{"id":479,"date":"2012-07-11T14:50:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-11T14:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog-1199783855.us-west-2.elb.amazonaws.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/11\/timeshare-travel-californias-hearst-castle-showy-and-sumptuous\/"},"modified":"2012-07-11T14:50:00","modified_gmt":"2012-07-11T14:50:00","slug":"timeshare-travel-californias-hearst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog-origin.redweek.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/11\/timeshare-travel-californias-hearst\/","title":{"rendered":"Timeshare Travel – California’s Hearst Castle, Showy and Sumptuous"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

While it\u2019s true that Europe offers a plethora of palaces and castles which trace royal origins back many centuries, the U.S. has a \u201ccastle\u201d that can rival the opulence of any in Europe \u2013 and visiting it is perfect for a timeshare vacation right here in this country.<\/p>\n

Publishing magnet William Randolph Hearst built what was to become one of the world\u2019s most extravagant showcases, Hearst Castle, on Mexican ranchero land bought in the 1800s by his father, a successful miner.<\/p>\n

With its 165 rooms and 127 surrounding acres of landscaped gardens, terraces, pools and meandering walkways, along with a grand view from a hilltop that overlooks the sparkling Pacific Ocean, this estate is one-of-a-kind.<\/p>\n

It took almost 25 years to build the entire estate. The twin-towered main house, \u201cCasa Grande,\u201d exceeds 60,000 square feet. It has 56 bedrooms, 61 bathrooms, 19 sitting rooms, and an amazing 41 fireplaces. Also included on the estate are three guest cottages, the largest of which is over 5800 square feet. And if all that weren\u2019t enough, there are also tennis courts, a movie theater, an airfield, and a zoo.<\/p>\n

One of the best ways to see the \u201cCastle,\u201d especially for first-timers, is with the \u201cGrand Rooms Museum Tour. \u201c This allows you to experience what it would have been like to be one of Hearst\u2019s favored weekend guests. Among the rooms in the main house that you\u2019ll see are the Assembly Room, where guests gathered for cocktails; the Refectory, or monastery-like dining hall; the Billiard Room; and the private movie theater.  <\/span>

<\/span>
The \u201cCottages and Kitchen\u201d tour will get you into the richly-designed guesthouses, as well as Hearst\u2019s world-famous wine cellar where there are three thousand bottles still stored. <\/span>

<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n

The \u201cEvening Museum Tour,\u201d is available seasonally, and will give you a sense of actually staying at La Cuestra Encantada \u2013 \u201cThe Enchanted Hill\u201d \u2013 as Hearst himself called the estate. It truly is enchanted when you see a spectacular sunset over the ocean, and watch the evening stars lay a brilliant carpet across the sky. <\/span>

<\/span>
You also will have fun as Hearst Castle becomes a living history museum, with \u201cguests\u201d wandering about, and \u201cstaff\u201d intent on their duties, all dressed in period 1930\u2019s costumes. <\/span><\/p>\n

To make your trip to California\u2019s Hearst Castle a budget-friendly one, be sure to check out timeshare rentals<\/a><\/span> <\/a>that are available across the Golden State, where you can find vacation accommodations for up to 50% less than the cost of staying in hotels.<\/span>

<\/span>
Photo Credit (top): bestbuddieschallange.org<\/span>
Photo Credit (bottom): exoticexcesses.com<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While it\u2019s true that Europe offers a plethora of palaces and castles which trace royal origins back many centuries, the U.S. has a \u201ccastle\u201d that can rival the opulence of any in Europe \u2013 and visiting it is perfect for a timeshare vacation right here in this country. Publishing magnet William Randolph Hearst built what…","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog-origin.redweek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog-origin.redweek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog-origin.redweek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog-origin.redweek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog-origin.redweek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog-origin.redweek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/479\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog-origin.redweek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog-origin.redweek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog-origin.redweek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=479"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog-origin.redweek.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}