Off Hwy-1, 88 miles South of Carmel/40 miles North of San Luis Obispo. Set on a hilltop above the village of San Simeon, Hearst Castle was the part-time home (and, some would say, the full-time folly) of controversial media magnate William Randolph Hearst – the role model for Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane – erected at an estimated cost, at today’s prices, of $400 million.

Work began on Hearst Castle in 1919 and architect Julia Morgan spent the next 28 years coping with Hearst’s constantly changing ideas and the five-ton wagonloads of Flemish tapestries, French fireplaces, Italian ceilings, Persian carpets, candelabras and coats-of-arms, which he spared no expense in gathering up from the great houses of Europe to be incorporated into the design.

As the castle took shape, the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo and Clark Gable (friends of Hearst’s long time companion, actress Marion Davies) escaped Hollywood’s maddening crowds to spend their nights occupying the palatial guest villas and their days enjoying the swimming pools and tennis courts, or admiring Hearst’s collection of lions, cheetahs and zebras, among the residents of the world’s largest privately-owned zoo.

Plagued in his later years by debts and astronomic tax bills, Hearst died in 1951 and six years later the Hearst family donated the castle to the state in return for a $50 million tax write-off.

It’s impossible not to be struck by the incongruity of a would-be medieval palace appearing mirage-like on the rugged slopes of a Californian coastal mountain (land which Hearst inherited from his father), or be less than awed by the sheer scale and extravagance of the place, which compensates for its lack of style, finesse or continuity.

From the Visitors’ Center beside Hwy-1, telescopes offer tantalising glimpses (fogs permitting) of the hill-top structure, which can only be properly seen on one of three 90-minute guided tours, each of which visits different sections of the castle.

First-time callers should take Tour 1, which includes the marble-lined Neptune Pool fringed by million-dollar classical statuary, the Gothic-style dining room, the Guest Hall, and the gold-leaf decorated Roman Pool. A fourth (summer-only) tour concentrates on the lavish gardens. Tour reservations are recommended and are essential in summer (http://hearstcastle.org).