Best Castle in England, United Kingdom - Map and Reviews

Windsor Castle is one of the most iconic and enduring royal residences in the world, standing as both a working palace and the oldest continuously inhabited castle on Earth. Perched atop a chalk outcrop above the River Thames in the Berkshire town of Windsor, it has served as the home of British monarchs for nearly a thousand years. Today it functions as an official residence of the reigning monarch, a venue for state occasions and royal ceremonies, and a major tourist attraction drawing over a million visitors each year. Few places in Britain combine such extraordinary historical depth with such a vivid, living connection to the present day — on many weekends, the Royal Standard flying above the Round Tower signals that the sovereign is in residence. The castle's origins lie with William the Conqueror, who selected the site around 1070 as one of a chain of fortifications encircling London. Its strategic position, commanding the Thames valley from a natural elevation, made it ideal for defence. Initially built from timber, it was gradually rebuilt in stone during the twelfth century under Henry II, who constructed the iconic Round Tower on the motte. Successive monarchs left their mark dramatically: Henry III added palatial apartments, Edward III essentially rebuilt it as a grand chivalric seat and established the Order of the Garter here in 1348, and Charles II oversaw a baroque transformation that gave the State Apartments their splendid character. George IV spent lavishly on romantic Gothic embellishments in the early nineteenth century, shaping much of the castle's current silhouette. Queen Victoria made Windsor her preferred residence after the death of Prince Albert in 1861, and it was she who established the royal burial tradition at the associated Frogmore mausoleum nearby. More recently, a catastrophic fire in November 1992 devastated over a hundred rooms in the northeastern section, prompting a meticulous five-year restoration programme that returned the damaged areas to their former glory. In person, Windsor Castle is genuinely breathtaking. The approach along Castle Hill or through the town reveals the castle's enormous scale — its walls stretch for almost half a mile in circumference, and the Round Tower rises dramatically from the central motte, visible for miles across the surrounding countryside. The stonework shifts subtly in colour with the light, from pale grey on overcast mornings to a warm honey-cream in afternoon sun. Once inside, the State Apartments dazzle with an accumulation of treasures almost overwhelming in its density: suits of armour, Flemish tapestries, paintings by Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck and Canaletto, and furniture of staggering opulence. St George's Chapel, in the Lower Ward, is a masterpiece of Perpendicular Gothic architecture, its fan-vaulted ceiling a breathtaking achievement. The chapel serves as the spiritual home of the Order of the Garter and is the burial place of ten monarchs, including Henry VIII, Charles I, and more recently Queen Elizabeth II, who was interred in the King George VI Memorial Chapel within St George's in 2022. The atmosphere on the castle grounds varies considerably depending on the time of visit. On quiet weekday mornings, the Lower Ward carries a contemplative, almost meditative quality, with birdsong echoing off ancient stonework. On ceremonial days — particularly during the Order of the Garter procession in June or the regular Changing of the Guard — the castle hums with pageantry, brass band music, and the murmur of excited crowds. The Long Walk, a three-mile ceremonial avenue lined with elms and chestnuts, extends southward from the castle gates through Windsor Great Park, and walking it on a clear day offers one of the finest royal vistas in England, with the castle commanding the far end of the view. Windsor Great Park stretches for nearly five thousand acres to the south and east of the castle, encompassing woodland, parkland, ornamental gardens, the Virginia Water lake, and the Savill Garden, all of which are worth exploring as part of a wider visit. The town of Windsor itself clusters close below the castle walls and offers a range of restaurants, tea rooms, and shops along its pedestrianised streets. Across the Thames, the town of Eton and its famous college are just a short walk over Windsor Bridge. Legoland Windsor Resort lies a few miles to the west, making the area popular with families. The wider Thames Valley countryside, with its meadows, river walks, and picturesque villages, rewards visitors who have time to linger beyond the castle itself. Getting to Windsor is straightforward. Trains run from London Waterloo to Windsor and Eton Riverside station, and from London Paddington with a change at Slough to Windsor and Eton Central station, which is almost directly beneath the castle. Journey times from London are roughly thirty to fifty minutes. By road, Windsor is easily accessible from the M4 motorway, though parking in the town centre is limited and can be expensive, so public transport is generally preferable. The castle is open to visitors most days throughout the year, though it sometimes closes for state visits and private functions, so checking the Royal Collection Trust website before visiting is advisable. Entry to the Precincts and St George's Chapel is free on Sundays for those attending services. The State Apartments and the separate Queen Mary's Dolls' House — a magnificent 1920s miniature mansion complete with working electricity and running water — require a paid ticket. Accessibility is generally good, with step-free routes available through most of the public areas, though the hilly terrain and cobbled surfaces in some sections can present challenges. Among the lesser-known stories attached to Windsor is the tale of Herne the Hunter, a spectral figure from English folklore said to haunt Windsor Great Park, wearing antlers and accompanied by a pack of ghostly hounds. The legend, which Shakespeare referenced in The Merry Wives of Windsor, has attached itself to the park for centuries and speaks to the deep mythic resonance of this landscape. Another remarkable detail is Queen Mary's Dolls' House, designed by the architect Edwin Lutyens in the 1920s: it contains functioning electric lights, a lift, a wine cellar with real vintage wines, and miniature books written by leading authors of the day, including Arthur Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling. The castle also holds an extraordinary collection of drawings by Leonardo da Vinci in the Royal Library, not always on public display but periodically exhibited. Windsor has been the scene of royal weddings, funerals, investitures, and the signing of historic documents, and it remains not merely a monument to the past but a place where the living institution of the monarchy continues to unfold.

Durham Castle is one of England's most remarkable surviving Norman fortifications and one of the few castles in the country that has been in continuous occupation since its construction in the eleventh century. Perched dramatically on a rocky promontory above a sweeping bend in the River Wear, it sits side by side with the magnificent Durham Cathedral, and together the two structures form a World Heritage Site designated by UNESCO in 1986. The castle is not a museum piece frozen in amber but a living institution — it serves as University College, the oldest and most prestigious college of Durham University, meaning that undergraduates sleep in rooms where prince-bishops once held court. This extraordinary dual function as both ancient monument and working academic community gives the place an energy and warmth quite unlike any other medieval castle in Britain. The castle's origins lie in the aftermath of the Norman Conquest. William the Conqueror ordered its construction in 1072, shortly after his brutal "Harrying of the North," which had devastated much of Yorkshire and County Durham in retaliation for northern rebellions. The castle was designed not merely as a military stronghold but as the seat of power for the Prince Bishops of Durham, who for centuries wielded authority that rivalled the king's own. These prince-bishops held the right to raise armies, mint coins, hold their own parliament, and administer justice — a quasi-regal power granted to protect the northern frontier against Scottish incursions. The castle passed through many hands and phases of construction, with each successive bishop adding to and modifying the structure. Notable contributions include the Norman Chapel, built around 1080 and considered one of the finest examples of Norman ecclesiastical architecture in England, with its extraordinary carved capitals featuring beasts, humans, and intricate interlace work. Physically, Durham Castle is a motte-and-bailey structure in its fundamental layout, though centuries of rebuilding have transformed it into something far grander and more complex than those simple origins suggest. The motte, a steep earthen mound, is topped by an octagonal keep that was substantially restored in the nineteenth century after structural problems threatened its collapse. The great hall, dating largely from the fifteenth century, is an impressively large and atmospheric space with a hammerbeam roof and portrait-lined walls. The black staircase, an extravagant seventeenth-century addition commissioned by Bishop John Cosin, is a masterpiece of Baroque woodcarving that sweeps upward in elaborate tiers of carved foliage and classical ornament, its dark oak filling the air with a faint smell of aged timber. Standing in the courtyard and looking up at the layered stone walls, the visitor becomes acutely aware of how much time is compressed here — Romanesque arches beside Tudor brickwork beside Georgian additions, all woven together into one coherent whole. The setting of the castle is inseparable from its character. Durham city itself is small and intimate by the standards of a cathedral city, with a population of around 50,000, and the castle and cathedral together occupy a sandstone peninsula almost entirely encircled by the River Wear. The riverbanks below are lush and green, lined with mature trees whose canopy in summer creates a cathedral of its own. Looking up from the riverbank paths — particularly from the footbridge near Prebends' Bridge — the castle and cathedral together create one of the most celebrated silhouettes in English architecture, a view that has barely changed in centuries. The surrounding city centre is compact and walkable, with the indoor Millennium Place precinct, the covered Victorian market, and a wealth of independent shops and restaurants all within a few minutes' walk of Palace Green, the open grassy expanse between the castle and the cathedral. The interior of the castle is open to the public through guided tours, which typically run daily and are led by student guides who bring considerable enthusiasm and local knowledge to their storytelling. The tours cover the great hall, the Norman Chapel, the black staircase, the kitchens, and other significant spaces, with the specific rooms available varying depending on the academic calendar, since active college life takes precedence. The Norman Chapel, in particular, rewards close attention — its carved capitals are among the most inventive surviving examples of their type in the country, with strange, half-human figures and writhing animals that seem to belong to a dream-world quite separate from the measured grandeur of the rest of the castle. Outside of the tour, visitors can walk freely across Palace Green at any time, enjoying the exterior view and the peculiar sight of students in academic gowns crossing between college buildings. Getting to Durham Castle is straightforward. Durham railway station sits on the East Coast Main Line, with fast services from London King's Cross taking around two and a half hours and frequent connections from Newcastle, Edinburgh, and Leeds. From the station, the castle is a short walk of about ten to fifteen minutes, though the final approach involves a steep climb up to the peninsula — visitors with mobility difficulties may find this challenging, though alternative routes and some accessibility provisions exist. The best time to visit is outside of university examination periods, typically spring and summer, when tours are most frequently available and the city is at its liveliest. The city's relatively mild but damp climate means waterproof footwear is advisable, and the cobbled streets of the peninsula can be slippery in wet weather. Among the less widely known stories attached to the castle is the fate of its keep. By the early nineteenth century the motte had become so unstable that the medieval keep perched on top of it was in serious danger of collapse. The engineering solution, delivered in the 1840s under the supervision of Anthony Salvin, involved a remarkable feat of underpinning — essentially rebuilding the foundations beneath the standing structure without demolishing it first. The result was that the keep survived, but its appearance today is substantially Victorian, a fact that surprises many visitors who assume they are looking at untouched medieval fabric. Another curiosity is the castle's role in housing Scottish prisoners following the Battle of Dunbar in 1650, when Oliver Cromwell's forces defeated a Scottish army. Thousands of prisoners were marched south and held in Durham Cathedral and Castle under brutal conditions; many died of disease and starvation, and their remains have been the subject of archaeological investigation in recent years. This episode, largely overlooked for centuries, has become an important part of how both the castle and cathedral now interpret their past.