Neptune Pool

Very likely among the first things that most visitors see when they step off the shuttles that bring them to Hearst Castle from below is the Neptune Pool.

Completed in 1936, the pool contains 345,000 gallons of water. The final in a series of three designs for a magnificent pool for the site, it is 104 feet long, 58 feet wide, and 95 feet wide at alcove. It features an oil burning heating system, light-veined Vermont marble decorating the pools and colonnades -- which have a set of four 17th century Italian bas-reliefs on their sides.