Europe is peppered with incredible castles, spanning a variety of eras and architectural styles. From Sleeping Beauty's castle come to life in Germany to a spooky Dracula castle in Romania, these structures are filled with mystery and myth, and have captured people's attention for centuries. Hidden in mountains, perched on hillsides and nestled on lakes, these are the best castles in Europe.

Today, the castle is normally a favourite among tourists, thanks to its brilliant museum displaying original furniture and the art collection of the last family to inhabit it. Visitors can also head underground to see the dripstone cave underneath the castle and enjoy the extensive landscape park that's home to a 600-year-old lime tree and the Bojnice Zoo – one of the oldest in Slovakia. It's also renowned for its festivals, namely the Castle Fairytale, Summer Music Festival and the spooky International Festival of Ghosts and Spirits.

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Aside from its stunning location, the castle has a significant history as the seat of the Landgraves of Thuringia and as the place where Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German. Today, part of the castle houses The Romantik Hotel at Wartburg and a restaurant with breathtaking views across the forest to the Rhön Mountains.

Immortalised by Shakespeare as the setting for Hamlet, Kronborg is Denmark's most famous castle and also one of the finest Renaissance castles in northern Europe. Built, burned to the ground and rebuilt several times since 1420, the castle occupies a vital strategical position at the head of the Øresund Sound, overlooking the Baltic Sea.

Built under the orders of Edward I in the 1200s, the mighty medieval fortress perches at the end of the Menai Strait and is particularly renowned for its hefty walls and unusual polygonal towers. Today, it's typically open for visitors and houses The Royal Welsh Fusiliers Museum.

A short drive west from Stockholm lies the idyllic Lake Mälaren and the small town of Mariefred, home to the impressive Gripsholm Castle. Built in 1537 by Gustav Vasa, the king of Sweden at the time, it was used as an official residence by the Swedish royals until the 18th century and has since become a museum. Today, as well as an extensive collection of furniture and interior decorations, it houses the Swedish National Portrait collection, featuring prominent Swedes, from Gustav Vasa himself to Benny Anderson of ABBA fame.

Also home to the royal deer at the Hjorthagen nature reserve, Gripsholm has another, slightly stranger claim to fame. It houses the Lion of Gripsholm Castle – a historical taxidermy gone horribly wrong – whose comically unrealistic face has become somewhat of an internet celebrity. The story goes that King Frederick I was gifted a lion in 1731 by the Bey of Algiers. When the lion died, the taxidermist was tasked with stuffing and mounting it but he hadn't actually seen a live lion before.

The castle was badly damaged in a fire in 1800 and it wasn't until after the end of the Second World War that it underwent a restoration project that saved it from inevitable destruction. With a jaw-dropping 754 stairs and 154 rooms, the various parts of the castle are connected via an intricate system of gates, tunnels and underground passages. Visitors can normally explore some of the surrounding area as well, thanks to the Orava Forest Railway – one of the very few narrow-gauge switchback railways still operating today.

Downton Abbey might be set in a fictional Yorkshire country estate of the same name, but the Jacobean Revival-style building really does exist in real life. Highclere Castle, used for the exterior shots in the TV series and film, was built in the 19th century by architect Charles Barry. The 5,000-acre estate is actually located in Hampshire, close to the town of Newbury in Berkshire.

Many scenes were also filmed inside, so fans might recognise the rather grand entrance hallway with its sweeping staircase and intricate internal balconies. The country estate actually belongs to Earl and Countess Carnarvon. The castle’s 200-plus rooms are filled with antiques and enchanting details, such as the frescoed ceiling in the Music Room. The incredibly detailed scenes, painted by Francis Hayman in 1740, depict Athena, goddess of war, wisdom and the arts.

The prison was known to be particularly notorious, and François de Bonivard is its best-known prisoner. Immortalised in Lord Byron's poem, The Prisoner of Chillon, the devout scholar was imprisoned for his heretical Protestant beliefs. As the poem goes, he remained there for six years chained to a pillar. However, in reality, it was only six months.

Dramatic Predjama Castle is tucked within the mouth of a cave in Slovenia, and it's almost difficult to see where the rock ends and the weather-worn fortress begins. This dramatic 13th-century structure, jutting out from a 404-foot-high (123m) cliff, is rumoured to have influenced George R.R. Martin, the author whose novels inspired hit TV series Game of Thrones.

Stunning halls and staterooms fill the castle, brimming with Rococo details, vast fireplaces and priceless paintings. The Rudolph Gallery (pictured) is one of the most striking of them all, with its great arches, chandeliers and mirrors. It was first built in the 16th century, but the stuccos you can see here were only added in the 19th.

Inspired by the lavish buildings of Italy, the Renaissance-style state rooms feature richly decorated ceilings, carved doors and marble fireplaces. The castle also has one of the country’s most impressive private furniture and art collections with works by J. M. W. Turner, William Dobson and Canaletto.

The castle was reconstructed after the Second World War and completed in 1961, showcasing its unique architecture exactly as it was originally intended. The inside is as impressive as the outside too – this photo shows the stone walls and artwork of the castle's chapel.

The turreted Glamis Castle in Scotland and the site where it sits are teeming with more than 1,000 years of history. A castle with royal roots, Glamis was the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, whose parents were Lord and Lady Glamis. It was also the birthplace of her second daughter Princess Margaret, the first royal baby born in Scotland since 1600. Shakespeare fans may recognise the castle's name – it was the home of the titular character in the play Macbeth.

The fantastical exterior, rich with detail and surrounded by grounds with impressive topiary, is the highlight. There’s even a zoo, art gallery and winery on the estate. The rooms and outbuildings are equally surreal, filled with taxidermy, armour and intricately carved wooden furniture.

Surrounded by over 500 acres of parkland, five miles (8km) southeast of Maidstone, lies the beautiful Leeds Castle. From a Norman stronghold during the 11th and 12th century to a Tudor palace, the castle has a history that spans centuries. In 1665, the property was leased to the government to keep Dutch prisoners of war who then set it on fire. The castle remained in a state of disrepair for around a century until 1748 when Robert Fairfax renovated it. Eventually, in 1823 new owner Wykeham Martin demolished the original main house and replaced it with a Tudor-style structure.

Not much has changed of the castle's exterior since then. During the 1920s, Leeds Castle underwent another makeover, this time by Anglo-American heiress Lady Baillie, who would be the property's last private owner. A 16th-century-style carved oak staircase from France was added to the castle as well as a cinema and swimming pool, while zebras and llamas were brought to graze on the grounds. In the 1930s, the castle played host to European royalty, celebrities and statesmen, famed for its luxurious interior and Lady Baillie's lavish hospitality.

The castle is also Europe's best-preserved Renaissance water castle and while most of it is normally open to public (in fact, there are five museums within the castle), some areas are still used privately by Count Michael Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille and his wife Caroline, the niece of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. There are two museums, featuring vintage automobile and motorcycle collections as well as a fascinating collection on flying vehicles.

As if Slovenia's Lake Bled needed anything else to make it more beautiful, there also happens to be a castle here, overlooking the glistening water and dense forests. A medieval castle built on a precipice above the city of Bled, it's often regarded as Slovenia's oldest castle and is also one of the most-visited attractions. First mentioned in writing in 1011, the castle's oldest surviving part is the Romanesque tower. Throughout the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance period, many improvements were made, making the castle a unique amalgamation of styles.

You might well recognise the 900-year-old Hohenwerfen Fortress: it featured in the background of the famous musical The Sound of Music. First constructed around 1077, the castle has gone through many renovations over the years, from its birth as a simple wooden structure to the fortified building it is today. It has been used as everything from a stately home to a military training centre and even a police school.

Standing 2,044 feet (623m) above sea level, it's a serious sight to behold. The discovery trail leads visitors through a kitchen courtyard, residential quarters and arsenal, among others, explaining what life was like in the castle when it was inhabited. For an even more thrilling experience, the castle is home to a historic regional falconry centre and usually there are regular birds of prey shows with falcons, vultures and eagles showing off their skills several times a day, from April to November.

The castle is part of what's known as The Ring of Iron (or Iron Ring of Castles). It was a series of fortifications and castles built to help Edward I with his conquest of Wales. He spent over £80,000 ($101,864) on all the castles, which is about £56 million ($72m) in today's money. All of these castles were tactically positioned either by the coast or rivers, and provided access to provisions of food and weapons.

Built in the 19th century, this dreamy castle overlooks the Gulf of Trieste in northeastern Italy. Its grounds include an extensive cliff and seashore park that were designed by the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of the House of Habsburg. The castle was built for him and his family and the garden was landscaped to include tropical trees and plants.

Today, the castle is one of Germany's most important sights. It holds many significant historical artefacts relating to Prussian history, like the crown of Wilhelm II, some personal effects of King Frederick the Great and a letter from US President George Washington, thanking Baron von Steuben (a Hohenzollern descendant) for his service in the American Revolutionary War. Pictured here is the interior of St Michael's chapel, also part of the sprawling palace complex.

A beguiling fairy-tale castle, Burg Eltz in Western Germany dates from the 12th century and has remained in the Eltz family for an impressive 33 generations. The wonderfully romantic castle, which sits above the Elzbach River, is iconic in Germany and was featured on the 500 Deutsche Mark note from 1965 to 1992.

The castle has its fair share of ghost stories, the most famous of which is the phantom of Countess Agnes. The countess was promised in marriage to the Knight of Braunsberg but during a feast to celebrate the match, she rebuffed her suitor, publicly humiliating him. Enraged by the rejection, the spurned knight organised an attack on the castle. After a valiant fight, she was struck by a crossbow and fatally injured, and her ghost is said to still haunt the castle.

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