The Most Magical Castle Hotels in the World for Princesses, Princes and Castle Lovers

Ten castle hotels, each run through our own search engine, and every one of them returned real rooms to book.

Three completely different experiences: a princess-themed room, a hotel shaped like a castle, and a genuine historic castle.

Burg Trendelburg in Germany is the origin of the Brothers Grimm Rapunzel tale, with a tower over 40 metres high.

At Thornbury Castle you can book the room Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn stayed in during 1535.

Here children do not get an ordinary room inside a building shaped like a castle. LEGOLAND Castle Hotel has 142 rooms, split across two buildings: the Knight’s Castle and the Wizard’s Castle.

Every room comes with a world attached: the princess chamber, the dragon knight’s room or the wizard’s observatory. There is a large restaurant, an indoor play area and an outdoor playground, with a dragon and a mounted knight standing in the grounds.

The hotel is a three-minute walk from the Billund park in Denmark, which makes it one of the best fits for a family with small children who want to play the fairy tale rather than just look at an old castle.

Dream Castle Hotel gives you the castle experience near Paris without being a park hotel itself. It uses four-poster beds, wall tapestries and murals to build the fairy-tale atmosphere.

There are children’s play areas, an indoor pool and a shuttle to the parks, and the hotel itself addresses children as little princes and princesses.

It returned more available rooms in our own search than any other hotel in this guide, which makes it the easiest one here to actually book in France.

This is where the guide moves from set dressing to history. Burg Trendelburg is a 13th-century castle in Trendelburg, Germany, and it is the origin of the Brothers Grimm Rapunzel tale.

The tower rises more than 40 metres, its walls reach seven metres thick, and you can climb over 130 steps to the view. The castle was converted into a hotel in 1996.

It has just 22 rooms, each fitted differently into the historic structure, with four-poster beds, hidden doors, low beamed ceilings and bare stone walls. For a child raised on Rapunzel, this is not just another hotel.

Here there is no set dressing at all. Thornbury Castle is a 16th-century castle near Bristol in England, once owned by Henry VIII and Mary I.

The hotel states that the Henry VIII Suite is the room the king shared with Anne Boleyn in 1535. It has an ornate ceiling, a four-poster bed and the original garderobe of the period.

At the top of the tower, up 77 spiral steps, is the Catherine of Aragon Tower Suite, with 24-carat gilding and the largest four-poster bed in any UK hotel, about three metres wide. This is one to tell the children about before you arrive.

Ashford Castle is exactly what people picture when they say they want to sleep in a castle: turrets, stone, a lake, chandeliers and antiques, in Cong in the west of Ireland.

The castle dates to the 13th century and was once home to the Guinness family. It has 83 rooms and suites, including family rooms and interconnecting options.

The experience does not end at the room: the estate is known for activities that suit the castle fantasy exactly, falconry and riding among them. The easiest gateway is Galway or Shannon.

Dromoland Castle is another place that needs no princess set dressing, because the castle does the work. It sits at Newmarket-on-Fergus, not far from Limerick.

Its grandest suite is the Brian Boru, named after the only High King of Ireland, from whom the Dromoland O’Briens claimed descent. It has a four-poster bed, chandeliers and a separate dressing room.

There are also two-bedroom family suites and rooms set within the original castle walls. For a family that wants a real castle but also luxury-hotel service, this is one of the strongest options.

Amberley Castle is a genuine 900-year-old castle in Arundel in West Sussex, with only 19 rooms, each individually designed with antiques and traditional fabrics.

Around it are more than 12 acres of formal gardens, outdoor games and picnics, and interconnecting rooms are available for families.

One detail to know before booking: the castle charges for children from age three and enters them as adults on the reservation. This is less fairy-tale princess and more "my children slept inside a real English castle last night".

And for children who prefer knights, fortresses and history over pink, Schlosshotel Purschenstein in Neuhausen is a classic European castle.

It sits in the Ore Mountains inside a UNESCO World Heritage area, and you can sleep, eat and spend the day within the castle complex itself.

This is less pink princess room and more real fortress, and for older children it can be far more impressive. The nearest major city is Dresden.

The Loire Valley is close to the most obvious place on earth for this guide, and Chateau de Perreux is a genuine private chateau turned boutique hotel with only 16 rooms.

Its great advantage is the location: it sits beside Amboise, in the heart of France’s castle country.

That means you can sleep in a chateau and spend the day among other castles and palaces. For a child who loves stories of kings and queens, that is a whole holiday built around one theme.

This one matters, because many chateau hotels were built mainly for couples. La Borde en Sologne declares itself a family-first property instead.

There is a kids club, activities, a farm, a vegetable garden, woodland, bicycles and a separate children’s pool.

So the parents get a French chateau and a spa, and the children get a castle they can actually enjoy rather than just be photographed in front of.