination run wild. See my original first youtube video on this place..... https://youtu.be/BuGSaKI1K4s

Good walk uphill, for cardio, a very beautiful view from the top of the castle, take a flashlight you will need it climbing the stairs.

Beautiful hike with steps up to the castle ruins. You can go up the tower and enjoy the 360° view!