Turrets, towers and secret staircases… If you’ve ever dreamt of walking into a scene from Sleeping Beauty or Beauty and the Beast, these real-world castles are the next best thing. Scattered across the UK and Europe, they inspired myths, movies – and even the original Disney castle itself.
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But behind the fairy-tale facades lie centuries of real history, from medieval battles to eccentric royal visionaries. Whether nestled in Scottish hills or perched high above Bavarian valleys, these magical castles are well worth a visit (or at least a daydream).
Best Disney castles
Castell Coch, Wales
Castell Coch – or “Red Castle” – rises up from the ancient beech woods of Fforest Fawr, visible from the M4 for lucky passers-by. A Norman castle once stood on this site in the 11th century to protect the nearby Cardiff and the route along the River Taff, but these ruins were acquired by John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, in 1760, a part of a marriage settlement. He commissioned the architect William Burges to rebuild the castle as a country residence – after having commissioned Burges to also design the reconstruction of Cardiff Castle.
Bute planted a vineyard just below the castle, with commercial wine production continuing into the 20th century. This Gothic Revival castle features conical roofs with copper-gilt weathervanes, but also central heating and other modern effects.
Bute fell out of love with the project before its completion, and with Burges dying suddenly in 1881, some rooms were never even finished. The building fell into disuse and was requisitioned for British and American troops during the Second World War. In 1950, the 5th Marquess of Bute placed the castle in the care of the Ministry of Works, and gave Cardiff Castle to the city. The castle is now cared for by Cadw and has been used as a location or films and TV programmes including The Worst Witch and Wolf Hall.
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Lichtenstein Castle, Lichenstein
The privately-owned Lichtenstein Castle is in the Swabian Jura of southern Germany. It has remained in the hands of the Urach family since it was constructed on the historical foundation walls of a medieval knights’ castle in the 1840s. This modern castle was inspired by Wilhelm Hauff’s novel Lichtenstein, which was set in the area. The new construction included the foundation walls of the ancient fortress, expanding the castle complex. Its name means “shining stone” or “bright stone”.
Just as the architects of Castell Coch were inspired by the rise of Gothic Revival architecture, so too were the creators of Lichtenstein Castle. It appears on the landscape as both a medieval fortress and a dramatic fairy-tale castle, with pointed arches, beautiful towers and a dramatic hilltop location overlooking the Echaz valley.
Craigievar Castle, Scotland
No castle gets closer to the Disney archetype than Craigievar Castle, set on the picturesque Craigivar hillside in Aberdeenshire. It might have even been the original Disney castle, as Walt Disney was believed to have taken inspiration for his own creations after seeing pictures of it.
Although construction began in the late 16th century, the seven-storey castle wasn’t completed until 1626, after William Forbes purchased the incomplete structure from the Mortimer family. The castle remained in the Forbes family until 1963, when it sold the estate to the National Trust for Scotland.
An example of Scottish Baronial architecture, the elegant pink tower has remained virtually unchanged since this time. A major conservation project took place in 2023 to restore and protect its famous pink colour, after it had been threatened by persistent Scottish rain.
Hohenzollern Castle, Germany
Hohenzollern is the ancestral seat of the House of Hohenzollern – a prominent European royal family originating in Germany, who once ruled Brandenburg, Prussia, the German Empire and the Kingdom of Romania. As is often the case, two castles preceded the existing construction on top of Mount Hohenzollern, with the first built in the early 11th century.
The castle we now see perched atop the mountain overlooking Hechingen was built between 1846 and 1867, based on the English Gothic Revival architectural style and the castles of the Loire Valley in France. There are elements of military architecture, with a drawbridge forming the entrance to the castle, as well as Protestant and Catholic chapels and several major towers.
Corvin Castle, Romania
Another Gothic Renaissance gem is Corvin Castle in southwestern Transylvania, dominating the landscape above the Zlaști River. Construction on the original castle began in 1446, but this castle fell into disrepair after a fire and many years of neglect. The new structure is shaped by a mix of rectangular and circular towers, some of which were used as prisons.
Owned by the leading Hungarian military and political figure John Hunyadi in the 15th century, it then passed through other Hungarian noble families after the end of the Hunyadi line. After the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Corvin Castle became state-owned. It served as a filming location for films including the 2024 remake of Nosferatu.
Neuschwanstein Castle, Germany
This elaborate castle is built atop a dramatic rock ledge over the Pöllat Gorge in the Bavarian Alps. Construction began in 1868 under the instruction of Bavaria’s King Louis II – the man believed to have inspired the story behind Tchaikovsky’s ballet Swan Lake.
Louis II had spent much of his childhood at Hohenschwangau Castle, a neo-Gothic, medieval-inspired castle very close by. He wanted to build a “New Hohenschwangau Castle” even closer aligned to his fascination with fantasy and medieval legends. Neuschwanstein stands on the site of two smaller castles, with the new foundation stone laid in 1869. Louis died by drowning in 1886, with the castle still unfinished.
As with many of the other castles featured here, Neuschwanstein was built during a time when castles were romanticised, medieval-style homes, rather than fortified strongholds – and came with technological comforts necessary to the nobility that inhabited them. Louis was one of Richard Wagner’s patrons, and wall paintings throughout the castle depict the legends that inspired the great composer’s best-known operas: Parsifal, Tannhäuser and Lohengrin to name a few.
Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in California is the oldest of all Disney castles, and was based on the design of Neuschwanstein.
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