UK Royal Castles & Palaces — The Crown Trail

The Great Royal Residences

The crown jewels of royal sites: Windsor Castle（溫莎城堡）— the world's oldest inhabited castle, the late Queen's favourite home, St George's Chapel (royal weddings and resting place); Buckingham Palace（白金漢宮）— the London HQ, Changing the Guard, and the State Rooms open in summer; the Tower of London — the Crown Jewels themselves, 1,000 years of history; Edinburgh Castle（愛丁堡城堡）— Scotland's crown on its volcanic rock, the Honours of Scotland; the Palace of Holyroodhouse (the monarch's Edinburgh residence); and Balmoral (the royal Highland retreat, grounds open seasonally). Add Hampton Court (Henry VIII's palace) and Kensington Palace, and you have a trail spanning England and Scotland — the living story of the British monarchy.

Seeing the Crown Trail Right

The practical tips: pre-book timed tickets for the major sites (Windsor, Edinburgh Castle and the Tower sell out, especially summer); time Windsor's Changing the Guard (scheduled days) and Buckingham's (check the calendar); and know that some rooms close when the monarch is in residence (Windsor and Balmoral vary). The royal sites are scattered — Windsor west of London, the Tower central, Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood in Scotland, Balmoral deep in the Highlands — so a private tour ties them into a coherent trail across the country, with the driving and timing handled. The 10-day Grand Tour naturally includes the great royal castles — Windsor at the start, Edinburgh Castle in Scotland — as part of its circuit. 微信、WhatsApp預約，微信收款。