At this spooktastic time of year in the build-up to Halloween on October 31st, what better way to enjoy the school holidays than with a trip around ancient castle grounds?
In a new piece of research, the e-commerce platform Ubuy has revealed the European cities with the highest volume of castles. To do this, they analysed the total number of castles per city, alongside calculating how many castles there are per 100,000 m2.
The research revealed that Europe’s “castle hotspot” is Istanbul, Turkey. The city is home to a total of 12 castles – equating to 0.21 castles per 100,000 m2. One of the most impressive castles in the city is the Rumeli Fortress – which looks over Istanbul with its grand architecture and boasts a museum inside filled with the city’s Ottoman history.
While Turkey as a whole doesn’t generally celebrate the Halloween festivities, the fortress itself makes for an impressively eerie sight when viewed at night.
Another city with a high volume of castles is the historic Italian city of Rome – home to 11 castles in total, which is the equivalent of 0.85 castles per 100,000 m2. By far one of the most impressive castles in the city is the Castel Sant’Angelo – a large, star-shaped castle situated on the River Tiber that is accessed via an ornate bridge over the river.
The city has a wide range of activities to participate in during the buildup to the Halloween period – including guided ghost walks that allow you to see the sights with your family while also celebrating the spooky season.
In joint third place were the cities of Berlin (Germany) and Naples (Italy). Each city had 9 castles in total. Berlin’s castles equated to 1 castle per 100,000 m2, while Naples had the equivalent of 7.67 castles per 100,000 m2.
Other cities included in the top 10 included:
- Ankara, Turkey – 8 castles total (0.03 castles per 100,000 m2)
- Graz, Austria – 8 castles (6.27 castles per 100,000 m2)
- Vienna, Austria – 8 castles (1.92 castles per 100,000 m2)
- Prague, Czech Republic – 7 castles (1.41 castles per 100,000 m2)
- Milan, Italy – 7 castles (3.85 castles per 100,000 m2)
- Łódź, Poland – 7 castles (2.38 castles per 100,000 m2)
