Turret-ly in love with castles?. Germany's southern Bavaria region might be your ideal holiday destination - because as these eye-catching pictures show, it's festooned with fairytale-like citadels, hilltop fortresses and opulent palaces. This directory of dreamy castles includes a 'hulking fortress', a 'monument to monarchy' and the world's longest castle.
There is also a Versailles lookalike, a castle so perfectly preserved 'it looks like a film set' and 'one of the most important Baroque palaces in Europe'. They're bound to leave you moat-ivated to book an adventure. Scroll down and head to the comments to declare your favourite...
Hohenshwangau Castle was the childhood home of King Ludwig II. As an adult, the monarch spent summers at the 19th-century 'sun-yellow' castle. Nowadays, the building can be visited on a guided tour. Lonely Planet remarks: 'Hohenschwangau has a distinctly lived-in feel where every piece of furniture is a used original'.
Perhaps Bavaria's best-known castle and the rumoured inspiration for Disney's Sleeping Beauty citadel, Neuschwanstein Castle is visited by 1.4million tourists per year. King Ludwig II built the castle in the late 1800s in order to withdraw from public life, according to the castle's website, which adds that its 'setting could not be more idyllic'.
Harburg Castle is one of Germany's best-preserved historic castles. Lonely Planet comments: 'Looming over the Wornitz River, the medieval covered parapets, towers, turrets, keep and red-tiled roofs of the 12th-century [castle] are so perfectly preserved they almost seem like a film set'.
