Tratzberg Castle — Attraction in Stans

Really nice castle and a great outing for a few hours. We read a lot of the reviews beforehand, so we showed up before they opened at 10 am on a Wednesday. We hadn´t booked in advance, since we decided to go less than 24 hours before. There is paid parking (1 euro pr. hour if I remember correctly) at the bottom and you can ride the small train to the castle, if you need to. It is not free however. We didn´t ride the train, but decided to walk to the castle. You can follow the road or go through the forrest. Both are hard if you are not used to walking up a hill. When we arrived there was a few benches and other seating places around the entrance. We went in and bought the tickets the moment it opened. They told us a group would arrive at 10 and we might be able to join them. Otherwise we had to wait 20-30 minutes. We opted for the VR experience and afterwards we were allowed to join the group. The VR was fine, but it didn´t last long and mostly just showed the castle from above. But if you want a bit extra and you have kids with you, I think the extra few euros pays off. They have several languages to choose from. The castle itself is pretty and the view is very nice. The tour guide was well informed and the audioguides worked just fine. They really did a good job at making the tour immersive and telling a story. You are not allowed to walk around freely, even after the tour in the courtyard, so you won´t have a lot of time in each location. The ticketoffice has some fun things for the kids to play with and the toilets next to it were...

Documented for the first time in the 13th century the Tratzberg Castle was used as former border stronghold against the Bavarians and as Emperor Maximilian’s I hunting lodge. In the late 15th century the former fortress was destroyed by fire. The Emperor did not rebuild Tratzberg but exchanged the ruin for a castle of the Taenzels, wealthy owners of a silver mine. They had built the first late Gothic part of today’s Castle Tratzberg in 1500, in a particularly magnificent way, with artful ornaments made of marble, wood and iron. In 1554, Georg Knight of Ilsung, a wealthy merchant from Augsburg, acquired the castle, expanded and changed Tratzberg according to the spirit of the Renaissance age. Proof of those changes are the splendidly painted courtyard and exquisite Renaissance parlours. In 1590 Tratzberg came into the possession of the Fuggers, a well-known and wealthy family of merchants, who expanded the castle even further. Most of the now conserved inventory is from this time. After several changes of owners there was a time when Tratzberg was uninhabited for 150 years. When Franz Count Enzenberg married Ottilie Countess Tannenberg in 1847, the rather neglected castle came into the possession of the Enzenberg family, and it has stayed their homestead since then.

Thanks to the family’s dedication and efforts the 6800 sqm castle with its 5000 sqm shingle roof became a gem of a 16th century Tyrolean castle again. It is now one of the most important cultural monuments of the country and open...

Stunning! 5 stars!

• Like stepping back in time. • So well preserved & presented. • Boys aged 9 & 11 were very engaged throughout. • 8 minute VR viewing is in the ticket office & worth the extra 4€ as it’s a good intro. • armour available in the ticket office to try on (helmets & chain mail) which was super fun for the kids. • Ticket cost includes an audio guide (BYO headphones NOT NEEDED). • You are led around in groups to 9x sections of the castle by a guide. • tour lasted about 1-hour. • RE: parking - .50c / 30minutes. Check out p1 parking (UP THE HILL) first, p3 parking appears to be an overflow. • recommend paying 2€ per person (one way) for the train to get up to the castle — recommend proper footwear for the magical forest walking track to get back down. Otherwise you can buy a return train ticket. • HIGHLY recommend the restaurant where the train departs — food was delicious & very...