Not once, while travelling in North Rhine Westphalia, had we heard talking about Sauerland… If you’re a lover of recreation activities: trekking on scenic mountain trails or mountain biking or even water sports, this land of fields and forests is a great place to do all that and more. And of course, scattered here and there are also a few pretty nice towns.
One of them is Altena, a small town that stretches on the river banks of Lenne.
If you’re interested in other places in North-Rhine Westphalia, also check:
Munster – the bicycle capital of Germany
Ludinghausen and three moated castles
It is an industrial town, developed around the wire manufacturing industry. The German Wire Museum is worth seeing here.
But the topography of the place is what really makes the town special along with the famous Altena Castle.
Burg Altena
Altena, the medieval castle, rises on top of a hill, since 12th century. During it’s lifespan, it’s purpose changed several times: from prison and criminal court to becoming at the beginning of the XX century the first youth hostel in the world.
There is a parking lot just outside the stone gate, but roughly accommodates 10-15 cars. So the other option is to park in the town, and then take the interactive elevator or just walk on the steep streets. A little bit of extra movement didn’t hurt nobody.
When we arrived, part of the walls were in renovation, but we explored as much as we were allowed: went inside the towers and gazed at the scenic valley outside. Then we visited the castle’s museum where exhibits from the various stages can be seen. You can even try on those thick heavy medieval costumes the guardsmen used to wear! I am amazed how soldiers could resist the hot summer days wearing them.
The hostel rooms and the dining areas are also an interesting part of this tour.
A hostel even today
But more interesting is that today you can still spend a few nights in the castle, for prices varying the 20 EUR mark. More info about that here.
Otherwise, the entrance ticket of 9 EUR includes the tour of the castle as well as the elevator from town’s center but also the entrance to the other town’s museum “The German Wire Museum“.
March 2017
Ego Diary Travel 
Another interesting castle to visit. We’ve never to Northern part of Germany and yet there’s so much to discover in the country. Their castles are one of the reasons why I love Germany.
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Yeees, only in North Rhein Westphalia they say there are 100 burgs and castles. Of course, some of them are small, and today private properties that cannot be visited, but still, many of them are left for us, the curious travellers:)
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Oh we love these little castle towns! When we lived in Amsterdam, we drove to these small towns too and truly enjoyed them!
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How cool, have you been to this one precisely?
Yes, Amsterdam is only 4-5 hours away from these parts.
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No, unfortunately. There are soooo many of these small castle towns. One of which we will share about soon when we rotate to Europe in our handprint stories.
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Can barely wait to see what’s about. We travel to there parts often, to vosit some relatives and friends. And it’s always good to get tips on places unseen before.
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This place looks amazing. It isn’t too far from me and yet I had did not know about it. Hopefully I can plan in a visit at some point. Really interesting post.
Helen
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I’m happy it helped! There are always new things we can learn from each other. I for instance found out interestin new things about one romanian town when I was traveling to Bulgaria from one of the locals from there.
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