Perched on top of a hill in San Luis Obispo is the Hearst Castle, a National Historic Landmark in Central Coast of California. The castle contains at least 165 rooms including terraces, pools and gardens. It once had a zoo onsite and Mr. Hearst would hold private parties inviting famous guests to his estate. Anyone who had the chance to stay in his estate was very lucky, I must say. This place was huge and beautiful! It was also built to stand earthquakes, therefore, it’s probably one of the safest place to be in when such a disaster happens.

Arriving on a rainy day was perfect to do a tour at the castle, or so I thought. It seemed that people had the same idea. I walked into an herd of people elbowing my way through to buy my ticket. Luckily, I had researched about this place prior to my arrival. I knew there were several tours that you can choose from but, I selected the Upstairs Suites Tour in particular base on the reviews via Yelp. I’d say it was a great decision.

The tour allowed me to see different types of rooms in the castle that were very lavish and ornate. At times, I felt overwhelmed thinking of what I would do if I owned a castle with this much space. On one hand, I could understand now why Mr. Hearst thought it was a good idea to turn his castle into a museum. It contains loads of personal items that are antique and collected from different parts of the world he traveled to. It would’ve been too much to maintain for his family. On the other hand, if it was up to me I’d probably turn it into a boutique hotel.

What would you do if you had the opportunity to own a castle?