The School Tours offered by Hearst Castle® are curriculum focused and supported by a teacher resource packet that present pre-visit background material and exercises as well as post-visit activities. The tours last approximately one hour and forty-five minutes including the bus trip to and from the hilltop. Groups of 12 to 53 (including teachers and chaperones) can be accommodated in one time slot.

Currently, a special Hearst Castle® School Tour entitled "Ancient Art in the Collection of William Randolph Hearst" is being offered. It focuses on Greek, Roman and Egyptian pieces in the Hearst Collection. Under development are "Hearst Castle: 20th Century Look at the Gothic and Renaissance Times" and "WRH: Product of the American Dream."

For more information on Hearst Castle's School Tour, or to make a reservation, please call (805) 927-6811.

Foreign Language Tours can be arranged for groups of 12 or more.
Currently, multilingual guides speaking French, Portuguese, or Spanish may be available. Reservations for Foreign Language tours must be made directly with Hearst Castle® in advance. Please phone for more information on the availability of multilingual guides. Brochures in several languages are also available at the Visitor Center, including Braille, Dutch, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Urdu.

For more information, or to make reservations for a Foreign Language Tour, please call (805) 927-2085.

Accessibly Designed Tours
To reserve a ticket for the accessibly designed/wheelchair accessible tours, please call Hearst Castle® directly 10 days in advance. These tours are offered at least three times daily.

Visitors should arrive at least 20 minutes prior to the tour time and pick up their tickets at the Rangers Office. The Experience Tour fee is charged for this tour.  The length of the tour is approximately one hour and 45 minutes, which includes the bus ride to and from the Visitor’s Center.  Wheelchairs are available at no extra charge, or if the visitor has their own chair, it must be capable of entering doorways 28 inches wide. It is highly recommended that a person strong enough to safely move an occupied wheelchair up and down long, steep inclines and narrow ramps accompany them.

Accessibly Designed Tours are available for the ground floor only and may be modified to accommodate visitors during stormy weather. All other areas are inaccessible due to the many flights of stairs in the historic structures. Outdoors, the tour includes the gardens, views of the guest cottages and a stop at the outdoor Neptune Pool. Indoors, the tour covers a guesthouse, the main floor of the Casa Grande, including the assembly room, the refectory, the morning room, the theater, the billiard room and the kitchen, with the tour finishing at the indoor Roman Pool.