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The French and German castles Brits google most in 2026

Search volumes measured on October 25, 2026

How many times a month people in the UK type the name of each castle in France and Germany into Google: 2,130 castles, ranked. What Brits search for that the French and Germans don’t, and the words they use.

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  1. Brits google the castles of France and Germany about 220,310 times a month (2,130 castles measured).
  2. 45% of those searches are for German castles, 55% for French ones.
  3. The most googled: Palace of Versailles (36,480 searches a month), ahead of Neuschwanstein Castle (30,000) and Colditz Castle (8,210).
  4. Neuschwanstein Castle alone accounts for 30% of British searches for German castles.
  5. The ten most googled castles take 46% of all searches.
  6. For French castles, Brits type “chateau” 12 times as often as “castle”.
  7. Colditz Castle weighs 63.9 times more in British searches than it does at home.
  8. In France, Île-de-France gets the most British searches: 39% of those for French castles.
  9. In Germany, Bavaria gets 48% of British searches for German castles.
  10. The busiest month is July, with 9.4% of the year’s searches; the quietest is December (7.3%).
  11. Per head, Brits google these castles 1.8 times as often as Americans.

Source: Chateaupedia, “The French and German castles Brits google most in 2026”, https://chateaupedia.com/en/presse/castles-brits-google-most-2026, search volumes measured on October 25, 2026

The top 50

Average monthly Google searches in the UK over twelve months, all the forms an English speaker types added up (“palace of versailles”, “chateau de chambord”, “neuschwanstein castle”). The last column compares each castle’s share of British searches with its share of searches at home.

The top 20, in searches a month
  1. Palace of Versailles36,480
  2. Neuschwanstein Castle30,000
  3. Colditz Castle8,210
  4. Eltz Castle5,200
  5. Nymphenburg Palace4,200
  6. Château de Chambord3,900
  7. Charlottenburg Palace3,620
  8. Château de Chenonceau3,220
  9. Hohenzollern Castle2,880
  10. Castle of Pierrefonds2,880
  11. Munich Residence2,780
  12. Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg2,500
  13. Heidelberg Castle2,290
  14. Palace of Fontainebleau2,260
  15. Schloss Elmau1,910
  16. Vaux-le-Vicomte1,840
  17. Château de Chantilly1,800
  18. Linderhof Palace1,780
  19. Sanssouci Palace1,690
  20. Palais des Papes1,600
RankCastleCountryRegionSearches a month (UK)At homeWeight vs home
1Palace of VersaillesFranceÎle-de-France36,480301,000×4.3
2Neuschwanstein CastleGermanyBavaria30,000246,000×7.7
3Colditz CastleGermanySaxony8,2108,100×63.9
4Eltz CastleGermanyRhineland-Palatinate5,200135,000×2.4
5Nymphenburg PalaceGermanyBavaria4,200135,000×2
6Château de ChambordFranceCentre-Val de Loire (Loire Valley)3,90074,000×1.9
7Charlottenburg PalaceGermanyBerlin3,620110,000×2.1
8Château de ChenonceauFranceCentre-Val de Loire (Loire Valley)3,220110,000×1
9Hohenzollern CastleGermanyBaden-Württemberg2,88090,500×2
10Castle of PierrefondsFranceHauts-de-France2,88049,500×2.1
11Munich ResidenceGermanyBavaria2,78090,500×1.9
12Château du Haut-KoenigsbourgFranceGrand Est2,50040,500×2.2
13Heidelberg CastleGermanyBaden-Württemberg2,29090,500×1.6
14Palace of FontainebleauFranceÎle-de-France2,26074,000×1.1
15Schloss ElmauGermanyBavaria1,91049,500×2.4
16Vaux-le-VicomteFranceÎle-de-France1,84074,000×0.9
17Château de ChantillyFranceHauts-de-France1,80060,500×1.1
18Linderhof PalaceGermanyBavaria1,78074,000×1.5
19Sanssouci PalaceGermanyBrandenburg1,69090,500×1.2
20Palais des PapesFranceProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur1,60060,500×0.9
21Château de VillandryFranceCentre-Val de Loire (Loire Valley)1,47040,500×1.3
22Lichtenstein CastleGermanyBaden-Württemberg1,39074,000×1.2
23Château GaillardFranceNormandy1,39040,500×1.2
24Guédelon CastleFranceBurgundy-Franche-Comté1,32040,500×1.2
25Hohenschwangau CastleGermanyBavaria1,32027,100×3.1
26Reichsburg CochemGermanyRhineland-Palatinate1,00060,500×1
27Château de PurnonFranceNouvelle-Aquitaine1,0002,400×14.9
28Schloss DrachenburgGermanyNorth Rhine-Westphalia93060,500×1
29Château des ducs de BretagneFrancePays de la Loire88040,500×0.8
30MarksburgGermanyRhineland-Palatinate88033,100×1.7
31Frankenstein CastleGermanyHesse88027,100×2
32Château de CocoveFranceHauts-de-France8804,400×7.2
33Château de ChaumontFranceNouvelle-Aquitaine8802,720×11.6
34Château d'AmboiseFranceCentre-Val de Loire (Loire Valley)81040,500×0.7
35Castle of CaenFranceNormandy78022,200×1.3
36Château de BeynacFranceNouvelle-Aquitaine76027,100×1
37Schwerin CastleGermanyMecklenburg-Western Pomerania76014,800×3.2
38Berlin PalaceGermanyBerlin74014,800×3.2
39Nuremberg CastleGermanyBavaria73049,500×0.9
40Château de la Motte-HussonFrancePays de la Loire7201,600×16.1
41Clos LucéFranceCentre-Val de Loire (Loire Valley)70027,100×0.9
42Château d'AngersFrancePays de la Loire67033,100×0.7
43Château de ChevernyFranceCentre-Val de Loire (Loire Valley)63074,000×0.3
44Château de BloisFranceCentre-Val de Loire (Loire Valley)63018,100×1.2
45Würzburg ResidenceGermanyBavaria62060,500×0.6
46Château d'AnnecyFranceAuvergne-Rhône-Alpes56027,100×0.7
47Bellevue PalaceGermanyBerlin53049,500×0.7
48Château de SaumurFrancePays de la Loire52012,100×1.5
49Château des MilandesFranceNouvelle-Aquitaine50040,500×0.4
50Château de FerrièresFranceÎle-de-France5009,900×1.8

France or Germany?

Share of British searches for the castles of each country.

France or Germany?
  1. German castles98,450 · 45%
  2. French castles121,860 · 55%

“Chateau” or “castle”?

The words Brits type when they google a French castle, in searches a month. “Palace” is almost entirely Versailles and Fontainebleau.

“Chateau” or “castle”?
  1. with “chateau”77,500 · 66%
  2. with “palace”33,600 · 29%
  3. with “castle”6,700 · 6%

What Brits google more than the locals

Well-known castles (an article in ten Wikipedia languages or more) whose share of British searches is at least one and a half times their share at home.

RankCastleCountryRegionSearches a month (UK)At homeWeight vs home
3Colditz CastleGermanySaxony8,2108,100×63.9
129Château de BillyFranceAuvergne-Rhône-Alpes200590×12.1
2Neuschwanstein CastleGermanyBavaria30,000246,000×7.7
1Palace of VersaillesFranceÎle-de-France36,480301,000×4.3
37Schwerin CastleGermanyMecklenburg-Western Pomerania76014,800×3.2
38Berlin PalaceGermanyBerlin74014,800×3.2
25Hohenschwangau CastleGermanyBavaria1,32027,100×3.1
4Eltz CastleGermanyRhineland-Palatinate5,200135,000×2.4
15Schloss ElmauGermanyBavaria1,91049,500×2.4
12Château du Haut-KoenigsbourgFranceGrand Est2,50040,500×2.2

Lesser-known châteaux that punch above their weight

Smaller places, with fewer than ten Wikipedia languages, whose share of British searches is at least three times their share at home.

RankCastleCountryRegionSearches a month (UK)At homeWeight vs home
58Château d'AngéFranceCentre-Val de Loire (Loire Valley)4801,000×17.2
40Château de la Motte-HussonFrancePays de la Loire7201,600×16.1
27Château de PurnonFranceNouvelle-Aquitaine1,0002,400×14.9
57Château de TourreauFranceProvence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur4801,340×12.8
33Château de ChaumontFranceNouvelle-Aquitaine8802,720×11.6
84Château de CourcellesFranceGrand Est3201,000×11.4
99Château de PressacFranceNouvelle-Aquitaine2601,000×9.3
183Schloss Neuhaus, PaderbornGermanyNorth Rhine-Westphalia1401,000×8.8
125Château de ChanteloupFranceCentre-Val de Loire (Loire Valley)2101,000×7.5
32Château de CocoveFranceHauts-de-France8804,400×7.2

French regions

Searches for the castles of each region, and the most googled of them.

RegionCastlesSearches a month (UK)ShareMost googled
Île-de-France11547,53039%Palace of Versailles
Centre-Val de Loire (Loire Valley)11618,32015%Château de Chambord
Nouvelle-Aquitaine14710,7209%Château de Purnon
Hauts-de-France487,4806%Castle of Pierrefonds
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes1695,5405%Château d'Annecy
Pays de la Loire795,4104%Château des ducs de Bretagne
Normandy655,2904%Château Gaillard
Occitania1065,1304%Palace of the Kings of Majorca
Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur585,0104%Palais des Papes
Grand Est754,8904%Château du Haut-Koenigsbourg
Burgundy-Franche-Comté743,9803%Guédelon Castle
Brittany762,5302%Castle of Fougères
Corsica3300%Château Conti

German states

RegionCastlesSearches a month (UK)ShareMost googled
Bavaria17947,09048%Neuschwanstein Castle
Rhineland-Palatinate9810,91011%Eltz Castle
Baden-Württemberg14010,15010%Hohenzollern Castle
Saxony6610,14010%Colditz Castle
North Rhine-Westphalia1875,3805%Schloss Drachenburg
Berlin145,2905%Charlottenburg Palace
Hesse902,9303%Frankenstein Castle
Brandenburg342,6603%Sanssouci Palace
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania351,1801%Schwerin Castle
Lower Saxony521,0001%Herrenhausen Palace
Thuringia397401%Wartburg
Saxony-Anhalt436301%Wernigerode Castle
Schleswig-Holstein152800%Glücksburg Castle
Saarland4400%Saarbrücken Castle

When do Brits google castles?

Each month’s share of the year, across the top 100 (100 with monthly figures).

Share of the year’s searches, month by month
  1. January8.2%
  2. February7.5%
  3. March8.3%
  4. April8.3%
  5. May9.2%
  6. June9.2%
  7. July9.4%
  8. August9.4%
  9. September7.6%
  10. October8.3%
  11. November7.4%
  12. December7.3%

And in the US?

The same measurement in the US: 593,640 searches a month.

The castles Americans google most

Free to reuse

The figures and rankings on this page can be reused freely, including commercially, as long as you credit Chateaupedia with a link to this page (ODbL 1.0 for the file).

Suggested citation

Source: Chateaupedia, “The French and German castles Brits google most in 2026”, https://chateaupedia.com/en/presse/castles-brits-google-most-2026, search volumes measured on October 25, 2026

Example sentence

According to a Chateaupedia study of Google searches, the castle Brits google most in 2026 is Palace of Versailles, and 45% of their searches for French and German castles are for German ones.

Method

Volumes are Google Ads averages over twelve months, measured in the UK in English through DataForSEO for the 2,527 castles most searched for in France and Germany. Each castle is measured under the forms an English speaker types: its name without accents (“chateau de chambord”, “schloss neuschwanstein”), “chateau X” and “X chateau” for French châteaux, “X castle”, and its English name when there is one (“palace of versailles”, “nymphenburg palace”). Forms that Google groups together, and so return identical figures, are counted once.

A keyword is not always a place. A form only counts if it contains a castle word, and translated forms only for castles with an article in at least ten Wikipedia languages: below that, “hermitage castle” is in Scotland and “salzburg castle” in Austria. A castle with fewer than twenty Wikipedia languages that would be googled more in the UK than at home is measuring a namesake and is left out; Colditz, with twenty-four, stays in, and Brits google it more than Germans do. Wines (Château d’Yquem), hotels (Château Frontenac), museums (the Louvre) and the Paris metro station Château de Vincennes are excluded, as are the cases already excluded by our study of searches in France and Germany. When Google knows the place, a volume is capped at twenty times its Google reviews.

The comparison with home uses that study: each castle’s share of British searches for the castles of its country, divided by its share of searches in its own country.

Download the data

One castle per row, both markets: rank, name, country, region, searches a month in the US and in the UK, searches at home, main search term and the address of the castle page.

chateaupedia-anglo-searches-2026.csv

Press contact

Nicolas, founder of Chateaupedia, replies within the day.

presse@chateaupedia.com

The castles most searched for in France and Germany

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