Burg Eltz castle

How is your fitness level? The walk from Moselkern is beautiful and ends with almost magical views of Burg Eltz from below. You literally walk out of a forest path and see a giant castle in front of you...like a fairy tale. Plenty of picture-taking opportunities without the castle needing to be open. The down side is that it is 1.5 miles each way -- mostly flat, but some hills. I'd call it easy to moderate. So you are devoting over an hour just to the walking; maybe more depending on fitness level. The trail is well marked.

There's a reason the Elztal (Elz Valley) is lush with vegetation... if it's been raining, which it almost always has in this area, you should expect some muckiness on the trail that takes you through there. Can't comment about accessibility by car in late November - the one time I drove there was in summer, and I chose to park at the Ringelsteiner Mühle trailhead at the end of town for the purpose of walking up the trail. It was surprisingly damp even then. I would email the castle administration to ask about that.

The parking lot for the castle is .6 miles from the castle itself and you’d normally take a shuttle bus to the castle. My guess is you still be able to park at it and walk closer. Between it and the castle is Aussichtspunkt Burg Eltz observation deck and a small chapel where you can get a good view of the castle. You could possible park there if you’re not going to wander anyplace else.

I found the trail from Moselkern very easy walking (hiking would be overstating it). The only hard part of the trail was the last bit climbing up to the castle entrance, and then only because it winded me a little. Whether the trail will be wet, I can't say. It seemed to have good drainage when I walked it, but it depends how much rain it has received right before your visit.