England · A day from London
Windsor Castle has been home to the kings and queens of England for nearly a thousand years, which makes it the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world. Set on a chalk bluff above the Thames just west of London, it is at once a working royal residence and a living museum, and you can feel the centuries layered into its stone the moment you pass through the gates.
Inside, the State Apartments glitter with old masters and gilded ceilings, while St. George's Chapel, a masterpiece of perpendicular Gothic, holds the tombs of ten sovereigns and has hosted royal weddings within living memory. Time your visit well and you may catch the Changing of the Guard in the castle precincts, a flash of scarlet and bearskin against the medieval walls.
It makes an effortless day trip, barely an hour from the capital, yet it never feels like a quick stop. We like to pair the castle with a stroll down the Long Walk, the grand tree-lined avenue that sweeps away from the gates, and a wander through the pretty riverside town, with the playing fields of Eton just across the bridge.
