Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg
Restored medieval mountain castle with sweeping views over the Alsace plain. A serious climb (~550 m up from the vineyards) — e-bike friendly, or lock the bikes in Kintzheim and take the shuttle from Sélestat (seasonal).
History
The castle you see is a 1900s restoration. The site is 900 years old.
The castle was erected here in the 12th century. It was sacked and caught fire in 1633, during the Thirty Years' War, and was then abandoned for two centuries. Most of what you see was restored between 1900 and 1908.
Source: haut-koenigsbourg.fr · checked 12 October 2026
A German Kaiser had it restored — and expressed his ambitions in the doing.
After 1871 Alsace was German. In 1899 the town of Sélestat, which had acquired the ruin in 1865, gave it to Kaiser Wilhelm II, who followed the work closely and visited every year. The keep went up first, as a symbol of its new owner's power; the imperial eagle was set on top in 1906, and the castle was inaugurated in 1908 with a costumed historical parade. In 1919 it became the property of the French state.
Sources: haut-koenigsbourg.fr › the-castles-history, haut-koenigsbourg.fr › the-people-behind-the-restoration, haut-koenigsbourg.fr › a-colossal-worksite · checked 12 October 2026
Most of the men who rebuilt it came from the villages you rode through this morning.
The architect was Bodo Ebhardt, a castle enthusiast based in Berlin. The workforce varied with the seasons, rising from 30 to more than 200, and most of the workers and foremen were recruited from the surrounding villages. Criticism of the reconstruction began soon after the foundation stone was laid in 1901.
Sources: haut-koenigsbourg.fr › a-colossal-worksite, haut-koenigsbourg.fr › the-people-behind-the-restoration · checked 12 October 2026
From the route
Leaves the route in Sélestat on day 2; 8.5 km one-way with 550 m of climbing on paved road.