Cologne Day Trip: Visiting Drachenburg Castle

Looking for an epic day trip from Cologne? Look no further than Drachenburg Castle! It’s a stunning castle near the Rhine River with a unique history.

I have a thing with castles. I know it, you know it, my cat knows it. There’s just something about the combination of gorgeous architecture, interesting history, and lots of shiny surfaces that really gets me going. So it was a no-brainer while planning my stay in Cologne to take a day trip to Drachenburg Castle (aka Schloss Drachenburg).

There are a surprising number of castles near Cologne, Germany, but I settled on Drachenburg Castle because it fit my ideal day trip requirements. It’s less than an hour away, easily accessible by public transportation, fairly inexpensive to tour, and is beautiful inside and out. Sold! As soon as I discovered this gem online, I couldn’t wait until the day finally came when I could visit it. Lucky for me, my day trip to Drachenburg Castle coincided with glorious blue skies and high temperatures. In a nutshell, it was a perfect day to be alive.

I can’t recommend a trip to Schloss Drachenburg enough! To help you plan your own trip, I’ve shared my experience and a bit about the castle in the blog post below. If you have any questions, please leave me a comment at the end of this post!

read more: My 4-Day Cologne Itinerary

How to Get From Cologne to Drachenburg Castle

This is one of the quickest and easiest day trips from Cologne! The best way to get to Schloss Drachenburg is to take a regional train (RB) or a regional express train (RE) from Cologne’s central station to the Königswinter train station. The train ride lasts about 40 minutes, and parts of the journey take you right along the Rhine River. It’s absolutely stunning!

From the Königswinter train station, follow the signs pointing to the castle. The walk to the castle takes about 30 minutes and goes up extremely steep hills. I wore tennis shoes, but sturdy sandals like Birkenstocks would probably be fine. The path is paved the whole way up, so no need for hiking boots (unless you plan on hiking in the area, of course). If you don’t want to walk all the way to the castle, you can take the Drachenfels Railway up. 

A Brief History of Drachenburg Castle

Schloss Drachenburg is situated on Drachenfels Hill, just next to the Rhine River. Don’t let the appearance of Schloss Drachenburg fool you — it’s not a real castle! It’s actually a private villa that’s styled to look like a medieval castle. It was commissioned by Baron Stephan von Sarter and building began in 1882. At the time, “historicism” was a popular style of architecture and was one of the reasons the baron built this castle-like villa.

Ironically, the baron never actually lived in the castle. He died in 1902 in Paris, and the castle was subsequently inherited by his nephew. From there, the castle continued changing hands rapidly. The nephew sold it to a retired cavalry captain who planned to turn the property into an amusement park. After the captain died in World War I, the castle eventually turned into a catholic boys’ boarding school. Quickly thereafter, it became a training school for Nazi elite.

The castle’s eclectic history continued in a similar vein for many years — changing hands rapidly, until it eventually stood empty during the 1960’s. A man called Paul Spinat bought the property in the early ‘70s and restored it to its former glory.

Visiting Drachenburg Castle

Before visiting this gorgeous German castle on the Rhine, I knew almost nothing about it. As I huffed and puffed my way up the Drachenfels Hill to visit the castle, I thought “this had better be worth the trek.” Oh my, was it ever!

I arrived at the castle near opening time, so I had the chance to explore the castle and park a bit before the wave of visitors hit. Many of the rooms are decorated with dark woods and colorful murals, which were en vogue at the time the castle was built. Although almost every room opens up to a balcony overlooking the Rhine River valley, some rooms didn’t let in much light and felt incredibly cozy. I especially loved the Nibelung Room, which is a “gentleman’s lounge” decorated with frescoes depicting scenes from “The Song of the Nibelungs” (a famous German poem written during the Middle Ages).

The art gallery had the most stunning stained glass windows depicting a handful of famous artists throughout the ages. At the end of the gallery was a withdrawing room where guests could have a drink or enjoy their morning tea. The view of the Rhine and surrounding town from this side of the castle was utterly magical, and for a moment I felt like I was seeing the world from the top of a cloud!

My favorite room by far was the guest of honor suite. It was incredibly feminine — a white four-poster bed, velvet pink curtains, and the most incredible chaise lounge. Off the side of the bedroom was a tiny tower room with a nearly 365-degree view of the valley below.

After touring the castle, I walked around the grounds. The Venus Terrace sits just off the castle, and from here I had a perfect view of both the castle and the surrounding area. There’s also a small rampart off the opposite side of the castle; I visited on a sunny, clear day and could actually see the Cologne Cathedral in the distance!

I took a small footpath down to the bottom of the castle, which gave me a better view of the structure as a whole. It’s even more impressive when looking at it from below!

Tip: You can download an audio guide app to your smartphone using the castle’s Wi-Fi. I didn’t see this app listed anywhere and found out about it from the security guard on duty. I’m glad he mentioned it to me since the signs throughout the castle are all in German, which takes me longer to read.

Hiking to the Drachenfels Castle Ruins

After I’d finished exploring the gardens and surrounding land, I zoomed through the castle once more without taking any photos, just to soak it all up. From there, I “hiked” to the peak of Drachenfels Hill to see the castle ruins there. (Although the path up to the ruins was mostly paved, it was incredibly steep and I’m glad I’d worn tennis shoes.) The view from the top of Drachenfels Hill is unreal. On one side, the Rhine curves its way from Cologne on down south. On the other side is densely forested hillside.

There’s a large viewing platform and a café at the top of the hill, and up another small hill are the castle ruins. Kids were clambering over the ruins and tourists were happily snapping photos of the beautiful greenery and river. Burg Drachenfels has been in ruins for hundreds of years and was an incredibly popular tourist attraction during the Romantic era. Poets like Lord Byron referenced these ruins in their work, and artists used to come make sketches of the area.

It’s incredibly windy at the top of the hill, which somehow makes the whole experience feel more enchanting. I didn’t want to descend, but my rumbling stomach forced me to return to the town to grab some food before heading back to Cologne.

Tell me: What’s your favorite type of tourist attraction? Mine is castles and stately homes, no question! But I also love a good art museum.

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