>> Top 5 Châteaux

Versailles - château, Trianons, park and gardens

Magnificent palace of the Sun King, with the Hall of Mirrors, the apartments of Louis XV. In the gardens by Le Nôtre is the biggest museum of outdoor sculpture of the 17th century.

RP 834
78008 Versailles Cedex
Tel: 00 33 (1) 30 83 77 88
www.chateauversailles.fr

Open: Château, every day except Mondays; Park and gardens, every day.

Fontainebleau - château, Napoleon 1st Museum and gardens

Attracted notably by the immense surrounding forest full of game, François I decided in 1527 to enlarge what was then just a modest fortified château, making it one of the most prestigious royal residences and one of the jewels of French art, as much for its architecture as for its decoration and gardens. Part of the château houses the Napoleon Museum.

77300 Fontainebleau
Tel: 00 33 (1) 60 71 50 60/70

Open: Every day except Tuesdays, 1 January, 1 May and 25 December

Vaux-le-Vicomte - château, gardens in the French style, carriage Museum

The harmony of the château’s construction, the grandeur of its gardens landscaped by Le Nôtre and the beauty of the ensemble are such that Vaux-le-Vicomte’s ingenious sponsor, Nicolas Fouquet, incurred the wrath of a furiously jealous Louis XIV. Its creators, on the other hand, obtained the favour of the king, who later employed them for the building of Versailles.

77950 Maincy
Tel: 00 33 (1) 64 14 41 90
www.vaux-le-vicomte.com

Open: 27 March to 11 November

Courson - château, landscaped and botanical gardens

With its large italianate salon and its long string of rooms, this is a superb 17th-century building in pure Louis XIV style. In its centuries-old English-style park, thousands of rare plant species grow: a wonderful site for plant lovers. The gardens are a blaze of colour with sumptuous Spring flowers and fiery red Autumn leaves.

91680 Courson-Monteloup
Tel: 00 33 (1) 64 58 90 12
www.coursondom.com

Open: from 2 January to 20 December

Breteuil - château, gardens and fairytales

A combination of superb residence overlooking the Chevreuse valley, vast reception space and magnificent playground for children, this 16th-century château is enlivened every day by numerous entertaining events, notably related to themes taken from the stories of Perrault.

78460 Choisel
Tel: 00 33 (1) 30 52 05 02
www.castle-France.com

Open: Every day all year round from 2.30pm

>> Top 5 Royal Towns

Versailles – the sun King at his zenith

The installation of Louis XIV and his court in the new palace at Versailles in 1682 transformed this modest town into a capital. Tradesmen and hoteliers flooded in as well as the nobility, who had sumptuous private mansions built. Today, Versailles is an imposing town of considerable architectural richness.

Fontainebleau and the Court of France

A royal town and favourite place for visitors, Fontainebleau was laid out by Louis XIV between his palace and the forest. Since the Middle ages, 34 sovereigns have succeeded one another in the palace. Today the palace, the ‘House of the Centuries’ and its park are a UNESCO world Heritage Site.

Vincennes, from hunting ground to royal residence

Vincennes owes its experience to Louis VII who adopted the forest of that name as his favourite hunting territory. The original rudimentary hunting lodge became a fine country manor under Saint Louis and boasts a fortified enclosure dating from the Middle Ages.

Saint-Denis, resting place of French Kings

Saint-Denis, city of art on the very edge of Paris, is a cradle of Gothic art and the burial place of kings. Home of the Stade de France, the city of the French kings has a history going back 2,000 years; it offers a rich feast of discoveries in a context of vibrant cultural and commercial activity.

Rambouillet, History and Nature

In the midst of a state forest of oaks, birches, moorland, heath and lakes, the story of Rambouillet has for long been bound up with the history of the kings of France and enjoyed its Golden Age during the reign of Louis XIV. Since 1896, the château and its 250 hectares of grounds are a presidential residence.

>> Top 5 Artists and Writers Sites

Auvers-sur-Oise

A true immersion in the pictorial art of the last century, Auvers enchanted first Daubigny, Corot and Daumier (as proved by Daubigny's studio-house), to subsequently attract the major names of Impressionism. Apart from the château, where you are invited on a 'Voyage to the time of the Impressionists', you can immerse yourself in the unique atmosphere of the period at the Auberge Ravoux which put up Van Gogh before his death in 1890. Today one can see his miraculously preserved room and a museum devoted to him.

Barbizon

This sweet little village attracted a whole generation of painters as if by magnetism - Théodore Rousseau, Millet, Corot, Daubigny all spent time at the Auberge du Père-Ganne, today converted into a museum. The numerous personalities enchanted by the place included Mallarmé, whose memory is kept alive in the museum in his house, and Jean-François Millet, whose studio still stands.

Moret-sur-Loing

A source of inspiration to Monet, Renoir and Sisley, Moret-sur-Loing was for many years a fortress and royal residence, as testified by its rich medieval heritage. It was also the town chosen by Georges Clemenceau, one of Europe's greatest politicians at the beginning of the century, as the site for his property, la Grange-Batelière. Today, this 12th century medieval town with its rich past, bordered by a peaceful river, is a delightful spot to linger.

Château de Monte-Cristo

The success of The Three Musketeers allowed the writer Alexandre Dumas to build this astonishing Neo-Renaissance building. Among its whimsical features, the Moorish Salon is quite remarkable.

1, avenue John Fitzgerald Kennedy
78560 Le Port-Marly

Maison de Victor Hugo

Documents and manuscripts of the famous writer who spent several summers here at the domaine des Roches, which since then has become the Maison Littéraire.

45, rue de Vauboyen
91570 Bièvres

Open: 1 March to 30 November