Castles

You might want to look at the Best of Scotland in 10 Days tour.

Its not rick, but few people realize: https://www.google.com/search?q=slovakia+castles&safe=off&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CB0QsARqFQoTCKX89MjYu8cCFQH0gAod2PgBaw

EDIT
As Ron Noted below. After about 10 rows Google starts reaching a little. So here:
http://www.slovakia.com/photos/photographer/11/1353337812_bojnice-castle-11710-1920x1200.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Slovakia_Oravsky_Podzamok.jpg
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Trencin_castle.jpg
http://www.malextra.com/image-library/land/500/b/bratislava-castle.jpg
http://www.my-world-travelguides.com/pics/castle-ruins-in-beckov-slovakia.jpg

James, we appreciate your link to the website for photographs of Slovakia castles. That is a wonderful big collection of photographs ! But some of those buildings are not in Slovakia. Four of those photographs are of the palace Neuschwanstein (of King Ludwig 2) in Bavaria in Germany.

I would agree that there are great castles in Scotland. Some in ruins and some not! His tour doesn't go to this one, but maybe you could go early or stay late and take a day trip to St. Andrews. The castle there is a ruin, but has an impressive bottle dungeon and even better there is a mine that you can crawl down into. They were trying to escape the castle which was besieged, I believe. Another outstanding castle that you can get to by bus probably from Stirling is Doune Castle. This castle was featured in Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail and more recently in Outlander. It's got a great curtain wall. Stirling Castle and Edinburgh Castle are both really great. The thing to remember is that some of these places started as castles and now are more like stately homes. Glamis Castle and Dunrobbin Castle come to mind. There are nice palacey type rooms, but then you realize that the walls are two feet thick. And with Glamis you find out that there is a secret room with a ghost. :)

Some of the castle ruins are pretty cool to--Urquhart and Kildrummy come to mind.

In fairness, I should also point out that Wales has a lot of cool castles as well, but I've not seen them.

For regions well castled my suggestions would be: the already mentioned Scotland and Slovakia with the addition of Südtirol and the Dordogne. Maybe the northern Pyrenees with its Cathar castles, too.

You might re-post this query in the Rick Steves Tours forum. Then maybe one of the staff will respond with suggestions since they often monitor that forum. Also, people who have been on several tours may be more likely to spot it and respond with their experiences. Just a suggestion.

Over the weekend I saw a friend's pictures from the trip that they made to Normandy and Brittany. And she reminded me that these were once separate states and so the borders have lots of fortified castles. She also reminded me about the already mentioned Dordogne.

Pam

I would look at the Best of London tour or the Germanay, Austria and Switzerland tour.
Depending on how old your boys ,I would look at the family tours and see what gets your kids interested.

Take the poor boys to Scotland and be done with it ...
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/04/travel/scottish-castles-for-tartan-day/

yes Scotland is probably ideal.I actually walk past this place every day to and from work, about 3 miles or so from Edinburgh city center, easy to reach by public transport.
http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/index/places/propertyresults/propertyoverview.htm?PropID=PL_123

At least in Scotland the language difficulties are minimal. lol.

Spain is another place with plenty of castles of the fortress variety, indeed the central part of the country takes its name and emblem from them, Castilla (Castilla y Leon and Castilla-La Mancha, with Madrid being historically part of Castilla).

As Pam said about the ones in Normandy, Brittany, in Scotland and Wales, in Spain and the ones in central Europe you are looking for areas where the history has been more of a roller coaster.

I'd add to Scotland, the castles and fortified houses lasted here much longer than elsewhere and fewer seem to have been degraded during the Civil Wars of the 1640s.

There's a castle seemingly around every corner in Germany (not just on the Rhine and Mosel), but I don't know how many you might encounter on a RS tour.