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That house? It’s out of your reach.

It’s good to be king. Or queen. Or a very dear friend of the court—whatever gets you the most square footage.

Never mind who they were built for; yesterday’s palaces are by and large no longer residences of the rich and royal. Instead, they’ve been morphed into museums, government buildings, even top-shelf hotels and resorts.

Come with R. Crusoe & Son for a quick whirl around the world to eyeball our favorite palaces. Here’s our list, in no particular order:

1. Catherine Palace (aka Summer Palace), Pushkin, Russian Federation. The residence originated in 1717, when Catherine I of Russia constructed a summer palace. In 1752, her daughter, Empress Elizabeth, asked architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli to demolish the old structure and replace it with a much grander, Rococo palace. Four years later, the lavish home was finished. Her successor, Catherine the Great, thoroughly unimpressed, employed Scottish architect Charles Cameron to refurbish much of the interior in the Greek Revival style. Fun factoid: Catherine the Great called Elizabeth’s choice of over-the-top architecture “whipped cream.”


2. Grandmasters Palace, Valletta, Malta. The seat of Malta’s power since the 16th century. Built as the base for crusading Christians, the Order of the Knights Hospitaller of St. John, it later housed the British governor of Malta, and even later the parliament. Today, the state rooms and armory are open to the public. Fun factoid: The tapestry chamber is lined with a complete set of tapestries made in the early 1700s specifically for the room by the Gobelins Royal Factory in France.


3. Alhambra, Granada, Spain. Constructed during the mid-14th century for the last Muslim rulers in Spain, the Nasrid Dynasty. After the Catholic Monarchs took back the country in 1492, some portions were used by Spain’s Christian rulers. In 1527, King Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, inserted his own palace into the Alhambra. Fun factoid: After falling into disrepair for centuries, the Alhambra was “discovered” in the 19th century by European scholars and travelers.


4. Forbidden City, Beijing, China. More a royal complex than a single residence, the Forbidden City was home to 24 emperors over the course of 600 years. Once, only a handful of citizens were allowed inside (hence the name “forbidden”), but today this is one of China’s highlights. Fun factoid: The complex is so vast that it takes workmen 10 years to do maintenance on all the buildings, and when they finish they must start again.


5. Knossos Palace, Heraklion, Crete (Greece). Even in the 19th century B.C., rulers knew how to build a swanky residence. Need proof? Head for Knossos, the great palace built for legendary King Minos. Sometimes called the Labyrinth, it is a conglomeration of shrines, banquet halls, living space, and winding passageways. Fun factoid: King Minos asked the architect Daedalus to add a labyrinth to house his wife’s half-human-half-bull son, the Minotaur.


6. Château de Versailles, Versailles, France. The palace by which all other 17th- and 18th-century monarchs measured their own exquisite efforts. Louis XIV, the Sun King, transformed a humble hunting lodge into this magnificent specimen of ostentation—all created in the name of royal absolutism. Fun factoid: This is one of the world’s largest palaces, with more than 700 rooms, 2,000 windows, 1,250 fireplaces, 67 staircases, and more than 1,800 acres of gardens.


7. Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, Turkey. For an eyeful of traditional Ottoman design, Topkapi tops the list. Home to powerful sultans for 400 of their 624-year reign, it’s got enough colorful tilework, stunning turrets, immense columns, and great archways to satisfy the needs and whims of any ruler. Fun factoid: At its peak, the palace was home to 4,000 people.


8. Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur India. Built on a tiny island in Lake Pichola, this “floating palace” was finished in 1746 for the Maharana, ruler of Udaipur, as a royal summer getaway. The palace faces east, allowing its inhabitants to pray to the sun god at dawn. During the Raj, successive rulers used this cool haven to hold regal durbars. Fun factoid: During the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857, the resident maharana offered several European families asylum at the palace and protected his guests by destroying the town’s boats so rebels could not reach them.


9. Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna, Austria. A Habsburg haven. At the end of the 17th century, Emperor Leopold I commissioned a baroque hunting lodge. Half a century later, under Empress Maria Theresa, Schönbrunn would become the magnificent focus of court life. This playground of the Habsburg Dynasty has hosted the leading statesmen of Europe. Following the downfall of the monarchy in 1918, the new Austrian republic took possession of Schönbrunn and preserved it as a museum. Fun factoid: In 1961, John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev met at Schönbrunn for a summit on the future of Berlin and the nuclear arms race.


10. Potala Palace, Lhasa, Tibet. Built in the mid-1600s by the fifth Dalai Lama, Lobsang Gyatso, Potala is Tibet’s mightiest symbol of Buddhism. Among other treasures, it houses the remains of past Dalai Lamas. Fun factoid: Though Lobsang Gyatso died before Potala’s completion, key Tibetan political figures kept his death a secret for 15 years so that the palace would be finished. Today it is a museum.

Is your favorite palace missing from our list? By all means, share your favorite piece of royal real estate with us.