On royal vacation: Where Prince William, Victoria of Sweden and Co. spend their holidays

To France on the Côte d’Azur, to Spain on one of the countless islands or far away to the Caribbean? There are many places where you can simply unwind and escape the stress of everyday life. No one knows better than the European royals where this is best done – they regularly escape their stressful everyday lives and travel to countless corners of the world. So if you’ve always wondered where you can meet Prince William and Duchess Kate cycling on holiday and which royal prefers to fly the airliner on holiday yourself, you should now pay attention: We have found out in a big comparison which holiday destinations are most popular with the European royal families and which royals cover the longest travel routes. We compared a total of 77 trips of the royals. The result: Europe’s monarchs have travelled over 180,000 kilometres to reach 27 different holiday destinations. 

According to the results, France is the most popular among the royal families: the majority of the European nobility’s trips in recent years have been to the land of “savoir vivre”. Who is surprised? For from the rugged rocky coasts of Brittany to the City of Love and the dreamy wine regions of southern France, the Grande Nation has a lot to offer. The Danish royals are among the country’s biggest fans: when they are not at their traditional summer residence at Gravenstein Castle in Gråsten, Denmark, they are most often drawn to France. And where else do the royal families like to go? Besides France, Denmark, and Spain are also among the most visited destinations of the royals.

You can get an overview of the royals’ top travel destinations here:

In terms of travel distances, there is one surprise: Dutch King Willem-Alexander, who sits in the cockpit of the airline KLM himself, is not among the royals who have travelled particularly far in recent years. Instead, the Swedish royal family takes first place here. The Swedish royals have travelled an average of 4,550 kilometres on holiday. The Norwegian nobility travelled a similar distance, with an average of 4,476 kilometres. The British came third with an average of 3,578 kilometres. 

You can find out how far all royal families travel on holiday here:

And who most often needed a break from the royal routine? The Danish and British royal families have found time to relax away from home a total of 18 times in recent years. The Netherlands is also far ahead in the comparison, with a total of ten trips.

You can see how often the monarchs of Europe have travelled in this table:

About the research
We analysed and compared 77 holidays taken by members of the European royal families over the last five years using news coverage of the royals.