Hearst Castle is an iconic mansion about midway between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

They offer a number of tours, from the basic Grand Rooms Tour, which we did 22 years ago when we first moved to the US, to a more exclusive Julia Morgan Tour, about twice as long, limited to just eight visitors, and gets to go places not seen by other tours. We opted for the latter this time; a very worthwhile experience.

The experiences starts and ends at the visitor center:

The visitor center includes food, a gift store, and exhibits:

Everyone takes a bus up the hill to the castle:

The tour started with the outdoor pool; we were on a side of the pool where the other tours can’t go:

Castle:

Exploring one of the guest cottages:

View:

Another cottage:

The castle:

Dining room:

Another room:

Game room:

Theater:

Another room:

Julia Morgan’s room:

Kitchen:

Stairs:

Bedroom:

Stairs:

Ceiling:

Library:

Back of cottage:

Underneath a large patio are some old hidden steps, that were built then covered up as Hearst changed his mind:

Indoor pool:

I recorded a timelapse video of the tour with my new 360 camera as an experiment. Unfortunately, the timelapse is designed for static subjects, morphing any movement, which isn’t great with motion. I really should have done a hyperlapse instead, but this is still interesting:

The view looking down the hill, including the winding road to castle:

Hearst Castle sign:

Photo: