Burg Rabenstein hosts conferences for 6 to 120 participants, company outings, Christmas parties and weddings, with 22 hotel rooms inside the castle. It is one of the largest castles of Franconian Switzerland, on a plateau above the Ailsbach valley in Ahorntal, Bavaria, between Nuremberg, Bamberg and Bayreuth, with 64 hectares of grounds and a show cave.
Seminars and company events
The castle offers its meeting rooms for conferences of 6 to 120 people. The Renaissancesaal, the main hall, can be set in a U shape and combines the historic room with modern equipment. The Waffensaal, with armor and an ornate ceiling, takes a round-table meeting. The Drachenstube is a traditional room with a long table for seminars, and the Rabenstein Business Lounge is a modern room with arched windows. A conference brochure details the packages.
After the sessions, the program can include a walk to the Sophienhöhle cave with a campfire and a night tour of the cave, team games on the castle meadow, and archery or axe-throwing tournaments run by outside providers. The falconry on the estate and the Gutsschenke beer garden round out a company outing.
Weddings and receptions
A wedding day here moves through several rooms. A free ceremony takes place outdoors in the Keltendorf on the castle meadow. The reception follows in the three Baroque salons and on the castle terrace, with champagne over the valley. Dinner and dancing take place in the Renaissancesaal, and the Waffensaal can hold a midnight buffet. The evening before, guests can gather in the Sophienhöhle or around a grill buffet in the Keltendorf. The site does not mention a civil ceremony at the castle.
Rooms and capacities
The castle gives 120 participants as its upper limit for conferences and does not publish capacities per room. Besides the rooms above, the Markgrafensaal houses the castle restaurant and can be booked in exclusive use for a smaller group, with the Jagdzimmer next to it for overflow. The Kaminzimmer, with an open fire, is the rain option for a reception, and the rustic Gutsschenke takes outdoor dinners when the weather turns.
Accommodation
The castle hotel has 22 rooms, five of them suites, including a wedding suite. It is open all year, seven days a week, which also allows winter seminars.
Catering
The castle restaurant in the Markgrafensaal serves upscale set menus in the evening and a breakfast buffet in the morning. The castle also produces its own dinner shows in the state rooms, with four-course menus, murder-mystery plays, magic evenings and whisky dinners, a sign that the kitchen is used to serving groups.
History and setting
Burg Rabenstein stands on the Castle Road in Franconian Switzerland, a region of limestone cliffs, caves and medieval strongholds. The castle goes back to the Middle Ages, and its rooms range from the Renaissance hall to Baroque salons. The grounds cover 64 hectares, with hiking trails, the falconry and the Sophienhöhle, a show cave that also hosts concerts.
Getting there
The postal address is Rabenstein 33, 95491 Ahorntal. Bayreuth, Bamberg and Nuremberg all lie within driving distance, and Nuremberg Airport is the nearest airport for international participants.
