The more I think about my trip to Europe in the fall the more excited I get. There is really something to be said about a trip you plan from start to finish on your own, with your own money, you are much more vested in every part of the process. Recently every time I have seen a picture of something that has any chance of being in Eastern Europe I stop and take a second glance, especially on Pinterest. This lead me down a terrifically scenic rabbit hole into European Castles.
I did an intensive search to learn the difference between a castle and a palace. Of all the answers I came across my favorite said that a castle is a fortified building or series of buildings designed to withstand enemy attacks and sieges compared to palace a which is a leisure building, designed to maximize the comfort of its inhabitants, and impress the visitors. This means that palaces like the stunningly beautiful Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria that I am going to visit on my Eastern Europe trip in September was not able to be included on this list. A few of these were questionable but if they had the word castle in them and looked like a solidified wall, I added them in.

Schwerin Castle
Schwerin, Germany

Mont Saint-Michel
Normandy, France

Bojnice Castle
Bojnice, Slovakia

Castel Sant’Angelo
Rome, Italy

Edinburgh Castle
Scotland, United Kingdom

The Alcazar Castle
Segovia, Spain
( The castle is one of the inspirations for Walt Disney’s Cinderella Castle)

Edinburgh Castle
Scotland, United Kingdom

Hunedoara Castle (Corvin Castle)
Hunedoara, Romania

Kilkenny Castle
Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland

Ksi?? Castle
Wa?brzych, Poland

Prague Castle
Prague, Czech Republic
(I am staying two blocks away when I visit Prague in September, so exciting)

Predjama Castle
Predjama, Slovenia

The Hohenzollern Castle
Bisingen, Germany

Vianden Castle
Vianden, Luxembourg

Windsor Castle
Windsor, England

The Neuschwanstein Castle
Schwangau, Germany
Sources: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16
Aren’t these castles beautiful? Have you been to any of them?

Past Adventures: Bath, England
Cruising Through The Norwegian Fjords
Postcards from Madrid
Dracula’s Castle in Romania
Angela says
I’ve been to Edinburgh Castle, I live in Scotland where we have an abundance of castles so when it’s on your doorstep you sometimes take it for granted. This post has inspired me to visit some castles and appreciate the beauty xo