Ways to explore
Castles & palaces
Royal residences, fortresses and grand houses. 61 picks across 31 destinations.
The best of the best
HawaiiIolani Palace
The only royal palace on American soil — King Kalakaua's 1882 showpiece with its koa staircase, thrones and the room where a queen was imprisoned: Hawaii's monarchy told where it reigned, and where it was taken.
Lake TahoeEmerald Bay State Park & Vikingsholm
Tahoe's postcard — a glacier-carved bay of surreal green-blue water around the lake's only island, with a 1929 Scandinavian castle at its foot.
ParisPalace of Versailles
Louis XIV's staggering royal palace just outside Paris — the dazzling Hall of Mirrors, opulent state apartments, and vast formal gardens with fountains, the Grand Trianon, and Marie Antoinette's estate.
PraguePrague Castle
The thousand-year seat of Bohemian kings and Czech presidents — a hilltop citadel of courtyards, palaces and churches crowned by St.
TorontoCasa Loma
A Gothic Revival castle on a hill above the city — Toronto's own fairy-tale mansion, with grand rooms, towers, a secret passage, stables, five acres of gardens (in season), and sweeping skyline views.
VeniceDoge's Palace
The pink-and-white Gothic palace where the Venetian Republic ruled for centuries — golden council chambers, Tintoretto's colossal Paradise, the prisons and the Bridge of Sighs.
ViennaSchonbrunn Palace
The Habsburgs' summer palace — Rococo state rooms where Maria Theresa ruled and Franz Joseph worked, a vast Baroque park climbing to the Gloriette, and the world's oldest zoo next door.