Elmstein Castle, Castle ruin in the Palatinate Forest, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Elmstein Castle is a ruin on a 290-metre-high hill spur on the northern side of the Speyerbach valley in the Palatinate Forest. It consists of an older inner bailey and a later outer bailey, with remains of the ring wall, the palas and the shield wall still visible.

Elmstein Castle was probably built before the 13th century as a Palatine castle guarding the valley road; it is first documented in 1194. The lower curtain wall was added between 1220 and 1230. It was damaged in the German Peasants' War of 1525 and again in the Thirty Years' War, and was finally destroyed in 1689 during the War of the Palatine Succession. Afterwards the ruins passed into private ownership and were used by locals as a quarry for building houses.

The castle's name comes from the village of Elmstein below it, and the site is split into an older core castle and a later outer bailey added to the south. The Schenk title held by its feoffees, originally meaning cup bearer, survives in the name of the street Burgweg and the lane Berggasse that once ran through the castle grounds.

The ruins are open to explore freely, allowing visitors to view the preserved walls from different angles and experience their setting within the forest landscape. The site is accessible on foot via hiking trails that connect through the surrounding Palatinate Forest area.

The castle was held by nobles who carried the title of Schenk, meaning their family held a formal court position as cup bearer in the medieval hierarchy. This link to a specific court office set this fortress apart from many other strongholds in the surrounding region.