Altena Castle is placed on a small hill right at the edge of the town. From the town centre, you can walk uphill to the castle (about 15 minutes walk) along one of several signposted walking paths.
Though I would usually prefer walking and enjoying strolling through the narrow alleys with great view on the houses and the river, it is totally worth taking the elevator up. WHAAAAAAT, an elevator into the castle?! We had read about it before starting our trip and were not sure, what to expect or whether the elevator was some kind of joke. It isn’t. From the main pedestrian walk in the town centre, you can access the castle via an elevator that goes up through the hill. Between the regular small-town shops in the lovely Altena centre, suddenly a huge glass gate pops up, opening automatically into a big modern hall with a small reception and souvenir shop. It is totally worth buying the combined elevator, castle museum and Wire Musem ticket, as it is barely more than each of them separately. The combined ticket gives access once to each of the three attractions but can be split over several days. From the entrance hall, you walk into a corridor that tells you (partially with projections!) about the origin of Altena town and castle. Then you reach the elevator that quickly transports you right into the main court of the castle/museum. We were very much surprised about finding such a cool thing in a small, unknown, not very touristy town like that.
The castle now is a kind of patchwork museum. It’s basically a mix of very different exhibitions, including the original youth hostel, history of the castle and the wider area, some Altena-independent German history including the world wars…. it gets a little abstract towards the end but it is understandable: as the initial curator of the museum once said, “It is hard to fill an entire castle”.
