I often speak on Instagram about how much I love a castle and I am having a great time exploring different ones across England. However, someone recently asked me the difference between a castle and a palace. While I *thought* I knew, after having been to more than a dozen of each I decided to look up the formal answer and I wanted to share that with you all today castle vs palace:
A castle is a fortified residence (either a large house or group of buildings) with strong walls built to defend against attacks. They were often inhabited by royals, nobles, or controlling landlords and inhabitants and usually built on hill tops. They often have thick walls, moats, and other defensive architecture to protect against attackers. On the other hand, a palace is designers for luxury and elegance. The purpose is to display lavishness and are not meant destined with any defensive features except perhaps a gate. Another defining factor is they are often have lush, lavish landscapes gardens. And as a fun fact the word palace comes from Palatine hill in Rome; the original palace! So let’s start with castles, I have featured a dozen of my favorites below including ones in Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Germany, Hungary, Romania, Scotland, Slovakia, and Spain.
Exploring England’s Corfe Castle
Neuschwanstein, Disney’s Cinderella Castle
Visiting Germany’s Hohenzollern Castle
Berkley Castle in Gloucestershire
Rosenborg Castle and the Danish Crown Jewels
Climbing to the Montjuïc Castle
Hever Castle in England (where I got engaged)
There are also quite a few castles still on the top of my list to see is including Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, the Forbidden City in Beijing, and the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. Some of the best palaces that I have featured on Sparkles and Shoes are from Austria, Denmark, Egypt, England, Morocco, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden:
Hampton Court Palace in England
Twice as Nice at Schonnbrunn Palace
Scalloped Trim Dress at the Hofburg Palace
Navy Shift Dress at the Palace
Sintra’s Pena Palace in Portugal
My Morning at Drottningholm Palace
Travel Diaries: The Royal Palace of Madrid
Touring The Stockholm Royal Palace
Montazah Palace in Alexandria, Egypt
I have also been to a handful of other famous ones including the Palace of Versailles just outside of Paris and the Pitti Palace in Florence but either these were before Sparkles and Shoes or I didn’t see fit to write about them at the time. And I have two additional castles we visited recently that will be coming to the blog soon including Windsor Castle and Arundel Castle.
Would you like to see more castles and palaces on the blog?
Touring the Milan Duomo, Including the Roof!
Memories of Madeira
Travel Diaries: The Peace Wall in Belfast 
Bali Scuba Diving: Tulamben and Padang Bai
Rory says
I am going to win a lot of bets at the bar with this fact in my arsenal.
Also a great line of conversation starter for my mom, aunt and grandmother.
Tessa says
Gosh you really have been to a ton of castles and palaces. Such terrific photos and fun to see all the various architecture and decorating styles.
Again so cool that you got engaged at one. So romantic 🥰🥰
Can’t wait to travel again and visit a few of these sights.
Kristen Woolsey says
I never thought about the difference, so this was a very fun read! It’s amazing how many beautiful places you have been.