Europe is full of captivating castles, some maintained and restored to their former glory, others abandoned and left to ruin. From romantic, vine-strangled towers to crumbling coastal forts battered by gales, these empty shells whisper stories of war, exile and neglect. We revel in the melancholy romance of some of the prettiest wrecks… (If you're planning a trip, be sure to check for up-to-date travel restrictions and protocols before you go.)

Backed by the brooding form of the Tyndrum Hills, this tumbledown highland castle cuts an impressive yet forlorn figure on the shore of Loch Awe. Built in the mid-1400s as a tower house by the Campbells of Glenorchy, it sits on a little island and was accessed by a causeway. It was then fortified in 1681 and converted into a garrison stronghold, used during the Jacobite uprisings. At one time, Kilchurn could hold some 200 troops.

The Clan Campbell stronghold was abandoned in the 18th century, after lightning struck the castle and fire irrevocably damaged the building. It was left to its slow decay. Today, the dilapidated but undeniably romantic ruins, which rise up from dark waters at the north-eastern end of the loch, are preserved by Historic Environment Scotland.

Surveying the southern highland region of Poland from its rocky outcrop, the mighty Ogrodzieniec Castle was first built in the 14th century, in the time of King Casimir the Great. It was added to and rebuilt after attacks several times over the centuries, but it was during Poland’s war with Sweden in 1702 that it would meet its final demise.

Enemy troops set the place on fire and the damage was such that it was never rebuilt. After the Second World War, Ogrodzieniec was taken over by the government and work started to preserve it. In 1973, the castle was opened to the public. The atmospheric remains of the medieval fortress, which includes two well-preserved crenelated towers, were used as a location for Netflix series The Witcher, based on books by the Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski.

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Lonely, wind-whipped Minard (Min Aird) Castle sits high above Kilmurry Bay on County Kerry's wild coastline. All that remains of the crumbling structure – built in the 16th century by the Fitzgerald clan – is part of a rectangular tower, made from sandstone blocks and mortar. The coastal stronghold once had four floors, but it was damaged in an attack by Oliver Cromwell’s troops in the 17th century and its inhabitants killed.

The powerful Knights of Kerry, as the Fitzgeralds were known, also built two other rectangular fortresses on the Dingle Peninsula: Rahinanne and Gallarus. They too were targeted in the attacks and remain in ruins. As well as the melancholy presence of Minard Castle, this part of the Dingle Peninsula, which stretches out into the North Atlantic Ocean, is famed for its bleakly beautiful natural storm beach. It's strewn with huge boulders of sandstone made smooth by the crashing waves. 

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Dwarfed by the majestic mountainous landscape of Snowdonia, Dolbadarn Castle was once a strategic stronghold of Llywelyn the Great, the last native ruler before Wales came under English rule. The war-torn remains of its large and raggedy round stone keep, constructed in the 13th century, tell of Dolbadarn’s past glories and ultimate defeat.

Watching over the waters of Llyn Padarn, the fortress sat on a strategic mountain pass controlled by the ancient kingdom of Gwynedd, until Dolbadarn was overtaken by Edward I's forces. After its successful capture, some of the castle’s timbers were removed to build one of the English king’s grand new castles, Caernarfon – a show of his might and power over the Welsh. It went on to be rebuilt and used as a manor house in the 14th century, before eventually falling into ruin.

The silhouette of the partially ruined Heidelberg castle is a melancholy sight, with its empty windows gazing out over the lively university town of Heidelberg. It sits on a perch in the Odenwald Mountains and part of the crumbling site – which actually contains two castles – dates back to the beginning of the 14th century (it was first mentioned in 1303).

The palace was plundered and set ablaze by the French army in 1689 and struck by lightning twice, including one devastating strike in 1764 that was to signal its demise. It was abandoned and left to rot over 300 years ago. Despite this, the historic remains have long drawn tourists up to the rocky hilltop, high above the River Neckar, to revel in the gothic romance.

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Rising out from Dorset’s rolling Purbeck Hills for over 1,000 years, the rambling ruins of Corfe Castle are a truly captivating sight. Starting life as a Saxon stronghold, the first stone castle was built here for King Henry I, William the Conqueror’s son, in the early 12th century. Its mighty keep was hewn from Purbeck limestone and visible for miles around. Both King John and Henry III spent time at Corfe, which eventually became a private residence in the Elizabethan era, when Elizabeth I sold it on. It was subsequently purchased by the wealthy Bankes family. 

The stronghold met its fate in the 17th century, when the Bankes family (supporters of King Charles I) came under siege from Oliver Cromwell’s forces. Lady Mary Bankes defended her castle heroically, but was ultimately betrayed by one of her own soldiers and parliamentarian forces later blew the structure up with gunpowder. The property was ultimately returned to the Bankes family when Charles II was restored to the throne. Although it was never rebuilt, Corfe stayed in the family until 1982, when it was gifted to the National Trust.

Despite its bucolic Wiltshire setting and lush landscaped grounds, the decaying ruins of this once thriving fortified residence retain a whiff of tragedy. The hexagonal castle was built by wealthy courtier and solider Lord John Lovell in the 1390s, staying in the family until it was forfeited to the crown in 1461. Old Wardour later passed to the prominent Arundell family in 1547 and various modernisations were made in the Elizabethan era.

The castle weathered two sieges during the 17th-century Civil War, suffering major damage before ultimately being left to decay when the Arundells built New Wardour Castle nearby. Unsurprisingly the romantic creeper-clad ruins, which are maintained by English Heritage, have caught the eye of filmmakers – it was used as a location in Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves – and wedding planners.

When a historic but unprotected derelict chateau in the Loire Valley was at risk of being demolished and sold to developers, 27,910 people from 115 countries came to its rescue. Parts of the fairytale-esque moated chateau – whose turrets, stone balconies and grand halls have been overrun by foliage – date back to the 13th century, when it was constructed by the wealthy Bauçay family.

La Mothe-Chandeniers has a turbulent history – it was seized several times by the English during the Hundred Years War in the Middle Ages and later plundered during the French Revolution. It was restored in the 18th century and again in the 19th century when it became a splendid Neo-Gothic pile. Sadly, when central heating was installed in 1932, a ferocious fire devastated it once again, after which it fell back into ruin. A crowdfunding campaign in 2017 urging people to "adopt a castle" gave the sleeping beauty a much-deserved happy ending.

The solitary silhouette of this broken 11th-century stronghold looms tragically over the plains of Huesca in Aragon, northern Spain. With its mighty, steep walls and deep moat, Montearagón was once a formidable sight. It was built on the site of an existing castle of Arab origin, Xerif El-Edrisi, to help the King of Aragon, Sancho Ramírez, reconquer the then-Muslim area of Huesca.

The fortress was later adapted and given over to Augustine monks who lived here for seven centuries. In the 19th century, the castle-abbey was used to store gunpowder and sadly partly destroyed by an accidental explosion. It has laid in ruins ever since. With its crumbling walls and vacant chapel and bell tower, the castle casts a ghostly shadow over the arid landscape.

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Huddled on top of steep red-stone cliffs with the North Sea pounding below, Dunnottar Castle cuts a haunting figure. Especially when its tumbledown remains are swathed in sea mist. To say its past has been tumultuous is something of an understatement: Dunnottar was under siege from its earliest beginnings and witnessed some seminal moments in Scottish history. Originally the site of a 5th-century chapel and Pictish fortress, it was razed to the ground by Vikings in the 9th century and King Donald II was murdered here. It was also the site of numerous violent battles between the Scottish and English.

William Wallace attacked in 1297, burning the castle's church, where the English garrison were holed up, and destroying the landmark. The present stone structure dates from the 14th century, when Dunnottar was home to the Keiths, one of the most powerful families in Scotland. With such a remote and treacherous location, it’s little wonder it was also chosen as a safe place to stash Scotland’s crown jewels during the English Civil War. Oliver Cromwell laid siege to the castle in the 1650s for eight months. Irreparably damaged and left to decay, the ruined castle was bought in 1925 and preserved for future generations.

Straight from the pages of Sleeping Beauty, this creepy tree-clad ruin was likely abandoned in the mid-17th century, and it has since become almost entombed in vegetation. With origins possibly dating back to the Knights of Templars, the earliest mention of the ancient stone fortress is in 1399, when Cesargrad was given to Count Herman of Celje by King Sigismund.

Under the ownership of the powerful counts of Celje, the castle was rebuilt and enlarged numerous times. It was badly damaged and seized in 1573, during the region’s Great Peasant Revolt, although subsequently repaired. However, it was eventually left to be reclaimed by nature after its owners built a new stronghold. The ruins are near the border of Croatia and Slovenia and sit above the Sutla River.

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Clinging to a craggy rock high above the Danube River, the ruined medieval towers of Dürnstein blend into the landscape like natural outcrops. Built between 1140 and 1145, the rock castle is where Richard the Lionheart was imprisoned on his return from the Crusades. This was after he is said to have provocatively torn up the Austrian flag and refused to share his war gains with Leopold V, Duke of Austria.

The lofty castle was demolished by a Swedish blast under General Torstensson in 1645, during the Thirty Years War conflict. Although it was partially restored, Dürnstein was never inhabited again and left to disintegrate over the subsequent centuries. The impossibly romantic ruins have since become a must-see in Austria’s picturesque and UNESCO-listed Wachau region.

Enemies stood no chance at creeping up on the inhabitants of this citadel in the clouds. Rocca Calascio sits on a high ridge in Italy’s Apennine Mountains and is the highest fortress in all of Italy at an elevation of 4,790 feet (1,460m). It was originally built as a military watchtower at the beginning of the 11th century, before being enlarged into a fortress in the 13th century – a walled courtyard with four cylindrical towers was added around the original tower.

A small community grew around the soaring fortress in the Abruzzo region, which eventually came under the control of the powerful Medici family in the 16th century. However, both the village and fort were severely damaged by an earthquake in 1703 and deserted. The mysterious form of the limestone lookout has since become part of the wild and beautiful landscape of the Gran Sasso National Park.

Though much faded in its beauty, Pidhirtsi Castle retains plenty of the palatial features that distinguished it when it was built as a grand fortified residence for Polish military commander Stanisław Koniecpolski in 1635. Designed with a moat and drawbridge, along with brooding, fortified walls on each side, the large square castle was also to serve as a defensive stronghold. More fortifications were added after it was attacked by Ukrainian Cossacks in 1648.

Pidhirtsi remained in the hands of Polish military leaders into the 18th century. But it was captured and looted by the Russians during the First World War and further vandalised during the later Polish-Soviet War. Previously part of Poland, the region was annexed to Ukraine after the Second World War and the castle was used as tuberculosis sanatorium. That was until a voracious fire ripped through the once splendid residence in 1956, and it was abandoned. Pidhirtsi's haunting remains, which are said to be riddled with ghosts, are now part of the Lviv National Art Gallery.

Soaring up from a rocky promontory, this imposing hilltop castle in eastern Slovakia was built in the 12th century on the site of an earlier settlement. Then part of the Kingdom of Hungary, the large and foreboding stone fortifications were built around an inner Romanesque palace. It was designed to keep Hungarian royals and nobles safe from the Tartars, who regularly raided the region in the Middle Ages.

Spiš Castle was further fortified in the 1400s and parts rebuilt in the Gothic style, with the tower reinforced and elongated. It was here that John Zápolya, the last king of Hungary before the Habsburgs took over, was born. Sadly, in 1780, the vast castle was destroyed by fire and fell into ruin. It was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in the 1990s and has become an atmospheric location for films, as well as a major tourism site.

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