Scotland and Ireland abound with historic castles -- some just heaps of rubble in settings seemingly crawling with ghosts, others remarkably intact and rife with camera-toting tourists. Whatever your taste, plenty of castles await at every turn ... a few of them right here:

Inside the Edinburgh Castle, visitors can see the great hall, where kings and queens feasted during the early 1500s

Scottish Castles

Balmoral, Royal Deeside. One of the House of Windsor's royal residences, parts of 15th-century Balmoral Estate are wildlife reserves. The grounds and exhibitions are open to visitors from mid-April to the end of July.

Eilean Donan, near Dornie. One of the most picturesque of Scotland's castles, Eilean Donan sits on an islet in Loch Duich and was used in the 1984 filming of "Highlander" with Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery. Generally open April through the end of October.

Glamis Castle, Forfar. Glamis' history begins in the 11th century, and is traditionally (although not historically) the site of King Duncan's murder by Macbeth, who was Thane of Glamis before he became King of Scotland.

Saint Andrews Castle, Saint Andrews. The ruins of this castle sit on the edge of a cliff in the town most famous for the game of gowf, or golf as it's called nowadays.

Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness. Some of the best views of the loch -- and possibly the monster itself -- come from this castle, built in the 13th century on an Iron Age fortification site and destroyed in the 17th century.

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Irish Castles

Blarney Castle, County Cork. The place you go to kiss the stone, and win the gift of gab, so named by Elizabeth I, who was exasperated over Lord Blarney's ability to talk and talk but never agree to her demands.

Bunratty Castle, County Clare. On the banks of the River Shannon, Bunratty Castle was built on the site of a fortified Viking settlement and was once the home of William Penn's father.

Dublin Castle, Dublin. Only a tower of the original 13th-century Norman castle survives, but Dublin's castle has seen much of Ireland's history, and now hosts the visits of heads of state to the Republic.

Kilkenny Castle, Kilkenny. Ireland's Anglo-Norman conqueror Richard de Clare built the first structure (a wooden tower) on this site in 1172, followed in 20 years by a stone castle built by his son-in-law William Marshall. Three of that castle's towers are part of the current structure, bought by the city of Kilkenny on 1967 for 50 pounds (now about US$80).

The Rock of Cashel, County Tipperary. A fortified site that began its journey through Irish history as the seat of power of the Welsh Eoghanachta clan in the 4th century, stone walls atop a limestone mound now surround four structures, including the remains of a 13th-century Gothic cathedral.