Top 5 most beautiful castles in the world

While most travellers are more focused on temples, pagodas, and shrines, there are some incredibly impressive castles out there, especially in Europe, which often go unnoticed – despite their sheer size! Here are 5 of the very best from around the world.

Cape Coast Castle

5. Cape Coast Castle is located on the Southern coastline of Ghana. It is an old slave castle, with horrible conditions inside for its captives. From here, many Africans were taken aboard ships to the Americas to be used for the slave trade.

Bran Castle: the home of Dracula

4. Bran Castle is a national monument and landmark in Romania. The castle fortress is situated on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia, and is commonly referred to as “Dracula’s Castle”. Nowadays, the castle is a museum and is open to tourists.

Himeji Castle

3. Himeji Castle is a hilltop Japanese castle complex located in the Hyōgo Prefecture of Japan. The castle is regarded as the finest surviving example of prototypical Japanese castle architecture, comprising a network of over 80 buildings and containing advanced defensive systems from the feudal period.

Chateau de Chillon

2. Chateau de Chillon in Switzerland is an island castle located on the eastern side of Lake Geneva, strategically based at the foot of the Alps mountain range. It is among the most visited castles in the whole of Europe.

Neuschwanstein Castle

1. Neuschwanstein Castle is an incredible fairytale-esque castle near Munich in Germany, and looks especially nice in the winter covered under thick layers of snow. The castle was the inspiration for Walt Disney’s “Cinderella Castle” at Disneyland. It is now the most visited tourist attraction in Germany.