The Haut-Kœnigsbourg castle is one of the coolest, most authentic and most breathtaking castles I have ever seen. It’s situated at the top of a mountain and its history is super interesting – did you know it has been completely destroyed not once but twice? And the second time, when the German man in charge of restorating it (yeah, it also belonged to Germany at one point) had just finished the job that took him eight years… The castle became French again!

My point is that the Haut-Kœnigsbourg castle is really, really cool. Unfortunately, getting there can be a little difficult. Here’s how exactly to get there:

By car

The easiest way by far is to borrow or rent a car. This option allows you to have a ton of flexibility, and you can even stop in some of the cutest villages you’ll ever see on the way!

If you have a GPS or Google Maps on your phone, you can just enter “Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg” in the search bar and you’ll find it very easily.

From Strasbourg (roughly 50 minutes) :

From Colmar (30 minutes) or Mulhouse (55 minutes):

Going by car is pretty straight forward, but if you’re visiting during winter the windy roads just before the castle can be slippery. If there’s snow you might even need chains. During summer make sure you go early if you want to find a parking spot.

With Public Transportation

The Train to Sélestat

You can take the train from Mulhouse, Colmar or Strasbourg to Sélestat. From Sélestat, you have multiple options to get to the castle:

The shuttle bus

There’s a bus you can take from Sélestat train station that takes you all the way to the castle. You can check out the current timetable and fares here.

Walking

You can choose to hike the remaining 10km. I don’t necessarily recommend this but hey – why not. There are two hotels at the top so you can hike up one day and hike back down the next.

By bike

Lots of people like biking on mountain roads. The views are beautiful, you can stop whenever you want, and it’s much faster than walking.

If you feel brave enough to do this, you can rent a bike in the city you’re staying in and take it with you on the train. Otherwise you can also rent a bike in Sélestat. If you’re staying in Strasbourg I recommend renting a VélHop bike.

By Uber

If you don’t want to bike uphill for an hour or walk uphill for three hours, the most convenient option is taking an Uber from Sélestat’s train station. All you need is the Uber app and a charged battery. The ride costs about 22€ one way.

Are you plannig a trip to the Haut-Kœnigsbourg castle? What did you think of this blog post? Tell me in the comments!

You can find more posts about France here!