My husband and I and our 4 kids (age 6-12) will be traveling in Germany (with a car rental). We may not have time to see both Hohenzollern castle or Lichtenstein castle, even though I know they are relatively close. It seems the former has more true history while the latter is maybe more popular? Which would you recommend to see? We will have already seen Neuschwanstein & Hohenschwangau, Rothenburg, Berg Eltz, and some castles along the Rhine River.
Many thanks for your input!!
The places you are planning to visit are all very different, and most are not true castles with long, long histories. What you choose to visit might depend on what you are looking for. You may or may not want to be visiting/touring all of those places. Very briefly...
Hohenzollern and Lichtenstein are more correctly PALACES than castles, each a little less than 200 years old. Tours are available.
Neuschwanstein (built about 125 years ago) & Hohenschwangau are both PALACES with tours open to the public.
Marksburg (a Rhine Castle) and Burg (not Berg) Eltz are CASTLES, each with many centuries of history and with tours for the public.
Rheinfels (in St. Goar) is a former Rhine Castle, now a set of ruins and museum. Tours are offered.
Rothenburg is a town which many centuries ago had a castle, I believe, but no longer.
I have not visited Lichtenstein myself. All the others may be worth seeing on one level or another. I would place Marksburg at the very top of the list for its historical value.
One thing you might enjoy, especially with kids, is a castle/falconry show experience. Burg Guttenberg, on the Neckar River, seems to be roughly in your travel area and might work for you:
Ok, I stand corrected. Palaces. I plan on visiting the historical castles along the Rhine that you mentioned. I am still back to my original question—which of these two— Hohenzollern or Lichtenstein—would you recommend if only able to visit one?
I’ve only been to Hohenzollern ( twice ). It has a great location and last time I went there was a special birds of prey show. Lichtenstein has a ropes course and cave nearby, so I would go there.
I just looked up Burg Guttenberg, and it does seem like a neat alternative. Thank you for sharing that.
"I am still back to my original question-..."
Without having been to Lichtenstein, I didn't intend to answer your exact question. Just sharing what I know in case it's helpful.
Maybe someone who has been to BOTH will chime in. If so, you can run with the choice(s) of these individual or individuals. Or you could decide, based on the dozens and dozens of online reviews for both places:
Both Hohenzollern Castle and Lichtenstein 'Castle' can be summarized under the term 'Neuschwanstein syndrome'. They are fake castles that crazy rich princes had built in the middle of the 19th century. They aren't the real thing. Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV had Hohenzollern Castle built on the ruins of the ancestral castle of the Hohenzollern dynasty. Lichtenstein Castle is called 'Schloss Lichtenstein' (Lichtenstein Palace) in German. A Württemberg prince had it built because he was inspired by the novel Lichtenstein about a Württemberg duke who ruled in this German state at the beginning of the 16th century. Hohenzollern Castle is much bigger than Lichtenstein Palace. I would visit Hohenzollern Castle because of its spectacular situation and because of its connection to Prussian and German history.
