Love to dance? Like EDM music festivals? Then you don't want to miss the Castle Beats Festival held at the largest castle ruin on the Middle Rhine! We spent one majestic day there yesterday, and I can't recommend it more!
I was lucky enough to find out about this festival from a friend and promptly did a Google search to reserve my spot!
I bought my tickets way back in January. I'd suggest grabbing your tickets when possible but booking lodging as far ahead as a year beforehand. The area seems to be a popular tourist destination, and even in January, I had trouble finding reasonably priced lodging within walking distance of the castle. If you want to wait, the event venue (on the website) will offer hotel rooms at Rheinfels Castle itself (I wish I had done this), or you can purchase camping sites about 20 minutes down the road (they offer a shuttle bus).
Or (hear me out), you can plan to spend the weekend in this charming town! It is located on the west bank of the Rhine River in Rhineland-Palatinate, and we loved it from the moment we arrived. If you have been to Bernkastel-Kues and Cochem, this area is similar.
Even from our simple 15-minute walk, the views were spectacular and picturesque.
In addition to Rheinfels Castle, you can easily view the magnificent Burg Katz on the opposite side of the riverbank. It's about a 30-minute (uphill) hike from the city center when staying in town.
But wait, that's not it! There's even a third castle called Burg Maus, which is only a 22-minute drive away (1 hour and 20-minute hike)!
We had time to kill since the festival didn't begin until around 6 pm, so Chanté and I decided to grab a couple of glasses of wine and food with a river view. We found the perfect spot at the Goar Bistro Restaurant Café. Their fried appetizers were to die for!! We ordered the champignons (mushrooms) and kartoffelkissen gefüllt mit frischkäse und krautern (potato pillows filled with cream cheese and herbs). Needless to say, we cleared our plates. The grauburgunder (pinot grigio) that I ordered was very drinkable as well—an excellent light wine. To top it all off, we finished our meal with a delightful dessert: whipped cream and vanilla ice cream on top of "red fruit jelly (currant berries)."
The weather was so amazing yesterday! We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day, and while it has been hot and humid for a couple of weeks, the high yesterday was in the low 70s—beautiful blue skies with fluffy white clouds and a light breeze. I was in heaven.
It was then finally time to make our way to the festival itself! To be clear, as you can see above, our tickets had an opening time of 1400 on them. However, when we arrived at 2:00 p.m., they were beginning to set up, and there were still tourists visiting the castle. We were baffled but eventually talked to a worker, and they said everything didn't open until around 4:00 p.m., and most of it started to get underway around 6:00 p.m. I'm not sure how we missed that information, but if you've ever been to events in Europe, you know how terrible their websites can be and how little information they offer at times. Very frustrating at times. Luckily, some good did come of us arriving at an earlier time. We were able to park right next to the castle in the official parking lot, which made it exceedingly easy when it was time to leave later on.
Before we get started with the festival itself, I want to take a moment to stop and say how amazing I felt yesterday! The outfits were just so fun, especially my hat, and I haven't felt that beautiful or loved my photos this much in a while! Just happy, good, amazing feels all around.
When you walk into the entrance, there are food and drink stands and bathrooms on your left (we never had any issues with long lines for the bathrooms while we were there). Then, further in, there were more, but that's when you split off to the left or right to visit either stage featuring different DJs throughout the night. As you can see above, the drink prices weren't bad (bring cash), and neither was the food. However, the mixed drinks were just meh, and the food was pretty terrible (except for the pommes/fries). We ordered some sort of "calzone" with ham and cheese, and it was warm on the outside and cold inside and just overall super disappointing. So, I highly suggest pregaming somewhere else and having a nice dinner before heading to the festival. They also didn't have enough workers working the stands, so when things started picking up, it took quite a while to order anything (Germans also don't hustle the way we do in America, so you'll have to be patient).
We started dancing around 5:00 p.m., and this was the period I loved the most. We stood at the back with plenty of room as the sun set over the castle.
These are the things dreams are made of.
As you can see, the crowd is a little more subdued overall. I think things get crazier as the night goes on, but overall, Germans aren't quite as loud or enthusiastic as us Americans can be. Don't think anything of it; just be yourself and endure the inevitable stares (lol).
The crowds emerge at sunset, and things begin to pick up! However, sadly, this is when we needed to leave because we had an hour-and-a-half drive home. My feet were also killing me. Small shoes, downhill/uphill climb to/from the town, and cobblestones aren't very friendly to walk/dance on. Therefore, we got a few shots (photos) in and returned to the parking lot. I'd say we left at around 9:30 p.m.
I made a little blog video of our day (below)!
Note:
This is not one of those festivals that go on for days. It has a specific schedule and ends each night at around midnight. I've heard this is a little bit different than most EDM festivals.
Germans tend to dress a little more grungy. Think black and edgy. So, if you want to fit in, I'd go with darker themes. There still were people with glitter and such, but as you can see in the photos, everything was toned down a bit! I saw one guy in a blue unicorn onesie.
We were some of the only Americans there. Some workers spoke a little English, but you might have trouble ordering if you don't know ANY German.
The pfand for drinks was 1 euro; they were all plastic cups.
Yes, I am wearing a red wig. I love wigs!
Wear comfortable shoes. The ground is highly uneven. Even more so than usual.
Additional Information:
Official Castle Beats Website:
Rheinfels Castle Google Maps Link:
Official Rheinfels Castle Website:
Goar Bistro Restaurant Café Google Maps Link:
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