Château du Haut Koenigsbourg, via Nancy: Road Trip in France #5
3 hours of driving are waiting for us between Verdun and Alsace. Our first stop in Alsace : the Haut Koenigsbourg castle.
The road between Verdun and Alsace is very pleasant because we only take departmental roads. There are no highways connecting the two.
Note: this travel diary is part of the series of blog articles covering our 4-week road trip in France. To read or reread the first parts, it’s here : #1, #2, #3 and #4
Part 1: Travel Diary
Part 2: Practical Tips
Part 1: Travel Diary
Lunch in Nancy
We stop in Nancy instead of having lunch in a small village because I have a whim: I want sushi sashimi 😀 and hormi Nancy, the small villages do not offer any.
Note: I always listen to my body when it asks me for this or that dish, because I always tell myself that it’s a signal that I’m missing certain vitamins or proteins. It’s a reflex that I have kept, not being able to feed myself properly when I was little, to always treat myself, no matter what the price or the distance I have to travel.
And since we’re here, we might as well take advantage of it and visit THE place everyone visits in Nancy: Place Stanislas, classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Frankly, when I first saw her, I thought I was in another country. It’s a mixture of places I’ve seen in Spain, Italy and Portugal. It’s huge, it’s too beautiful, and the terraces of the restaurants can’t even take up more than 1/3 of the space because it’s so big. There are two fountains in the surroundingss, and the more you go, the more you discover little wonders.
Haut Koenigsbourg Castle
We are supposed to go first to Mittelbergsheim (which we tell you about in another article) but we spent too much time in Nancy and we have to hurry to the Haut-Koenisbourg castle. Tickets are already bought for 3:30 pm.
Cars park along the winding road leading to the castle. We almost followed everyone and parked at the end of the line, but we could advance as much as possible and be rather close to the entrance, because to make all this way on foot, with an important difference in height, would have finished us.
A bit of history
This castle dominates the surroundings. It can be seen from far, far away. Its strategic position, near the town of Sélestat (crossroads of the wheat and wine road with the salt and silver road) makes it an ideal observatory and a strategic fallback point.
The word “Koenigburg” refers to the royal castle, as it was built by a German imperial family. Abandoned in the 17th century, it was offered to William II of Hohenzollern, who saw an opportunity to legimate the very young Hohenzollern imperial dynasty and symbolically mark the western limit of his empire (the eastern limit being in Poland), by starting a titanic restoration project.
We must not forget that we are only at the beginning of the 20th century, so to transport the construction material, we had to build rails for the steam trains, then use a huge cleaning machine that has become our vacuum cleaner today. Even the pumping station built in 1901 was used until 2013.
The castle represents the typical fortified castle in Alsace in the 15th century. From the beginning of the restoration, the castle was designed to receive tourists, William II never slept there.
The visit
What I really liked about this castle is that there is no guided tour but small stands where the castle employees, dressed as in the Middle Ages, really put themselves in the shoes of a castle servant, to tell us about life in the Middle Ages. I find it very dynamic and it amuses the children a lot, who are surprised to see people from the past hahaha. Because they use expressions such as “we the ignoble ones”, “you the noble ones…”. The chosen scenario is: there is a banquet tonight, you are invited. So we go from one booth to another to discover the banquet menu, how they prepare it, how the meal goes, where, how? It’s very dynamic and fun. You don’t have to stop at the booth if you don’t want to.
The part I liked best was the huge and absolutely incredible spiral staircase, which was only created after the restoration.
The route (arrowed) allows you to discover the breathtaking views only at the end, and the views become more and more incredible as you go along.
Then, this castle is full of details, between the hand forged locks, the ceramic fireplaces full of details, the colorful ceilings, and the carefully decorated walls, it is a masterpiece of craftsmanship.
There is a restaurant, a tea room and a store on site but we did not visit any of these.
It is a must visit if you are in the area, the entrance ticket costs only 9 euros. Just remember to book before your visit (ideally the day before) because with the Covid, the ticket office is closed, you will only be allowed in if you have a ticket. The visit lasts at least 2 hours, and parking on site is free. Move forward as much as possible so that you don’t have to walk for a long time.
The continuation of our road trip in France, it’s this way
Part 2: Practical Tips
Useful links
- There is a shuttle bus serving the castle from the Sélestat train station if you aren’t motorized. 2.5 euros one way
- To book tickets, go to the official website here
- 4 weeks Road Trip in France by car: program & detailed plans here
- These points of interest are part of the +800 tourist places in France that we recommend. To access free Google Maps of the 800 places in question, click here
- More info about our car rental at Leclerc here
Budget
- Toll between Verdun & Alsace: 6.2 euros (for crossing a tunnel)
- Entrance to the castle: 9 euros (to be booked online at least the day before), 7 euros if you have the shuttle ticket
- Parking at the castle: free of charge
