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What to see outside Paris
There are numerous interesting things just around Paris. The palaces of Versailles and, a little further afield, Fontainebleau are true highlights of any trip to France. Disneyland Paris is an attraction of quite a different nature - but it does draw a crowd.
Versailles
In 1682 Louis XIV and his court left Paris for the Château de Versailles, urging his nobles to live with him and so effectively curtailing any plans of revolt. The palace the Sun King built was over 600 meters (2,000 feet) long and three stories high; at its peak, over 20,000 people lived here. The forests and grounds that surrounded the château were stocked with game, and the royal hunting expeditions took on mythic proportions. A century later, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette lived here in untold splendor until forced to vacate by revolutionaries in 1789. While some parts of the château are open to independent visitors, most of the interesting parts of the building are seen only on guided tours. The gardens are as grandiose as the château: over 80 hectares (nearly 200 acres) of carefully manicured lawns, fountains, artificial lakes, and floral displays. Hidden among the trees are the royal playhouses, the Petit Trianon and the Hameau.
Palais du Versailles, Versailles
78000 Paris
Phone: +33 (1) 30-84-74-00 Toll-Free: 33 (1) 30-84-75-43 Fax: +33 (1) 30-84-76-48
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Cathédrale de Chartres
This enlightened gothic vessel challenges centuries 1 hours away from Paris. This witness of civilization, objective of pilgrimage, rises as a landmark on the skyline. With its proud spire this vessel anchored on an ocean of wheat overhangs the town and reveals its architecture, one of the most famous in the middle-age. But above all the cathedral of Chartres is famous for its extraordinary collection of stain-glasses of the XIII th century and among the XII th century's ones the internationally praised "Notre Dame de la Belle Verrière. Chartres leaves an imperishable souvenir to every visitor.
Cathédrale de Chartres - 28000 Chartres
Phone: +33 (2) 37 21 75 02
How to get there
By road: A 11 Exit Chartres Est. 45 min ride leaving Paris
By train: From Paris. Gare Montparnasse 45 min to 1 h 10 ride.
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Château of Fontainebleau
Royal palace situated southeast of Paris, close to the valley of the Seine River, and a favorite resort of French monarchs from the 16th through the 19th centuries. Its ornate interiors are today a major tourist attraction. The palace has its origins in a castle built by Louis VI in the 12th century. The pious Louis IX (Saint Louis) founded a monastery there in the 13th century, parts of which still survive.
77300 Fontainebleau - France
Phone: +33 (1) 64-22-27-40
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Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte
Located halfway between Fontainebleau and Vincennes, this great château employed many of the artists who were later to build, decorate, and landscape Louis XIV's palaces at Versailles, the Trianon and Marly. Vaux was commissioned by the Sun King's arrogant finance minister, Nicholas Fouquet. The château ended up being Fouquet's downfall: Louis, jealous of Vaux-le-Vicomte's splendor (he thought he was being upstaged), threw Fouquet in prison, charging him with embezzlement. One of the most interesting aspects of Vaux-le-Vicomte is its gracefulness when compared to the wildly extravagant palace at Versailles, which this château inspired. This, and not the grandiose homes of the Sun King, is probably the highest pinnacle of the style that is known as Louis Quatorze. This château is not on the usual tourist circuits, but Vaux is not to be missed by any true Francophile. If you are in town from May to October, don't miss the special Candlelight Evenings on Saturdays: the privately owned château is illuminated entirely by candlelight from 8:30 to 11:00 PM. There's also a fountain show on the second and last Saturday of each month.
Melun - France
Telephone: +33 (1) 64-14-41-90
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Chantilly
You don't have to be a horse lover to visit Chantilly, with its fantastic stables, racetrack, and horse museum. In fact, the châteaux, stables, and gardens at Chantilly, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Paris, give an excellent insight into the aristocratic life of a 19th-century estate. Chantilly would just be another drafty château if it weren't for its extensive gardens and the Grand Stables. The best part of a visit to the stables is the opportunity to watch horses training for dressage tournaments. Exhibits are given several times daily in summer, and on weekends in winter. Chantilly is also the site of one of France's major horse-racing tracks; in the morning you can watch the thoroughbreds exercising around the track, or in June or September attend one of the races.
Chantilly - France
Telephone: +33 (33) 44-57-08-58
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Giverny
One of Paris's best day trips is to Claude Monet's famous country house and gardens at Giverny. A trip to Giverny is a chance to observe a way of life that contributed to the creation of some of the most famous artworks of the 19th century. It also sheds light on the day-to-day life of a great artist. Claude Monet made Giverny his home from 1883 until he died in 1926. Although the ideal time to visit Monet's house in Giverny is spring, the garden is still beautiful during the hot summer months. The house is painted a sunny pink with green shutters. Inside, the kitchen has been fully restored. Monet was a collector of Japanese prints of the Floating World, and Giverny houses his superb collection of Japanese art. Don't expect to see Monet's masterpieces at the house they're at the Musée de l'Orangerie and the Musée d'Orsay.
(Trains from Gare St-Lazare and guided tours leave Paris daily.)
Giverny - France
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Loire-Anjou-Touraine Park - Regional National Park
The park has seven prestigious castles built during either the Middle Ages or the Renaissance. They are Villandry, Azay-le-Rideau, Chinon, Ussé, Montreuil-Bellay, Montsoreau and Saumur.
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