USA Guide
California
Hearst Castle
Forty-five miles northwest of San Luis Obispo, the hilltop Hearst Castle is one of the most extravagant estates in the world. The former holiday home where publisher William Randolph Hearst held court for such guests as Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, George Bernard Shaw, and Charles Lindbergh brings in more than a million visitors a year. Its interior combines walls, floors, and ceilings torn from European churches and castles with Gothic fireplaces and Moorish tiles. Nearly every room is bursting with Greek vases and medieval tapestries, and even the many pools are lined with works of art.
Work on Hearst's nearly four-hundred-square-mile ranch began in 1919, managed by architect Julia Morgan, but the castle was never truly completed: rooms were torn out as soon as they were finished to accommodate yet more booty. The main facade, a twin-towered copy of a Mudejar cathedral, stands atop steps curving up from the world's most photographed swimming pool, the Neptune Pool, which is filled with spring water and lined by a Greek colonnade and marble statues – the height of aesthetic glory, or irredeemably vulgar, depending on your taste.
The most dramatic time to visit is in the morning, when coastal fog often enshrouds the slopes below the castle, making it resemble Citizen Kane's eerily evocative Xanadu, which was modeled on the estate. Five different, two-hour guided tours – which are essential, as are reservations – leave from the visitor center just off Hwy-1. New visitors are directed to the Experience Tour ($24), which includes a lush film on the building's construction plus an introductory spin around the Casa del Sol guesthouse and the main rooms of the Casa Grande, while the Garden Tour ($24) offers a peek at the castle's blooms, as well as the guest house and wine cellar. From April to October, docents in period dress take visitors on an Evening Tour of the castle ($30), speaking of master Hearst in the present tense.
Opening time: Daily 8.20am–3.20pm
Telephone: 1-916/414-8400
Website: www.hearstcastle.com