Arenfels Castle

Bad Hönningen, Germany, Germany

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Arenfels Castle is a picturesque neo-Gothic residence perched above Bad Hönningen amid Rhine vineyards in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, originating as a 13th-century fortress built around 1259 by Gerlach von Isenburg on a rocky plateau with a deep neck ditch and keep.

Transformed into a three-winged Renaissance palace in the late 16th century under the Isenburg and Wied families before passing to Trier's archdiocese and later the von der Leyen family, it gained its current form between 1849 and 1858 through major remodeling by Friedrich Ludolf von Westerholt featuring 365 windows, 52 doors, 12 towers—earning its "Castle of the Year" nickname—and statues of medieval figures like Richard the Lionheart.

Damaged during WWII's Remagen Bridge battles, the privately owned complex retains its romantic silhouette as a cultural landmark visible from the river.