Cochem castle is about an hour drive from Spangdahlem Air base, but worth it.
The castle is gorgeous and has a lot to look at.
The climb is worth it because the view is spectacular!
We arrived at the front entrance and went into the little gift shop and asked about some tours we saw advertised. The woman at the counter spoke English and was able to tell us that they provide tours throughout the castle every 10-15 minutes. HURRAY!!!! I paid for a 'family tour
pass' which was roughly 16 euro for the ‘family package’, which was definitely
worth it. It covered 2 adults and 2 children.
The gift shop was super cute and had all kinds of souvenires. It also had an attached restaraunt with a gorgeous view and bathrooms as well (these were free too-if you are in Germany you will learn that you have to pay to use bathrooms in most cases).
We ended up with an absolutely wonderful tour guide. She spoke little English, but enough to help us understand what we were looking at throughout the tour. She gave the tour in German and then spoke English here and there letting us know some history of each place the tour stopped. She also had handouts on the castle on certain points of interest. The hand outs were in English, Spanish, Hungarian, and just about any and all languages you can imagine. My children (5 and 7 years old) stayed interested through the entire tour, which lasted about 45 minutes.
At the end of the tour, in the final room, the tour guide had my children open a door to a secret cubbie hidden into a wall. Inside was an old looking treasure chest. When the tour guide opened it, my children “aaaahhhhd” aloud as they saw hundreds of golden wrapped chocolate coins. The tour guide let them each take one. My kiddos thought this was fantastic! She was wonderful and the tour was very informative!!!!! I cannot tell you how interesting this tour was. My kids had a great time. We even went into a dining room where Adolph Hitler ate and we saw his secret escape passage way that he had built into the castle. It was fascinating.
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| Dining room where Adolph Hitler dined. |
They also had rooms with knight’s armor on display. (I had a camera malfunction and these are the only pictures I could salvage. You'll just have to go for yourself to see how unique this castle was. The tour is worth it!!!)
The history of this castle is one of the most fascinating we have been to yet. You can view a brief overview of the history of Cochem here.
In the summertime, at the bottom of the castle, is a very small ice cream shop which we visited on the way out. It was the perfect ending to our hot summer day-eating ice cream in the shade while looking up at a gorgeous castle. Perfect!
Here's the Cochem Castle homepage.
Across the way is a chairlift that takes you to the top of a mountain where you can see the view of Cochem castle from a distance. You can read more about the Cochem chairlift in this post.
Things to know:
Location: Reichsburg Cochem GmbH, Schloßstraße 36, 56812 Cochem
Parking: Upon arrival there is a small parking lot at the bottom of the castle. If this is full, there is some alternative parking. Just before the bottom of the hill, that Cochem castle is on, there is some scattered parking along the road. That is where we parked and it was free.
Parking: Upon arrival there is a small parking lot at the bottom of the castle. If this is full, there is some alternative parking. Just before the bottom of the hill, that Cochem castle is on, there is some scattered parking along the road. That is where we parked and it was free.
Once parked, you have to go up a slightly steep incline to get to the castle entrance.
Hours: Their hours of operation differ for each season, so be sure to check their website.
Prices:
| Guided castle tours | |
| Duration apprx. 40 minutes | |
| Adults | 6,- € |
| Children (6 - 17 years) | 3,- € |
| Groups (12 people and more) | per person 5,- € |
| Pupils over 18 years old, Students | 5,- € |
| Family Ticket (Parents with at least 2 children aged below 18 years) | 16,- € |
| Individual guided tours | |
| Only by arrangement and booking in advance and subject to availability | |
| Normal minimum fixed rate price | 100,- € |
| Children’s tour | |
| Only available by advance booking - Duration apprx. 40 minutes Child orientated guided tour through the usual rooms in the castle | |
| Minimum fixed rate price | 60,- € |
| Children | 3,- € |
| Adults | 5,- € |
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| Photo from Cochem Castle website |
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