Is there any way to spend a night in a European castle?

For a medieval castle - a '10 story ominous looking castle' in Ireland, I remembered watching Alex Albrecht of Diggnation, talk about how he stayed in one (3 min in to video) he found on Celtic Castles. Note that Irish castles don't have moats. Annoyingly he doesn't say which one, but certainly the website claims to be the biggest Castle booking website in the world, so I'd hazard a guess that it'd be a solid start :)

It includes bookings for castles in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and French Châteaux.

There's a hostel called Albergue Juvenil Castillo de San Servando in Toledo (Spain) which is in a castle. I have tried it and it's the definitely the most beautiful hostel I've ever been to. Check the website for additional information.

Sure, I don't imagine they're cheap though. A quick Google threw up heaps of sites. It's important to note that often stately homes or chateau are described as castles. To me a castle has a moat and a bridge such as Leeds Castle (not actually in Leeds) staying in one of these might be a little more difficult.

Here are the first three links most of them are in UK though some are in France.

• http://www.scottscastles.com/information/special-offers.html
• http://www.castlerentals.net/
• http://www.historic-uk.com/StayUK/RentaCastle.htm

Also there is the ruins of the castle in middle of lochleven which you could probably hide out in overnight without too much issue.

Carbisdale Castle in the north of Scotland is actually a youth hostel.

I stayed there for a few pounds back in the 1980s and it was a cool place.

It is currently closed for refurbishment until 2012, but dorm beds in Scottish hostels are around 20 pounds.

It is not a very old, it was only built in 1907, but it looks and feels like a much older building. It has its own railway station very close by, admittedly it is a bit out of the way.

A castle?! Pfwah!

For $70,000 you can have a whole European country for a night!

(Though it's not clear if you get to sleep in the castle)

Another option is Oxford castle which was largely destroyed during the English Civil War, but what was left was made into a Gaol. It remained a Prison until 1996 and was subsequently converted into a luxury boutique Hotel.

I have a recollection of staying in the Grand Hotel in Brussels Belgium, that was a converted castle. (But this was decades ago.)

Most western European countries feature castles with owners that need to defray the cost of their upkeep by providing "bed and breakfast" type services to visitors. Check with local travel agents for prices and availability.

Here is a french castle hotels website. I looked around on this website, there is some Renaissance-era castles, but I didn't find any medieval-era castle at first glance. BTW, in french, castle is translated as "château", if you want to search google or something.

There are quite a few castles in Germany where you can stay overnight. As far as I know some castle owners rent out some of the many (converted) rooms in the castle just to cover the costs they have with maintaining such a building.

Here is a list from for hostels in a castle. Sorry, not many pictures on this page, but you can still look up the castle name on flickr or google images.

Yes it is possible. Especially if you are in a group. Before I had children I organized a annual board-game event in a castle with friends. We were able to rent a castle for around 1000 Euro per weekend, which with around 30 people became quite affordable. I cannot provide you with a link, because they don't have a website. But I found them by asking while walking through the Ardennes in Belgium. The location was also brilliant because of its name "Ny" (Monthy python lovers will know what I mean)

If you are not in a large group, I also know Cortils Castle, which offers self catering accommodation. If you would consider Cortils, I can recommend to arrive late on a moonless night. It gives an erie touch to your arrival.

Other castles which offer accommodation are:

• Chateau de bonne esperance (Bed & Breakfast)
• Chateau de saint nicolas (French)
• Vaeshartelt Maastricht the Netherlands

I am not sure to understand what you call a castle (it was built in the middle ages? It is fortified?).

However, there is a French chain of hotels called Relais & Châteaux that is a worldwide network of so-called "charming hotels" and in particular, castles.

I could not find a way to filter the results by the type of residence, but there are not that many (still about 200 residences in Europe and from a vague scan, I would say 50 are castles).

There is another chain of the same kind called Châteaux & Hôtels Collection but it seems to have fewer castles and mostly located in France.

Awhile back I've been to Italy and stayed at:

• Castello Di Carimate

from that time it only seem to have improved.