The Difference Between a Castle and a Palace

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.

Germany’s Lichtenstein Castle

Touring Bratislava Castle

Exploring England’s Corfe Castle

Neuschwanstein, Disney’s Cinderella Castle

Visiting Germany’s Hohenzollern Castle

Berkley Castle in Gloucestershire

Visiting Leeds Castle in Kent

Romania’s Royal Peleș Castle

Touring Edinburgh Castle

Dracula’s Castle in Romania

Rosenborg Castle and the Danish Crown Jewels

Buda Castle in Hungary

Climbing to the Montjuïc Castle

Exploring Prague 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

Buckingham Palace

Scalloped Trim Dress at the Hofburg Palace

Christmas at Blenheim Palace

Navy Shift Dress at the Palace

The Bahia Palace in Marrakesh

Sintra’s Pena Palace in Portugal

My Morning at Drottningholm Palace

Travel Diaries: The Royal Palace of Madrid

Visiting Palaces in Vienna

Touring The Stockholm Royal Palace

Montazah Palace in Alexandria, Egypt

The Royal Palace in Oslo

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?