Top Castles in England

One of my favorites is Windsor Castle. An easy day trip from London and has so much to it! It was started in the 11th Century and is still currently lived in by the Queen. I think it might be the longest inhabited castle by monarchs in Europe.

It’s got to be Northumberland - Bamburgh, Dunstanburgh, Alnwick and Lindisfarne all within a short drive of each other, but all different.

Windsor is easy from London.

Bodiam Castle near Robertsbridge in East Sussex plus a ride on the heritage railway, the Kent and East Sussex Railway, hopefully on a steam train.

Dover Castle is another day trip from London.

I would avoid Warwick Castle, which although it has an interesting history is run more as a theme park by Madam Tussauds.

Do you mean England as in only England or England as shorthand for the British Isles or United Kingdom?

Scotland has many very impressive castles but Wales surpasses.

Windsor Castle is a must see.

If you want to see lots of castles, list Wales, especially the border area between Wales and England. Just near Cardiff there are some great ones, also in the north at Conwy.

I really liked Dover as it is a defensive castle rather than a palace.

Jennifer mentioned most of the ones I was going to mention. I will add Leeds to the list. As geovagriffith mentioned, head across the border into Wales and you have impressive castles like Caernarfon, Caerphilly, Beaumaris, Conwy, Chepstow, Raglan, and Pembroke. There are also a number of castle ruins throughout the country.

I love Warwick Castle. It's got that classic castle look that I always imagined as a kid, plus you can climb the turrets and walk the ramparts. Some of the displays done by the Madame Tussauads people are outstanding.

Thank you all. This helps!!

Newcastle 🏰⚽