My favourite schlösser (March 2026)

Some years ago, I wrote a review of my top ten favourite schlösser for a magazine article. After visiting many more schlösser in the meantime, I felt an update was long overdue. So here is a revised list of my favourite schlösser from the Schloss series of books (shown in alphabetical order), indicating in what book or books the schloss is featured. For more information on the reasons for my choices, see chapter 7 of Schloss on the Rhine (the latest book in the series).

Augustusburg (Schloss III, Schloss on the Rhine) – dazzling summer palace at Brühl on the Rhine in my favourite baroque architectural style where the ceremonial staircase could ‘make a choir burst spontaneously into song’.   

Berchtesgaden (Schloss in Bavaria) – captivating, converted monastery in a Bavarian Alpine village with exquisite art treasures and the enthralling story of Crown Prince Rupprecht (son of the last king of Bavaria).

Celle (Schloss) – Hanoverian schloss with a role in how a German duke became King George I of Great Britain and placed his wife under house arrest for thirty years. The family drama played out here rivals any plot in a soap opera!

Hohenschwangau (Schloss in Bavaria) – enchanting holiday home created by King Maximilian II in the picturesque scenery of the Bavarian mountains; an inspiration for the extraordinary castles built by his son Ludwig II – ‘the Dream King’ or ‘Mad King Ludwig’.

Hohenzollern (Schloss in Baden-Württemberg) – spectacular hill-top castle in the Swabian mountains, visible for miles around; rebuilt by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia as a monument to the history of his mighty house.

Ludwigslust (Schloss) – fascinating eighteenth-century papier-mâché palace in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania built on a grand scale by a pious and frugal duke with the most breath-taking schloss church.

Monrepos (Schloss in Baden-Württemberg) – delightful lakeside party schloss where, as the wife of King Friedrich I of Württemberg, the eldest daughter of King George III escaped her suffocating spinster life to shine as first lady of the kingdom.

Mosigkau (Schloss III) – built by an intriguing princess with an independent turn of mind; and part of the little-known treasure trove of palaces and royal parks in Saxony-Anhalt called ‘The Dessau-Wörlitz Garden Kingdom’.

Reinhardsbrunn (Schloss II, Schloss in Thuringia) – romantic gothic-revival schloss in the picturesque Thuringian forest; Queen Victoria called it ‘one of the most beautiful spots imaginable’. Rescued after decades of neglect and now under restoration.

Rheinstein (Schloss on the Rhine) – the most perfect idea of a Rhine castle in the popular Rhine Gorge and a delight to visit; the first of the Rhine castles to be restored by the Prussian royal family after the Napoleonic Wars.

Saalfeld (Schloss II, Schloss in Thuringia) – the kings or queens of sixteen countries descended from this schloss known as ‘The Cradle of European Dynasties’; the warm welcome at Saalfeld makes it a favourite.