It is a popular tourist destination where, each year, a knight's tournament and a garrison festival are held.

The castle became renowned mainly through Count Albert II of Regenstein (1310-1349) who, in the 1330s, had frequent disputes with the rulers of the surrounding towns, the Bishop of Halberstadt and the Abbess of Quedlinburg.

The last male descendant of the noble family, Count John Ernest of Regenstein in 1599.

In 1671 John Erasmus, Count of Reinstein-Tattenbach was beheaded in Austria for being party to the magnate conspiracy, following which Prince-Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg confiscated the county.

From 1671 the medieval castle was expanded into a fortress by the Prussians, who were the last users of its military function.

A characteristic of the fortress is the large number of cavernous rooms in the natural rock (one now houses an exhibition of archaeological finds from the castle site).

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe visited the Regenstein on 11 September 1784 together with the artist, Georg Melchior Kraus, on his third trip to the Harz (8 August to 14 September 1784) to conduct geological studies (two drawings and a rock sample from Goethe's collection of rocks recall that visit).

Using a diamond ring she scratched a hole in the rock, which became so large after a year that she was able to crawl through and escape.