As stated in the previous blog, the Castle Road (Burgenstrasse) is an incredible 800km long within Germany, from Mannheim to Beyruth although if the stretch to Prague is included it extends to 1200km. It is one of Germany’s longest established scenic roads lined with 90 impressive castles (and castle ruins), palaces and stately homes. Our visit along this road extended only to 33km between Heidelberg and Eberbach before moving on to a completely different German tourist route: The Romantic Road (of which more later). 

Along this section, are the 'Romantic 4' castles at Neckargemund (Dilsberg), Neckarsteinach, Hirshhorn and Ederbach - the features of this blog - plus the mighty castle at Heidelberg (separate blog) making 5 in total in this area. Neckargemund (Dilsburg) is actually a large fortress containing a significant number of houses equivalent to a small village. Neckarsteinach claims 4 castles in its own right (Swallow Nest or Schadeck, Hinterburg, Vorderburg and Mittelburg). Schadeck and Hinterburg are ruins whilst the other 2 castles are lived in and although it is possible to view the scenery from a distance, none of these castles proved to be particularly accessible.

Hirschorn has a rather splendid castle which is open to visitors and which provides splendid views of the Neckar river and valley whilst the castle at Ederbach is a ruin, reached only via an uphill mile trek through the woods from a small cark park outside the town. All of these historic towns nevertheless have very picturesque old town centres bordering the Neckar river including a very plentiful supply of churches and inns with no shortage of photographic viewpoints which can be seen here.