CASTLES · PALACES · FORTRESSES
Every castle, the one worth booking.
The Tower of London, the turrets of Sintra, Prague Castle on the hill, Bran in the Carpathian mist. Reviews of the castle, palace and fortress tours worth your time, in the places history was made.
Worth the trip for the castle alone
Three places where the castle is the reason to go.
Plenty of cities have a castle. In Sintra, Edinburgh and Prague the castle is why you booked the flight: a forested hill of palaces, a fortress on a volcanic rock, a walled royal town above the river. Start your planning with these three.
Portugal
Sintra
No hillside on earth is this stacked with palaces. Pena rises out of the forest in egg-yolk yellow and blood red, the Moorish Castle runs its serrated wall along the ridge, and Quinta da Regaleira hides its initiation well below the gardens. A guided day handles the steep shuttle roads and timed entries, and threads the lot before the afternoon coaches arrive. Few places reward a castle lover more.
- 1 Sintra: Pena Palace and Park Entrance Ticket
- 2 Lisbon: Sintra, Pena Palace, Cabo da Roca, & Cascais Tour
- 3 Sintra: Castle of the Moors Skip-the-Line Ticket
Scotland
Edinburgh
A volcanic rock with a fortress on top, right in the middle of the city. Edinburgh Castle holds the Honours of Scotland, the Stone of Destiny and a thousand years of sieges, and the Royal Mile rolls downhill from its gate to the Queen's palace at Holyrood. A guide gets you past the queues and tells you which stones saw what.
- 1 Edinburgh Castle: Guided Walking Tour with Entry Ticket
- 2 Edinburgh: Edinburgh Castle Guided History Tour with Tickets
- 3 Edinburgh Castle: Guided Walking Tour with Entry Ticket
Czechia
Prague
Prague Castle is not one building but a walled town of them, the largest ancient castle complex in the world, crowned by the spires of St Vitus Cathedral. Inside the gates sit the Old Royal Palace, the Golden Lane and the basilica, spread over a hilltop above the river. A guide turns a confusing sprawl into a story you can follow.
- 1 Prague: Castle Tour with Local Guide and Entry Ticket
- 2 Prague Castle 2.5-Hour Tour Including Admission Ticket
- 3 Prague: 3-Hour Walking Tour of Old Town & Prague Castle
If you only book one
The castle tour more travellers rave about than any other.
Out of every castle, palace and fortress on the site, this is the one that sends people home telling everyone they know to go.
The crowd-pleasers
The Most Popular Castle Tours Right Now
The Tower of London, Edinburgh Castle, Pena Palace, Bran. The visits travellers are happiest they booked.
Start with a city
The best castles, city by city.
London for the Tower and Windsor, Edinburgh for the castle on the rock, Sintra for the fairytale palaces. Pick where you are headed and we will show you the castle tours worth booking there.
Which country, which castle
Pick the kind of castle you came for.
A working royal fortress, a fairytale palace on a lake, a Carpathian castle in the mist. Each of these is a country the site covers deeply, and a very different day at the gates waiting at the end of it.
Edinburgh
A fortress over the old town.
Edinburgh Castle sits on the plug of an extinct volcano, looking down the Royal Mile to Holyrood. Inside the walls are the crown jewels of Scotland, the Stone of Destiny and the gun that still fires at one. A guide walks you up past the queues, into the Great Hall and the war memorial, and tells you which stones survived which siege.
See the best Edinburgh castle tours →Prague
A walled town on the hill.
Prague Castle is the largest ancient castle complex in the world, a hilltop quarter of palaces, courtyards and the soaring Gothic spires of St Vitus Cathedral. Inside the gates sit the Old Royal Palace, the cottages of the Golden Lane and St George’s Basilica. A guide turns a maze of staircases and queues into a clear walk through a thousand years.
See the best Prague castle tours →Sintra
A whole hillside of palaces.
Above Lisbon, the forested hills of Sintra are crowded with castles: Pena in egg-yolk yellow and red on its peak, the Moorish Castle running its wall along the ridge, the romantic gardens and hidden well of Quinta da Regaleira below. A guided day handles the steep shuttle roads and timed tickets, and threads them before the afternoon coaches roll in.
See the best Sintra palace tours →Transylvania
Into the Carpathians, castle by castle.
Romania keeps its castles in the mountains. Bran clings to its crag with the Dracula legend in tow, Peles hides neo-Renaissance turrets in the pines at Sinaia, and clifftop citadels watch over the passes. A guided run from Brasov or Bucharest strings several into one long, story-filled day, driving handled.
- 1 Bucharest: Dracula’s Castle, Peles Castle, & Brasov Old Town
- 2 Bucharest: Dracula Castle, Peles Castle & Brasov Old Town
- 3 Bucharest: Dracula’s Castle, Peleș Castle & Brașov Day Trip
By grandeur
How much castle does your day hold?
A single fairytale hilltop above Lisbon. A fortress and a crown in one royal city. A three-castle run deep into the Carpathians. Pick the trip that matches how far you want to go.
A half day
Sintra, one fairytale hill.A morning among the colour-drenched towers of Pena Palace and the ruined ramparts of the Moorish Castle, high in the forested hills above Lisbon. One unforgettable hilltop, an easy ride from the city.
A full day
Edinburgh, a fortress and a crown.A guided climb up the Royal Mile to the castle on the rock: the crown jewels of Scotland, the One O'Clock Gun, the views down to the firth, then Holyrood Palace at the bottom of the hill. A whole royal city in a day.
A castle road trip
Transylvania, three castles deep.A long day through the Carpathians from Brasov: Bran Castle on its crag, the turrets of Peles in the pines at Sinaia, a hilltop citadel along the way. The full Transylvanian castle run, driver and stories included.
Bavaria
The castle that built the fairytale.
Neuschwanstein rises white-towered out of the Alpine forest near Fussen, the dream castle of mad King Ludwig and the model for every storybook turret since. Most tours run from Munich and pair it with Hohenschwangau across the valley and Linderhof in the hills. A guide handles the train, the bus up the mountain and the timed entry so all you do is look up.
See all 12 Munich castle tours →By city
Pick a city and start at the gate.
London for the Tower and Windsor. Lisbon for the palaces of Sintra. Prague for the castle on the hill. Edinburgh for the fortress on the rock. Paris for Versailles. Vienna for the imperial staterooms.
More destinations
More places worth a castle weekend.
Madrid for the Royal Palace, Brasov for Bran and the Carpathians, Vienna and Salzburg for the Habsburg palaces, Istanbul for Topkapi, Beijing for the Forbidden City. The rest of the map, ready when you are.
One perfect castle day
Fortress at dawn, palace by afternoon, ramparts at dusk.
The headline castle before the crowds, a gilded royal palace after lunch, the walls at golden hour. Three stops that turn a castle city into a single unforgettable day.
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