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Hearst Castle in California was a great stop on our trip down the Pacific Coast Highway. Architectural beauty, celebrity gossip, history, art, and scenic sea and mountain views make Hearst Castle a must-see. It is very much deserving of it’s original name La Cuesta Encantada’, – the Enchanted Hill.
The estate was originally just a small ranch with only 2 to 3 buildings to house Hearst’s family. However, it eventually grew to 1,012 km2, with a ‘Castle’ of forty-two bedrooms, sixty-one bathrooms and nineteen sitting rooms at its heart. However, there are much more extravagant features that make Hearst Castle a jewel of California and the Pacific Coast Highway.
- Ascent to the top of the hill (Hearst Castle)
- Assembly Room
- Refectory
- Billiard Room
- Theater
- Neptune Pool
- Roman Pool
The Ascent to Hearst Castle
This is a dramatic winding road that would have been too steep to drive up directly, back in it’s hayday or even now. As you make your ascend to the top of the hill you begin to understand why William Hearst and his architect Julia Morgan, decided to build Hearst Castle in California. It’s just spectacular.
As you drive up and take in the views, music plays and an audio-guide tells you all the types of animals that would have lived in these hills. Zebras and all kinds of exotic animals were brought to this ranch. Some of them you can still see.
Assembly Room at Hearst Castle
This was the main social room of Casa Grande, where Hearst’s guests met for cocktails and conversation back in the 1920’s. It’s great to imagine what a vibrant hub of social activity this would have been in it’s day. This is also a great spot to admire the Renaissance and baroque tapestries and neoclassical sculptures amongst other eclectic collections of art. These historic collections and those you can see throughout the tour, would have been gathered from all around the world and brought to Hearst Castle in California.
Refectory at Heast Castle
High windows, bright silk banners, and gleaming silver candlesticks make you feel as if you’ve stepped back to a dining hall of the middle ages, with a long dining table running through the middle of the hall. It’s very cool to imagine the likes of Winston Churchill, Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, Bette Davis and Marion Davies dining in this very room.
Billiard Room At Hearst Castle
You could speculate this was probably one of the most popular places in the house. This room was where guests could play billiards and pool and there’s more of a relaxed atmosphere in this room. The interesting twist is the 15th century spanish ceiling and a flemish tapestry from 1500.
Theatre At Heart Castle
Cinemas were probbably quite ahead of their time in the early part of this century and a personal cinema, even more so! Hearst and his celebrity guests such as Marion Davies would congregate in this cinema. The interesting quirk to this room is the Egyptian scultures than run down the side of the cinema. You can relax in this cinema and watch real footage of William Hearst and his guests back in the 1920s.
The Gardens At Hearst Castle
You can spend as long as you like in the expansive gardens that surround “La Cuesta Encantada”—Hearst’s Spanish name for The Enchanted Hill. The views are spectacular and a great place to relax after the tour of the house. This is where you really start to imagine what a phenomenal holiday destination this would have been.
As you tour the grounds and gardens, you will come across the Sculptures of Sekhmet, the Egyptian goddess of war and daughter of the Sun God, Ra. The four sculptures of the lioness head and a womans bodywere carved from diorite in Egypt between 1550-1070 BCE and are the oldest works of art at Hearst Castle. Again, these would have been shipped from all over the world to Hearst Castle in California!
Neptune Pool At Hearst Castle
Vermont marble lines the basin, gutters, and alcove and four Italian relief sculptures stand on the sides of the colonnades. Fountains, ornamental pools, marble pavilions, alabaster laterns and a reconstructed ancient template facade.
It’s safe to say this pool is pretty unique in design, and being situated outside with the hills surrounding it would have been a luxury place for a swim. With features like this, you can understand why the celebrities of the era would travel all the way to Hearst Castle in California.
The Roman Pool At Heast Castle
This pool is the indoor pool of the resort and modelled after ancient Roman baths. This majestically decorated pool is tiled from ceiling to floor in deep blue and gold mosaics. You can stop here for a moment before catching the bus back down the hill to the visitor centre.
Ticketing At Hearst Castle
There are a number of different tickets optionswhich give you guided access to the castle and grounds. We opted for the ‘Grand Rooms’ tour at $25 per person to get a flavour. This gave you access and a guided tour around the above places.
The tour guide was very engaging and gave a great synopsis of all the information about Hearst Castle. With this ticket, you also had as much time as you wanted to take in the views surrounding the site, photos below. The winding 10 minute bus ride up to the top of the hill is also an attraction in itself!
Final Thoughts On Hearst Castle
Hearst Castle in California is a must-see stop on the Pacific Coast Highway. There is so much depth to this attraction in terms of it’s cultural, historic, achitectural, artistic and natural heritage. I may not have done it justice in this article. For that you really must go and explore yourself and take the guided tour as we did.
You can spend a couple of hours or a whole day here. However, I would recommend it as a morning activity before you set off on the next part of your road trip. Following this we went to Morro Bay, the relaxed fishing town, where you can get your fill of marine wildlife. Read about this part of the trip by clicking here.
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