Grimmenstein Castle

Grimmenstein, Austria

The museum-castle Grimmenstein is the most famous sight of the village of the same name. The building consists of a so-called high castle on the rock and a hillside castle below. The name of the castle dates back to the 12th century, but its foundations and parts of the masonry are much older. Some sources point to a much older history of the castle, for example, part of the preserved keep is said to date back to a Roman watchtower around 2,000 years old. After years of decay, it has been undergoing extensive renovation by the Grimmenstein family since 2014.

The closest public parking is the Asfinag parking lot in the valley, from which a slow train departs every hour during opening hours. To linger until the next guided tour of the castle, you can enjoy the magnificent panorama of the Buckligen Welt from the terrace and fortify yourself with snacks, homemade pastries and drinks.

The destination is also popular as a location for children's birthday parties and private celebrations. The castle is heated and can be used for events all year round.

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Details

Founded: 12th century
Category: Castles and fortifications in Austria

Rating

4.5/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Gerd Krapf (9 months ago)
Looks nice from Outside, plus great area for hiking. Opens 30.03 to end of October only.
Jose Miguel Potthoff Pugin (21 months ago)
The worst host. To bad: nice place, bad management. Update: Well, I think people can get an idea of what "worst host" and "poor management" means with the answer to my review (and some other reviews below). And just to add a bit more information to provide some context: Yes, we went out of opening hours to show it to our 12-year-old niece who is visiting us from Chile (so yes, the first real castle not from a history book). Well, we had not even planned to go in, but as there was a car parked outside, my wife stepped on the bridge to ask, at the same time our niece was taking a photo of the castle, and actually she was more than 20 meters away from the entrance, when they started screaming (in a very unfriendly way for us as adults, you can make your idea for a child seeing her first castle) at her that "she should not be taking pictures of him"... of course, this was the end of our tour, and we did not invest more time seeing it. Make up your own mind... but as you can also read in other comments, the mood of the day of the person in charge is as random as the weather, and like us, it can affect your experience and that of your children. PD: Our 4-year-old did not understand what was wrong with this person, and fortunately our 1-year-old did not even care, but yes, one of our dogs (a 13-year-old one) was not happy about it. PD2: By the way, the castle looks much nicer from the outside and from a distance... just a tip ;)
Rick Jonsson (2 years ago)
Nice renovated castle in the hills outside Vienna, however it is a 40-minute walk uphill from the parking! Although there is coffee and cakes in the dining hall.
Martin Kuijlenburg (2 years ago)
A small castle where the very sympathetic owner shows how he lives there in an authentic setting. Beautiful views and a nice terrace with drinks, sausages or Strudel.
Andras Horvath (3 years ago)
It is a really nice place if you like the castles and the nature. Unfortunately the owner wasn't in his best mood during our visit (probably because of the rain), but the castle is nice and there is a great view from the tower (you can see the whole valley) I recommend to use the "train", which is a great adventure :D :D This train was one of the best part of our trip :D
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