From the owner: La ville de Van Gogh et des impressionnistes Le 20 mai 1890, Vincent Van Gogh arrive à Auvers sur…read moreOise et s'installe à l'Auberge Ravoux. La petite église de style gothique, aujourd'hui exposée au musée d'Orsay à Paris devient l'un de ses sujets majeurs. Mais, dans la soirée du 27 juillet 1890, Van Gogh se suicide dans sa chambre à l'auberge. Il n'est bien sûr pas le seul : de Pissaro en passant par Cézanne et Daubigny, ce village a conservé l'âme de ces impressionnistes de la fin du XIXème siècle.

this historic estate was owned by the same family for 500 years until the death in 1897 of it's…read morelast occupant, Duc d'Aumale - son of King Louis Philippe - who bequeathed Chantilly to the state with the caveat that it remain open to the public. in it's long history, the Château has hosted notables of the era (and the wedding of Brazilian football star Ronaldo in 2005). the main attraction is the art collection in the Musée Condé, considered one of the finest in France (after the Louvre). also of interest are the gardens, private apartments, library and state rooms. located within the estate is the Hippodrome de Chantilly which hosts the Prix du Jockey Club in June, first run in 1836. also home to le Polo Club. Chantilly is an easy 45 min. drive from Paris but there are semi-regular trains you can take from Gare Saint-Lazare. upon reaching town, take the free shutlle bus to the estate. an alternative is a 20 min. walk through the woods on marked trails(which i did once). before leaving, stop in at La Capitainerie, the Château restaurant for some fruit, ice cream or patisserie topped with crème Chantilly, first served here by the "Maître d'hôtel" Vatel in 1671 for a banquet in honor of Louise XIV (actually saw this in the movie "Vatel" played by Gérard Depardieu). the perfectionist Vatel committed suicide before the banquet because the fish to be served had not been delivered. it apparently arrived after he impaled himself on his sword. what a (true)story.

I don't think I can top Mike G.'s review!…read more So just a few tidbits: - Easy trip from Paris - Try to get there early so that you can be one of the first to enter before it gets jam-packed with tour groups - We found the audioguide very informative - The restaurant situated in the former kitchen of the chateau - La Capitainerie - will get as crowded as the rest of the chateau. If you're clever (we weren't in this regard) you'll head to lunch early or at least go down and make a reservation or put in your name for a certain time. I think you can do this. All I know is we had to put our name, wait ~30 minutes (we walked around the gardens), come back, wait some more and eventually get seated. Lots of people gave up, but I was determined to eat in the fancy dining room and try some of the chantilly cream. I have to admit, the food was quite good (better than I'd read) once we were able to finally get a seat. My wife ordered the ribeye and got an ENORMOUS steak. (She distinctly ordered the 'petite' steak, but we received (and were charged for) the 'grand' one. The waitstaff reduced the charge without any problem when I pointed out the mistake, but just be prepared to check your bill before paying.) - The chateau has a wonderful art collection (Musée Condé), marvelous library, great architecture/decor and an incredible series of stained glass windows. - There is a separate stables and horse show. The 'stables' are so enormous and impressive that when you first see them (as you walk from the station) you may think you've already reached the chateau!! Apparently, the prince who lived in the chateau (Prince Conde) thought he would come back in his next life as a horse, so he asked his architect to design a palace for horses!! (I believe it was this sort of thing - palaces for horses, no food for the peasants - that led to a little phenomenon known as the French Revolution.) You have to pay separately to see the stables and horse show. Since we'd already seen a similar show in Vienna on another trip, we decided to skip the horses and focus on the chateau. - The gardens? Not my cup of tea. I tend to find enormous stretches of grass and ponds to be more exhausting than inspiring. Had the same problem at Versailles. Some people love it, I guess. Clearly the garden designers of the time thought it was the cat's meow. If you like chateaus, this is a nice one and very easy to visit from Paris. A quick train ride, pleasant 20 minute walk from the station and a full day visiting a palace and having a nice lunch. Not bad at all!

From the owner: L'abbaye ouverte à tous Au fond du parc s'étire cette abbaye fondée en 1228 par Saint-Louis, qui…read moreabrite notamment un cloître, un superbe réfectoire et une bibliothèque. Un magnifique parc ainsi qu'un jardin d'inspiration médiévale viennent compléter ce lieu. Plus qu'un musée, c'est un vrai lieu de vie. Un festival de musique y est organisé de juin à septembre, une Fondation soutient son activité et 4 jours en octobre, des ateliers sont proposés aux enfants (tailleur de pierre, danse médiévale...). Royaumont organise aussi des séminaires et des réceptions d'exception (minimum 10 personnes) avec possibilité de manger et dormir sur place.

The town of Maisons-Laffitte is only about 35 minutes away from the Champs-Elysées by the RER A…read moretrain, and the Château de Maisons is a small and unusual chateau. Regular entry is 7.5 Euros or about $9 USD and includes a 2 hour guided tour during certain times (in French). The entrance looks perfectly symmetrical because it was built a bit like a Hollywood facade, with the outside built first and the inside built around the outside. This meant that some rooms have half a window, and walls are not where they might seem to be on the inside. The original entrance was built to receive royalty on the chance that they might come visit (which they did on occasion) so the marble sculptures in the portico and on the columns were carved to impress. Even the trompe d'oeil staircase gives the illusion of several stories even though the entire chateau is only two stories. The "third" story was hidden quarters for the servants under the "roof", which gave them a view of the royals entering and leaving the royal chambers on the second floor. The ground floor was where the actual owners lived and although the columns here look like marble, they are actually painted wood because the original ones were sold to pay off debts long ago. The most ornate part of the chateau is of course where the royals ate and slept and even the original parquet floors show the work put into pleasing them. The dining area had a middle entrance reserved for the King, while the side entrances were for everyone else; any pushing or shoving was punishable by fines. The King's bedroom was only used by the king on a handful of occasions but had the rare modern convenience of its own private entry with an adjacent bathroom. The women's quarters on the other side had a distinctly more feminine style. Most of the grounds were parceled off and sold to rich Parisians for weekend homes in the "country", but the bit that remains looks out towards Paris and the Seine as a reminder that a few minutes away is a place where you can leave the noise and intensity of city life behind.

Looking for something to visit not far from Paris and you've already done Versailles? Chateau de…read moreMaisons is your place. On RER A direct from Paris and a short walk through the charming town of Maisons Lafitte, you'll find this gorgeous castle. Gorgeous interiors for this castle nestled amongst suburbia. Entrance was 7,50€ for adults or free for 18-25 EU Recommend a visit!

I've only read about the troves of people that go to the Palace of Versailles and it had deterred…read moreme from wanting to go there. We found Chateau de Fontainebleau as a great alternative that is less crowded and decided to go. This palace is MASSIVE. Actually, massive is still an understatement. The courtyard itself is the size of a small town and the gardens behind the palace are the size of a small city. Unfortunately, we arrived with only a 2-3 hours before closing so we had to rush through the majority of the palace without reading the descriptions just to be able to see as much as we could. Be aware that the ballroom closes earlier than the Chateau so if you are visiting towards closing, you may be diverted elsewhere and miss out on certain rooms. We were one of the last ones admitted to the ballroom before they closed and then continued our self guided tour after we left.

Great palace to visit in France. This place is a residence of king, meeting the emperor Napoleon,…read moreand source of inspiration and treasures. This palace built during 12th century as medieval palace. It has been through many kings. It was build bit by bit to current palace. The chateau contain building, museum, garden, and park. It is difficult to complete entire park. The building only open certain sectors. It is part of UNESCO world heritage site. The grand apartment hallway is beautiful and same as the library. The king and queen room is beautiful. There is very details museum for Napoleon. It includes the emperor campaign. The tent and room use by Napoleon. The collection includes the Marie Louise personal item and more. The palace is well decorated. Furnitures are look prestige. The garden is huge. But I think the garden is very bare.

Walking through this castle is certainly an experience! When we were there, they had an exhibit…read morefrom the "monuments men" movie which was very interesting in the main floor rooms. Then we decided to go up to the top to see the view from the Keep (watchtower). It starts with a simple set of stairs, and then it gets much more challenging. The steps themselves are uneven, the risers aren't uniform so some steps are higher than others, and the steps just keep on coming. About halfway up, you get to the dovecote, where they would keep their carrier pigeons, which was really cool to see. It also gave you a great break from the steps. But the steps continue and get steeper and more challenging. I made it about 2/3 the way up, but my adult children made it all the rest of the way up and said the view from the very top was spectacular, but the view from the level I stopped at was pretty darn good too! I probably could've made the rest of the flights, but I was also getting concerned about getting back down due to the steepness of the steps and the shortage of good handrails. Definitely a climb you need to do with good footwear! We enjoyed the stop, and got great views of the valley, and would recommend it to others.