Hearst Castle is perhaps the most famous landmark along California’s Pacific Coast Highway. Built by William Randolph Hearst in the 1930s, and later emulated in Citizen Kane, this 90,000-square-foot estate is the closest the West Coast comes to royalty.
The castle is an obligatory stop for anyone driving north and is well worth a visit. For the many that have already seen it, however, an LA Times article gives good reason to come back: evening tours.
Evening tours are rare. They only run Fridays and Saturdays from March through May 20 and then again from September to December. Journalist Rosemary McClure writes that such tours reveal the castle in an entirely different light, one that is enhanced by docents dressed up in period costumes who provide an air of authenticity that takes guests back to the glory days of the castle when Douglas Fairbanks and other Hollywood royalty caroused about the grounds.