Hearst Castle
Castle · San Luis Obispo County
750 Hearst Castle Rd, San Simeon, CA 93452, USA
Highlights
Opulent hilltop estate with art, pools, gardens, and ocean views
Opulent hilltop estate with art, pools, gardens, and ocean views
"An opulent hilltop estate in San Simeon built by a 20th-century media magnate, open for public tours that showcase an extensive art collection, grand swimming pools, formal gardens, and the eclectic touches—such as exotic grazing animals—that reflect its celebrity-era history." - Cu Fleshman Cu Fleshman Cu is a freelance writer and editor with more than five years of experience. She has written for a variety of publications, including Afar, Matador Network, and Editoire. No matter where she is in the world, you can find her hunting for local eats and hiking trails. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines
"Built by a 20th-century media magnate, this sprawling, opulent estate perched on the Central Coast offers guided tours of grand rooms, terraces and art-filled interiors that showcase Gilded Age excess and ambitious early-20th-century design." - Cu Fleshman
"A historic estate recommended for its elaborate holiday decor, described as a place where visitors can feel transported to a '20s-era Christmas—an attraction that can justify a longer scenic drive for seasonal pageantry and decoration." - Katrina Brown Hunt Katrina Brown Hunt Katrina Brown Hunt is a San Diego-based freelance writer and editor, specializing in budget-friendly travel and family excursion topics. Her witty advice has appeared in CNN Travel, Travel + Leisure, Time magazine, and Southern Living. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines
"Newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst's estate, known as 'La Cuesta Encantada' or 'The Enchanted Hill', boasts 165 rooms, a legendary art collection, and elaborately tiled pools. The property features 123 acres of gardens and Pacific Ocean views." - Evie Carrick Evie Carrick Evie Carrick is a writer and editor who’s lived in five countries and visited well over 50. She now splits her time between Colorado and Paris, ensuring she doesn't have to live without skiing or L'
"William Randolph Hearst, the sensationalist newspaper magnate who shaped the course of journalism (for better or worse) in the 20th century and served as inspiration for Citizen Kane, was showy and flamboyant in his personal life, and his magnificent castle on the central California coast was no exception. Though it was originally conceived as a modest bungalow atop the hilly ranch land his father purchased in the 1860s, W. R. Hearst’s home grew into a mansion of epic proportions. He and the architect, Julia Morgan, settled on a vaguely medieval Iberian style, with vaulted ceilings and lavish cornices adorned with cherubs. Hearst’s modus operandi was quality over quantity when it came to collecting art, so the rooms were designed in a pastiche of styles and eras to suit the precious sculptures and paintings they held. La Cuesta Encantada (“The Enchanted Hill”) was informally known as “the ranch,” an almost comical understatement of the house’s size. By the time it was finished it contained over 165 rooms and 127 acres of gardens and terraces. There were multiple libraries, an exotic zoo, tennis courts, numerous guest cottages, stables where Arabian horses were bred, a wine cellar, a medieval-style banquet hall, an airstrip, an indoor pool, and an outdoor pool. The outdoor Neptune Pool was built, then remodeled three times to suit the authentic Roman temple facade Hearst shipped in from Italy. No expense was spared to create the magnate’s paradise: a power plant was even constructed nearby to supply electricity to the remote castle. Hearst lived in the home, hosting lavish parties throughout its construction until his failing health forced him to relocate in 1947, at which time construction ceased. He died in 1951, and in 1958 the palatial estate was designated a California State Park. Little has changed inside the castle since then. Descendants of the zebras and rare deer in the private zoo still roam the grounds. Today, just as then, people are eager to catch a glimpse of how the world’s most notorious newspaper magnate lived in glamour while the rest of the country suffered the economic devastation of the 1930s." - ATLAS_OBSCURA
