Inside the Royal Family's Favorite Vacation Destinations

For their entire lives, the queen and her husband have holidayed, not in some far-flung exotic locale, but in Scotland. Every year without fail, they choose to spend August through mid-October in Balmoral Castle — the property that Prince Albert bought for Queen Victoria in 1852 — with regular visits from their children and grandchildren. They enjoy walking and riding through the 50,000 acres of wild Scottish highlands, and the grounds are dotted with simple outhouses where they set up picnics. It has always been Prince Philip's job to barbecue game from the estate.

The Cambridges are typical of their group of friends, favoring sun in the Caribbean and snow in the Alps. Yearly, Kate's family spend a week on the Caribbean island of Mustique to celebrate mum Carole's birthday on Jan. 31, and the couple usually stay in Aurora House, which has three bedroom suites, a sea view dining gazebo, and a pool. On the island, they go diving and play tennis before drinks in Basil's Bar or the Cotton House. For skiing, Will and Kate used to go to the Swiss resort of Klosters, where William grew up going with his father, Prince Charles (it's where they were first rumbled as a couple when they were snapped kissing on the slopes), but in recent years they have favored Meribel in France.

Unsurprisingly, the royal rebel's choices have been a little more left field than others in his family, with party weekends in Las Vegas and Croatia, wild boar hunting in Spain, and motorbiking in Romania, but really his heart belongs to Africa. He first visited with his father when he was 13 and later while dating Zimbabwean Chelsy Davy. Harry visited her in South Africa many times and holidayed with her and her family in Bazaruto off the coast of Mozambique. On more than one occasion he's visited the Okavango Delta in Botswana, and he holidayed in South Africa at the end of 2014. For European travel Harry has frequently been spotted on budget airlines including EasyJet, Wizz Air, and WOW Air.

The Prince of Wales seems to have three favorite spots. For 40 years, he has been holidaying at the Swiss ski resort of Klosters, where he usually stays at the Walserhof Hotel. He chose to take a break there with friends and family as a kind of "bachelor party" before his 2005 wedding to Camilla Parker-Bowles. He and Camilla also spend time every year in their Welsh farmhouse in Llwynywermod, Carmarthenshire, while Charles travels yearly to rural Romania, where he has two 400-year old cottages that have been renovated.

The royal sisters have followed in their parents' footsteps by favoring the Swiss ski resort of Verbier for their annual fix of snow. The Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson own a chalet there, and the whole family decamp there for the duke's birthday every year. For sun, the girls follow the invitations from friends with yachts including businessman Lakshmi Mittal and Roman Abramovich. Around her August birthday every year, Beatrice and her boyfriend, Dave Clark, often spend time on luxurious vessels with friends in the South of France or Spain.

Following in her mother's famously frugal footsteps, down-to-earth Zara and Mike have in recent years holidayed in Cyprus on a package holiday to the Columbia Beach Resort. They also love Sydney, Australia, as it's where they first met and where England won the Rugby World Cup. However, Mike has said that the Greek island of Sifnow is where he and Zara had one of their best holidays ever, due to the beauty, sun, seclusion, and good restaurants.

The queen's youngest son, Edward, and his wife, Sophie, have been fans of the Bahamas ever since Edward proposed there on Windermere Island. Though, in 2014 they spent their Summer break with their two children, Lady Louise and James, Viscount Severn, in Espalmador, a small island off the coast of Ibiza.