Europe destination advice

How about the Loire valley? More castles (chateaux) than you can shake a stick at.

We LOVED the Loire Valley......and the gardens of Villandry as well. We stayed in Amboise in Le Manior les Minimes......and it was great. We used it as a base to travel from each day as we toured the castles and gardens.

Loire valley is a good choice. Some are the best we have seen anywhere.

Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England.

For palaces and gardens Potsdam in Germany is one of the best places, e.g. Sanssouci and Neues Palais. Next airports are TXL and SXF (both Berlin in Germany).

Wales - Conwy, Caernarfon, Harlech, Beaumaris, Cardiff, St Fagans etc

South east England - Leeds, Hever, Chiddingstone, Bodiam, Lewes, Dover, Arundel, Walmer, Rochester etc

Any particular kind of castles you are looking for? Since you are in Norway why not start with some Norwegian castles, there are not too common in Norway but there are a couple of them at least.

For more castles, Sweden is close by. And Scotland is not far away. But I agree with MarkK that Potsdam and Berlin would be a great choice as well.

Wales probably has more castles per square mile than any place in Europe. The Loire Valley in France has the wonderful Chateux. We stayed in Blois.
http://www.castlewales.com

Denmark also has plenty. But if you want to distinguish between comfortable palaces versus fortified castles of a certain age, ruined or intact, then that might narrow the options.

Why not to try castles in the Czech Rep. and (or) Slovakia? Not too famous, therefore fewer tourists. Here are few scenic ones worth seeing: Karlstejn, Krivoklat, Konopiste, Hluboka, Pernstejn, Bouzov, Buchlov, Trencin, Oravsky Htrad, Spis, Bojnice, etc. And let's not forget Romania castles.