The Rietburg is a ruined hillside castle on the edge of the Palatinate Forest above the village of Rhodt in the county of Südliche Weinstrasse in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

The Rietburg stands at a height of 535 metres above sea level on the northeastern flanks of the 618-metre-high Blättersberg, a peak in the Haardt mountains that form the eastern edge of the Palatinate Forest.

This may be reached by taking the Edenkoben exit off the A 65 motorway from Karlsruhe to Ludwigshafen am Rhein), then following the road to Rhodt and, subsequently to Rietburg.

These noblemen were initially vassals of the North Alsatian Benedictine abbey of Weißenburg, later they became ministeriales and feudatories of the then German Hohenstaufen lords.

In the conflicts that broke out after 1250 between the Hohenstaufens and the Welfs he remained a Hohenstaufen follower and went down in history as the result of a political hostage taking: in 1255 he took the Welf Queen Elisabeth, wife of the German king, William hostage, together with her escort during a journey from the episcopal town of Worms to the imperial castle of Trifels near the village of Edesheim.

[1] In 1470, during the Weißenburg Feud between Prince-Elector Frederick the Victorious of the Palatinate and his cousin, Duke Louis the Black of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, the Rietburg was shelled by Leiningen troops and badly damaged, but remained inhabitable.

The bottom station is accessible on foot or by car and is located near the schloss of Villa Ludwigshöhe, a stately residence built from 1846 to 1852 by order of Louis I of Bavaria.

The top station of the Rietburgbahn lies just a few steps away from the castle ruins and a pub, the Höhengaststätte Rietburg has been incorporated into it, which has an open-air terrace with extensive views over the Rhine Plain.

The view continues to Steinsberg near Sinsheim, the highest point of the Kraichgau region; and in clear visibility the Heuchelberg and Stromberg may be seen.