The 50 Most Incredible Mansions Around the World
Updated: Sep. 12, 2019
Picture stepping into one of these incredible mansions!
Biltmore Estate, North Carolina
The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina, is the largest home in the U.S. and comes in at a staggering 135,280 square feet. That’s 35,000 square feet more than the next biggest home in the U.S. The estate was built for the Vanderbilt family, which built its fortune through railroads, and had 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces and was officially opened in 1895, six years after construction started. In 1930, the estate became open to the public. It’s almost like living in one of these must-visit castles.
The Breakers, Rhode Island
The Vanderbilt family also built The Breakers in Rhode Island, which is the 21st-largest home in the U.S. with its 62,482 square feet. The Italian Renaissance-style home features marble imported from Italy and Africa. The 70-room mansion became a National Historic Landmark in 1994, but heirs of the Vanderbilt family have lived in a third-floor “apartment” (the third floor is actually eight bedrooms) as recently as this year, though it sounds like they’ll be moving out. The apartment was decorated by famous architect Ogden Codman Jr. in Louis XVI-style walnut panelling.
New South Wales, Australia
Down under in Australia sits this Spanish Mission style mansion that F. Glynn Gilling built back in the 1930s. It provides a panoramic view of the harbour in Bellevue Hills, New South Wales. Inside there are seven bedrooms, a ballroom, billiard room, bar, sauna, gym, private chapel and a caterer’s kitchen. There’s also a three-bedroom guest cottage.
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Camp’s Bay, South Africa
We’ll continue to stay well below the equator with this gorgeous mansion in South Africa. It’s called “The Casablanca” and boasts eight bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, a wine cellar and whiskey bar. The views from this mansion are unparalleled as you can look out to the ocean from the back and get a glimpse of the mountains from the front.
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Istana Nurul Iman
The home of the Sultan of Brunei cost about $1.5 billion to build back in 1984 and is known as the world’s largest palace. It holds 1,788 rooms, 257 of which are bathrooms and it can hold up to 5,000 people when the banquet hall is extended. The mosque will hold 1,500 people itself. On top of that, the palace has a 110-car garage and an air conditioned stable for 200 polo ponies.
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Taohuayuan — Suzhou, China
Taohuayuan is known as the most expensive home ever sold in China after it sold for $149 million back in 2016. The mansion sits on 1,663 acres on a private island in the city of Suzhou on Dushu Lake. There are 32 bedrooms and all face south for more sunlight. The gardens of the mansion take inspiration from the Classical Gardens of Suzhou, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and include a mist-covered pond.
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Cove Spring House
For $40 million you can pick up this 10-bedroom, 10-bathroom mansion in St. James, Barbados. It was designed using coral stone with Palladian/Georgian architecture style. It stands atop a coral cliff that overlooks the Caribbean Sea and boasts a secluded beach that’s only accessible from the mansion.
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Castillo Caribe, Grand Cayman
For a slightly cheaper mansion, try out this $39.95 million estate in the Cayman Islands. It comes in at 48,000 square feet with eight bedrooms, eight full bathrooms and six half bathrooms. But just look at that beachfront!
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Villa Los Leones, Barthelemy
This oceanside mansion doesn’t boast as many rooms as others but it sprawls high on the hillside. It’s just four bedrooms and four bathrooms. The architecture draws on Greek, Croatian, Moroccan and Mediterranean influences, and each part of the house is built with separate white pavilions.
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Villa Tarka, Nassau and Paradise Island Bahamas
Golf on one side and ocean on the other? This 20,000-square-foot home clearly outdoes any kind of man-cave, no matter how cool. There are 246 feet of sandy beach, plus an infinity pool, 12 bedrooms and 17 bathrooms. If golf’s not your game, you’re in luck because there’s also a tennis court with an air-conditioned tennis pavilion.
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The Residence
The Residence in Bermuda certainly stands out because it towers over its private cove and provides one of the biggest private beaches in the area. The eight-bedroom, 10-bathroom mansion sits on 5 1/2-acres and has four stories so you can enjoy the view from any point.
Prince’s Island Gazebo Gathering
On one beachside of the property Prince formerly owned, sits a large gazebo for people to sit and relax as the watch the waves.
Bellevue, Bermuda
This mansion has some history to it as it dates to the 1800s but it’s undergone extensive renovations to remain pristine. Plus, there’s plenty of room to roam around with its 5 1/2-acres. There are five bedrooms and 5 1/2 baths inside. Three of the bedrooms have wood-burning fireplaces. Outside there is a private pool, a tennis court and two guest cottages.
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Palm Jumeirah Beachfront Palace, Dubai
According to 2018 data from the Census Quarterly Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design, the average American home has about 2,641 square feet. This mansion in Dubai comes in almost 20 times bigger with 46,000 square feet. Those 46,000 square feet include 11 bedrooms, a 16-seat movie theater and a 200-person private nightclub.
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Signature Villa, Dubai
This three-story masterpiece in Dubai provides rare luxuries like a lap swimming pool, speakers throughout every room, two bars, an outdoor gym and lots of home automation. Italian marble adorns the interior, Spanish stone for the façade and German furniture. The mansion is 15,662 square feet and has five bedrooms and six bathrooms.
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Luxury Villa, Dubai
This luxury villa on Palm Jumeirah, an artificial archipelago that juts into Persian Gulf in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, has got some awesome views. There’s the beachside view and then a great look at the Dubai skyline, which features several striking buildings. This mansion has 13,000 square feet, a private movie theater and game room, six bedrooms and seven baths, along with an infinity pool.
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Emirates Hills Villa, Dubai
This mansion in Dubai has its own style and with 21,000 square feet, there’s a lot of space to explore. The mansion is Vaastu compliant, which means it follows centuries-old principles and concepts of architecture. Things like which way the door faces and the orientation of the bedroom matter more in the design style because it can create balance.
Palm Jumeirah Villas, Dubai
This property includes four villas and has a price tag of $13.3 million. There are five bedrooms and five full bathrooms inside each of the 12,000-square-foot villas. The infinity pool overlooks the sea and there are gorgeous marble floors inside.
Arabic Style Beachfront Villa, Dubai
Also along Palm Jumeirah in Dubai is this Arabic style villa that’s just 9,000 square feet. It has six bedrooms and six bathrooms and a 1,500 square foot terrace. It definitely stands out among the other mansions in the area.
Acacia, Al Barari, Dubai
Elsewhere in Dubai, you can find this stunning mansion in Al Barari. The mansion covers 18,000 square feet and has a big rooftop entertainment area. It also comes with a price tag of nearly $11 million. The six bedroom home has three separate staff rooms, two of which are outside of the villa and three different kitchens.
Constantia, South Africa
Imagine waking up to a view like this. This six-bedroom, six-bathroom home sits on 3 1/2 acres with a breathtaking view of mountains. Inside there is 23,099 square feet to stretch out in or to work out in the gym. There’s also a lap pool and home tech to make it all go.
Stellenbosch Boutique Wine Estate, South Africa
We’ve shown you really cool wine cellars in the past but you know what’s cooler than a wine cellar? You own vineyard like this mansion has in South Africa. The mansion comes with 25 acres mostly dedicated to growing grapes. Helderberg Mountain is near enough you’ll feel like you can touch it and the Tuscan-styled home will make you feel like you’re in an Italian vineyard. The view gets better because both the Indian and Atlantic Oceans can be seen from the mansion.
The house has five bedrooms and six baths with wood-burning fireplaces set in bigger rooms. The mansion features a gourmet chef’s kitchen with luxury appliances.
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Constantia, Cape Town, South Africa
This mansion is built to entertain with five reception rooms, a wine cellar and a tasting room. Additional entertainment options include a game room and a braai room, which is a room for dining, entertaining and serving drinks.
Bohemian Rhapsody
This four-bedroom, four-bathroom mansion in South Africa looks like a yacht from a far with its angled walls but up close it’s a uniquely beautiful house. It provides a view of the mountains and the ocean. Inside there’s a Fibonacci spiral staircase, a glass elevator, wine cellar, movie theater, fitness studio and massage room.
Bryanston, Johannesburg, South Africa
There aren’t many places in this mansion where you won’t have a view outside. Inside it features an open plan family room, six bedrooms and six bathrooms. There’s also a chef’s kitchen, movie theater, billiard room and underfloor heating. Elsewhere around the mansion, there’s a wine cellar, a sky bar, covered patio and a spa. There’s also home security items like a burglar alarm and even a guard house.
Lo Barnechea, Santiago, Chile
The luxury of this Santiago, Chile mansion comes across pretty quickly after one look at the marble floors and stairs. Then there’s the beautiful Chilean beechwood doors and balustrades. Outside, the home overlooks a valley and provides a view of the mountains.
Spanish Farm, South Africa
This mansion isn’t too far from the winery in South Africa and while this five-bedroom, five-bathroom mansion that has 9,149 square feet, doesn’t have a vineyard, there is a room where wine bottles hang from three of the walls. Wine is fine but some of the views from this mansion are unbelievable—ocean on one side and mountains nearby.
Morningside, South Africa
European style influences can be seen all throughout this home, which is modeled after an Italian villa. Inside there’s a grand staircase and chandelier, fancy European furniture and many other high-end features. As far as entertainment goes, there’s no shortage. This mansion also has a braai room, a cigar lounge, pool, sit-in wine cellar, cocktail bar and a chef-style kitchen.
Nicklaus in the Heart of Patagonia
This home in Argentina has got activities nearby for any time of the year. In the summer there’s golf. In the winter there’s skiing.
The home was built using locally sourced materials like stone and beechwood. It also sits on various levels in order to preserve the natural flow of the land.
Inside the dining room has its own fireplace and the bar has a fireplace of its own, too. In all, there are four bedrooms and fourth bathrooms. There is a half bath as well in the 5,704-square-foot mansion.
El Barco, Llao, Llao, Argentina
Near the Chilean border in Argentina is the village of Llao, Llao and this gorgeous three-story mansion. Built in 2007, the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house overlooks Lago Perito Moreno and Rio Negro.
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Palos Verdes House, Argentina
It kind of looks like a great cabin getaway spot but in reality it’s a five-bedroom, five-bathroom home in an awesome Argentina setting. There’s great hiking in the area and once you’re back from that, there’s a large patio area perfect for a cookout.
Lage Park Mansion, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
The Lage Park Mansion is located within a 52-hectare park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It used to belong to industrialist Enrique Lage, who had the mansion remodeled by an Italian architect named Mario Vodret. Inside the mansion, paintings by Salvador Payols Sabaté hang on the walls. The mansion and the land became a park back in the 1960s and even later on became the backdrop for Snoop Dogg’s music video for Beautiful, so it’s got that going for it, which is nice.
Strömsholm Palace
The Strömsholm Palace in Sweden dates to the 1550s and once served as a residence for Swedish royalty, in particular the queen dowager Catherine Stenbock. The old palace later got remodeled but served as some of the foundation of the palace that still stands that got built in 1669 on an island. Later on the palace became the site for the Strömsholm Riding School, which was part of the Swedish Army from 1868 to 1968. It continues to hold equestrian events each year. The palace houses a number of important Swedish paintings that date to the 17th century.
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House of Scientists, Lviv, Ukraine
The House of Scientists is a neo-baroque mansion in Lviv, Ukraine, that’s one of the most amazing looking buildings in the world. It also has a colourful history as it once held a casino and brothel. Later it became a youth recruitment point during World War II. It became the House of Scientists in 1948. Austrian architects drew from the best European palatial styles at the time. Inside the large oak staircase and other oak features make it stand out. There are crystal chandeliers, a marble fireplace and antique furniture throughout.
Popeci’s Manor from Padea, Romania
This mansion underwent restoration efforts to the tune of approximately $500,000 funded through a number of organizations and the mansion’s owner Constantin Popeci. Romanian architect Ion D. Berindey designed the mansion in the early 20th century for a banker named N.N. Popp. Berindey incorporated French architectural styles for the seven-room mansion. The building once served as a preventorium—a hospital of sorts to quarantine patients who had tuberculosis but didn’t have an active form of the disease. These days the mansion hosts guests as a hotel and event venue.
Baan Chinpracha, near Phuket, Thailand
Baan Chinpracha, built in 1903, is a stately Sino-Colonial mansion at the edge of Phuket’s Old Town area. Prapitak Chinpracha built the home and the original family still owns the mansion, having passed down through six generations now. The home, which can be seen in the film, Heaven and Earth, an Oliver Stone movie, features Italian floor tiles and furniture imported from China.
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Werribee Mansion Gardens, Australia
Thomas Chimside and his brother Andrew built the Australian mansion outside of Victoria between 1874-77 in the Italianate style. The mansion supported a working farm but is now open to the public.
The mansion once housed Corpus Christi College’s Catholic seminary and more recently hosted two Elton John concerts in 2007. Each year it hosts the Werribee Christmas Carols, a harvest festival and polo championships.
Witanhurst House, London
Witanhurst is known as London’s largest private residence, since Buckingham Palace is the largest residence for the Royal Family and is considered a public residence. Located in Highgate Hill, London, the estate dates to 1774 but the house these days was built between 1913 and 1920.
After several renovations through the years, it’s now a 25-bedroom mansion with a 70-foot long ballroom, massage rooms, a gym and a pool. In all, it spans 90,000 square feet and sold for £50 million in 2008 but reports estimated its value could rise to £300 million after further renovation and an expansion of a 40,000-square-foot basement.
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Villa Leopolda, France
American architect Ogden Codman Jr. designed and built Villa Leopolda from 1929-31 on an estate formerly owned by King Leopold II of Belgium. Speaking of King Leopold II, have you heard the story about the demolition workers who found around €100,000 of coins from 1870 with King Leopold II’s image on them?
Codman created a neo-Palladian style estate with a lavish garden that once appeared as a set in Alfred Hitchcock’s To Catch a Thief.
Erga Palace, Saudi Arabia
The Erga Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is known for its exclusivity. Few non-royals get to the see the inside of the palace. But President Obama visited back in 2015 to meet with King Salman bin Abdulaziz. It was one of the few times the media captured the interior of the palace. Italian marble and silk carpets fills the palace. And’s there’s a lot of gold everywhere, like even the tissue paper holders are made of gold.
Cliveden House, London
Charles Barry designed and built Cliveden, an Italianate mansion, sits on the ridge of Chiltern Hills, back in 1851 to replace a house destroyed by fire. The estate goes further back to 1605 for its origins. The exterior features Roman cement and terracotta features like balusters. The roof is actually designed for walking and there is a panoramic view that allows one to see Windsor Castle to the south.
Inside wall panels from the mid-18th century still hang in the French dining room. Another old feature is the Clock Tower, built in 1861, that continues to be used as a functioning water tower for the house.
The house has several brushes with famous people. The Beatles filmed part of Help! at Cliveden House and Princess Meghan spent the night before her wedding in Cliveden House.
Updown Court, Surrey United Kingdom
Updown Court is a 103-room mansion that John Scholz designed in a California-style house. Scholz built the mansion back in 1998 after the original 1924 house burned in a 1987 fire.
Scholz completed the 50,000-square-foot mansion set on 58 acres but since then it’s taken on a series of owners. Its size puts it ahead of Buckingham Palace and Hampton Court Palace in square footage.
What makes Updown Court unique is its $6 million marble heated driveway. There’s also five swimming pools, squash court, home theater, bowling alley and panic room.
Villa Emmaus, Dresden, Saxony, Germany
Christian Friedrich Arnold designed and built this Dresden mansion back in 1860. It’s a nearly a perfectly symmetrical mansion, which should please those who dislike the asymmetrical nature of McMansions.
Chester Terrace, London
Chester Terrace is a neo-classical styled home that dates to 1825. John Nash designed Chester Terrace and James Burton built it next to The Regent’s Park. There are actually 42 houses but five are semi-detached. The Nash House is one of them and the terrace has served as a backdrop for several films.
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Villa Huegel, Essen Germany
Villa Huegel is the former residence of the Alfred Krupp’s family. Krupp was a German industrialist who picked out the site to build a home. Krupp wanted a modern house back in 1869 and enlisted several architects to bring his vision to reality. The mansion was built to be fire-proof and insulated from sun, wind, cold and heat. There were double-pane windows, water heating and a rudimentary form of air conditioning. Each room had a precursor version of a thermostat to control the temperature. The mansion holds 269 rooms and 87,000 square feet. Today it’s used as an office for the Ruhr Cultural Foundation, an art gallery, an archive for the Krupp family records and even a concert venue.
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Villa de Osa, Berg, Germany
Ernst Haiger built Villa de Osa for Augusta de Osa, a Columbian diplomat’s widow in 1922. Haiger vacillated between several styles in his career like Art Nouveau and neoclassicism but settled on neo-baroque for this mansion, which overlooks Lake Starnberg.
Seidlvilla
Emanuel von Seidl blended German Renaissance style with Art Nouveau forms to create Seidlvilla for Franziska Lautenbacher, who gained wealth through a marriage to one of the Spaten Brewery owners. It was built in 1905 and is now maintained by the city of Munich.
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Villa Caju
Over in Brazil you can immerse yourself between the rainforest and the beach with this mansion. The construction of the home included renewable materials like repurposed wood and wooden shingles. It’s a six-bedroom home with a home theater on a 5.6-acre lot.
Esquel, Argentina
The stone exterior of this mansion conjures images of Spain but this is set in Argentina and sits on more than 6,000 acres. The lake is stocked with rainbow trout and the owners have an natural resources management plan established with the government. The house is nearly 10,000 square feet and features in-floor heating, an indoor swimming pool, a sauna and a wine cellar.
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Tigre, Argentina
This mansion combines modern design and resort life. Inside there’s a gym, hot tub, sauna, heated swimming pool that has a counter-current system for tougher workout. There are five bedrooms and a large dock outside for any boats.
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