49 Best Sights in Side Trips from Paris, France

Worship on the site of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame, better known as Chartres Cathedral, goes back to before the Gallo-Roman period—the crypt contains a well that was the focus of druid ceremonies. In the late 9th century Charles II (aka "the Bald") presented Chartres with what was believed to be the tunic of the Virgin Mary, a precious relic that went on to attract hordes of pilgrims. The current cathedral, the sixth church on the spot, dates mainly to the 12th and 13th centuries and was erected after most of the previous building, dating to the 11th century, burned down in 1194. A well-chronicled outburst of religious fervor followed the discovery that the Virgin Mary's relic had miraculously survived unsinged. Motivated by this “miracle,” princes and paupers, barons and bourgeoisie gave their money and their labor to build the new cathedral. Ladies of the manor came to help monks and peasants on the scaffolding in a tremendous resurgence of religious faith that followed the Second Crusade. Just 25 years were needed for Chartres Cathedral to rise again, and although it remained substantially unchanged for centuries, a 12-year, €20 million renovation that was completed in 2018 restored the cathedral's famously gloomy interiors to their "original" creamy white, sparking a major controversy among those who embraced the dark interiors. As spiritual as Chartres is, the cathedral also had its more earthbound uses. Look closely and you can see that the main nave floor has a subtle slant. It was designed to provide drainage because this part of the church was often used as a "hostel" by thousands of overnighting pilgrims in medieval times. Those who couldn't afford the entire pilgrimage could walk the cathedral's labyrinth, one of the most beautiful and famous in the world; today it's open for visitors every Friday and for a month during Lent (on other days it is covered with chairs).

Though the windows no longer pop from the previously dark interiors, the gemlike richness of the cleaned and restored stained glass, with the famous deep Chartres blue predominating, is still a thrilling experience. The restoration also uncovered some surprising illustrations of rose windows painted high up in the north and south narthex, just inside the cathedral entrance. The Royal Portal is richly sculpted with scenes from the life of Christ—these sculpted figures are among the greatest created during the Middle Ages. The rose window above the main portal dates from the 13th century, and the three windows below it contain some of the finest examples of 12th-century stained-glass artistry in France. The oldest window is arguably the most beautiful: Notre-Dame de la Belle Verrière (Our Lady of the Lovely Window), in the south choir.

A special tour of the cathedral crypt by candlelight is given every Saturday at 9:30 pm (in French; book on the Chartres Tourism site). For a bird's-eye view, book a tour of the towers. Guided tours of the Crypte start from the Maison de la Crypte opposite the south porch; tickets can be purchased at the gift store.

Although its lavish exterior may be 19th-century Renaissance pastiche, the Château de Chantilly, sitting snugly behind an artificial lake, houses the outstanding Musée Condé, with illuminated medieval manuscripts, tapestries, furniture, and paintings. The most famous room, the Santuario (sanctuary), contains two celebrated works by Italian painter Raphael (1483–1520)—the Three Graces and the Orleans Virgin—plus an exquisite ensemble of 15th-century miniatures by the most illustrious French painter of his time, Jean Fouquet (1420–81). Farther on, in the Cabinet des Livres (library), is the world-famous Book of Hours, whose title translates as The Very Rich Hours of the Duc de Berry. It was illuminated by the Brothers Limbourg with magical pictures of early-15th-century life as lived by one of Burgundy's richest lords; unfortunately, due to their fragility, painted facsimiles of the celebrated calendar illuminations are on display, not the actual pages of the book. Other highlights of this unusual museum are the Galerie de Psyché (Psyche Gallery), with 16th-century stained glass and portrait drawings by Flemish artist Jean Clouet II; the Chapelle, with sculptures by Jean Goujon and Jacques Sarrazin; and the extensive collection of paintings by 19th-century French artists, headed by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. In addition, there are grand and smaller salons, all stuffed with palace furniture, family portraits, and Sèvres porcelains, making this a must for lovers of the decorative and applied arts.

The 18th-century Château de Compiègne, where the future Louis XVI first met Marie-Antoinette in 1770, was restored by Napoléon I and favored for wild weekends by his nephew Napoléon III. The first Napoléon's legacy is more keenly felt: his state apartments have been refurbished using the original designs for hangings and upholstery, and bright silks and damasks adorn every room. Much of the mahogany furniture gleams with ormolu, and the chairs sparkle with gold leaf. Napoléon III's furniture looks ponderous by comparison. Behind the palace is a gently rising 4-km (2½-mile) vista, inspired by the park at Schönbrunn, in Vienna, where Napoléon I's second wife, Empress Marie-Louise, grew up. Also here is the Musée du Second Empire, a collection of decorative arts from the Napoléon III era: its showstopper is Franz-Xaver Winterhalter's Empress Eugénie Surrounded by Her Ladies in Waiting, a famed homage to the over-the-top hedonism of the Napoléon Trois era. Make time for the Musée de la Voiture (Vehicle Museum) and its display of carriages, coaches, and old cars—including the Jamais Contente (Never Satisfied), the first car to reach 100 kph (62 mph).

Framed by majestic avenues of centuries-old plane trees, Château de Courances's style is Louis Treize, although its finishing touch—a horseshoe staircase (mirroring the one at nearby Fontainebleau)—was an opulent 19th-century statement made by Baron Samuel de Haber, a banker who bought the estate and whose daughter then married into the regal family of the de Behagués. Their descendants, the Marquises de Ganay, have made the house uniquely and famously chez soi, letting charming personal taste trump conventional bon goût, thanks to a delightful mixture of 19th-century knickknacks and grand antiques. Outside, the vast French Renaissance water gardens create stunning vistas of stonework, grand canals, and rushing cascades. The house can be seen only on a 40-minute tour.

The glorious Château de Fontainebleau was a pinnacle of elegance and grandeur more than 100 years before the rise of Versailles. The château began life in the 12th century as a royal residence and hunting lodge and still retains vestiges of its medieval past, though much of it dates to the 16th century. Additions made by various royal incumbents—including 30 kings of France—through the next 300 years add up to the fascinating and opulent edifice we see today. Fontainebleau was begun under the flamboyant Renaissance king François I, the French contemporary of England's Henry VIII, who hired Italian artists Il Rosso (a pupil of Michelangelo) and Primaticcio to embellish his château. In fact, they did much more: by introducing the pagan allegories and elegant lines of Mannerism to France, they revolutionized French decorative art. Their virtuoso frescoes and stuccowork can be admired in the Galerie François-Ier (Francis I Gallery) and in the jewel of the interior, the 100-foot-long Salle de Bal (Ballroom), with its luxuriant wood paneling and its gleaming parquet floor that reflects the patterns on the ceiling. Like the château as a whole, the room exudes a sense of elegance and style, but on a more intimate, human scale than at Versailles—this is Renaissance, not Baroque. Napoléon's apartments occupied the first floor. You can see a lock of his hair, his Légion d'Honneur medal, his imperial uniform, the hat he wore on his return from Elba in 1815, and one bed in which he definitely did spend a night (almost every town in France boasts a bed in which the emperor supposedly snoozed). Joséphine's Salon Jaune (Yellow Room) is one of the best examples of the Empire style—the austere neoclassical style promoted by the emperor. There's also a throne room—Napoléon spurned the one at Versailles, a palace he disliked, establishing his imperial seat in the former King's Bedchamber here—and the Queen's Boudoir, also known as the Room of the Six Maries (occupants included ill-fated Marie-Antoinette and Napoléon's second wife, Marie-Louise).

Although Louis XIV's architectural fancy was concentrated on Versailles, he commissioned Mansart to design new pavilions and had André Le Nôtre replant the gardens at Fontainebleau, where he and his court returned faithfully in fall for the hunting season. But it was Napoléon who spent lavishly to make a Versailles, as it were, out of Fontainebleau.

Created during the reign of Napoléon III for the Empress Eugénie, the exquisite Théâtre Impérial was "rediscovered" in the early 2000s after being closed up in 1941. Though the theater's sumptuous golden upholstery, lighting, carpets, and gilded boiserie remained surprisingly intact, a restoration was completed in 2020. Visitors can see this jewel on one of the château's marvelous tours.

Built in 1622, La Malmaison was bought by the future empress Joséphine in 1799 as a love nest for Napoléon and herself, three years after their marriage. Theirs is one of Europe's most dramatic love stories, replete with affairs, scandal, and hatred—the emperor's family often disparaged Joséphine, a name bestowed on her by Napoléon (her real name was Rose), as "the Creole." After the childless Joséphine was divorced by the heir-hungry emperor in 1809, she retired to La Malmaison and died here on May 29, 1814. The château has 24 rooms furnished with exquisite tables, chairs, and sofas of the Napoleonic period; of special note are the library, game room, and dining room. The walls are adorned with works by artists of the day, such as Jacques-Louis David, Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, and Baron Gérard. Take time to admire the clothes and hats that belonged to Napoléon and Joséphine, particularly the empress's gowns. Their carriage can be seen in one of the garden pavilions; another contains a unique collection of snuffboxes donated by Prince George of Greece. The gardens are delightful, reflecting Joséphine's love of roses and exotic plants (her collection was one of the most important in France), and especially beautiful when the regimented rows of tulips are blooming in spring.

The high-roof Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, partially surrounded by a moat, is set well back from the road behind iron railings topped with sculpted heads. A cobbled avenue stretches up to the entrance, and stone steps lead to the vestibule, which seems small given the noble scale of the exterior. Charles Le Brun's captivating decoration includes the ceiling of the Chambre du Roi (Royal Bedchamber), depicting Time Bearing Truth Heavenward, framed by stuccowork by sculptors François Girardon and André Legendre. Along the frieze you can make out small squirrels, the Fouquet family's emblem—squirrels are known as fouquets in local dialect. But Le Brun's masterpiece is the ceiling in the Salon des Muses (Hall of Muses), a brilliant allegorical composition painted in glowing, sensuous colors that some feel even surpasses his work at Versailles. On the ground floor the impressive Grand Salon (Great Hall), with its unusual oval form and 16 caryatid pillars symbolizing the months and seasons, has harmony and style even though the ceiling decoration was never finished.

The state salons are redolent of le style Louis Quatorze, thanks to the grand state beds, Mazarin desks, and Baroque marble busts—gathered together by the current owners of the château, the Comte et Comtesse de Vogüé—that replace the original pieces, which Louis XIV trundled off as booty to Versailles. In the basement, where cool, dim rooms were once used to store food and wine and house the château's kitchens, you can find rotating exhibits about the château's past and life-size wax figures illustrating its history, including the notorious 19th-century murder-suicide of two erstwhile owners, the Duc and Duchess de Choiseul-Praslin.

Le Nôtre's carefully restored gardens, considered by many to be the designer's masterwork, are at their best when the fountains—which function via gravity, exactly as they did in the 17th century—are turned on (the second and last Saturdays of each month from April through October, 4–6 pm). The popular illuminated evenings, when the château is dazzlingly lighted by 2,000 candles, are held every Saturday from early May to early October. Open for dinner during this event only, the formal Les Charmilles restaurant serves a refined candlelight dinner outdoors, complete with crystal and white linens, on the lovely Parterre de Diane facing the château (reservations essential). There's also a delightful Champagne bar with lounge chairs and music on these special evenings. At other times, L'Ecureuil (a more casual eatery) is a good choice for lunch or snacks, and you are always welcome to bring along a picnic to enjoy in the extensive gardens.

A two-century spree of indulgence by the consecutive reigns of three French kings produced two of the world's most historic landmarks: gloriously, the Palace of Versailles and, momentously, the French Revolution. Less a monument than a world unto itself, Versailles is the king of palaces. The end result of countless francs, 40 years, and 36,000 laborers, it was Louis XIV's monument to himself—the Sun King. Construction of the sprawling palace and gardens, which Louis personally and meticulously oversaw, started in 1661 and took 40 years to complete. Today the château seems monstrously big, but it wasn't large enough for the army of 20,000 noblemen, servants, and hangers-on who moved in with Louis. A new city—a new capital, in fact—had to be constructed from scratch to accommodate them.

One of the palace highlights is the dazzling Galerie des Glaces (Hall of Mirrors). Lavish balls were once held here, as was a later event with much greater world impact: the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which put an end to World War I on June 28, 1919. The Grands Appartements (State Apartments) are whipped into a lather of decoration, with painted ceilings, marble walls, parquet floors, and canopy beds topped with ostrich plumes. The Petits Appartements (Private Apartments), where the royal family and friends lived, are on a more human scale, lined with 18th-century gold and white rococo boiseries. The Opéra Royal, the first oval hall in France, was designed for Louis XV and inaugurated in 1770 for the marriage of 15-year-old Louis XVI to 14-year-old Austrian archduchess Marie-Antoinette. Considered the finest 18th-century opera house in Europe at the time (with acoustics to match), it is now a major venue for world-class performers. Completed in 1701 in the Louis XIV style, the Appartements du Roi (King's Apartments) comprise a suite of 15 rooms set in a "U" around the east facade's Marble Court. The Chambre de la Reine (Queen's Bed Chamber)—once among the world's most opulent—was updated for Marie-Antoinette in the chicest style of the late 18th century. The superb Salon du Grand Couvert, antechamber to the Queen's Apartments, is the place where Louis XIV took his supper every evening at 10 o'clock. The sumptuously painted walls and ceilings, tapestries, woodwork, and even the furniture have been returned to their original splendor, making this the only one of the queen's private rooms that can be seen exactly as it was first decorated in the 1670s. The park and gardens are a great place to stretch your legs while taking in details of André Le Nôtre's formal landscaping.

Versailles's royal getaways are as impressive in their own right as the main palace. A charmer with the ladies (as Louis's many royal mistresses would attest), the Sun King enjoyed a more relaxed atmosphere in which to conduct his dalliances away from the prying eyes of the court at the Grand Trianon. But Versailles's most famous getaway, the Hameau de la Reine, was added under the reign of Louis XVI at the request of his relentlessly scrutinized wife, Marie-Antoinette. Seeking to create a simpler "country" life away from the court's endless intrigues, between 1783 and 1787, the queen had her own rustic hamlet built in the image of a charming Normandy village, complete with a mill and dairy, roving livestock, and delightfully natural gardens. One of the most visited monuments in the world, Versailles is almost always teeming, especially in the summer; try to beat the crowds by arriving at 9 am, and buying your ticket online.

A slightly downsized version of its United States counterpart, Disneyland Paris is nevertheless a spectacular sight, created with an acute attention to detail. Disneyland Park, as the original theme park is styled, consists of five "lands": Main Street U.S.A., Frontierland, Adventureland, Fantasyland, and Discoveryland. The central theme of each land is relentlessly echoed in every detail, from attractions to restaurant menus to souvenirs. In Main Street U.S.A., tots adore Alice's Curious Labyrinth, Peter Pan's Flight, and especially the whirling Mad Hatter's Teacups, while everyone loves the afternoon parades, with huge floats swarming with all of Disney's most beloved characters—just make sure to stake your place along Main Street in advance for a good spot.

Top attractions at Frontierland are the chilling Phantom Manor, haunted by holographic ghosts, and the thrilling runaway mine train of Big Thunder Mountain, a roller coaster that plunges wildly through floods and avalanches in a setting meant to evoke Utah's Monument Valley. Whiffs of Arabia, Africa, and the Caribbean give Adventureland its exotic cachet; the spicy meals and snacks served here rank among the best food in the park. Don't miss Pirates of the Caribbean, an exciting mise-en-scène populated by lifelike animatronic figures, or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, a rapid-fire ride that recreates some of this hapless hero's most exciting moments.

Fantasyland charms the youngest parkgoers with familiar cartoon characters from such classic Disney films as Snow White, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan. The focal point of Fantasyland, and indeed Disneyland Paris, is Le Château de la Belle au Bois Dormant (Sleeping Beauty's Castle), a 140-foot, bubble-gum-pink structure topped with 16 blue- and gold-tipped turrets.

Discoveryland is a high-tech, futuristic eye-popper. Robots on roller skates welcome you on your way to Star Tours, a pitching, plunging, sense-confounding ride based on the Star Wars films; and another robot, the staggeringly realistic 9-Eye, hosts a simulated space journey in Le Visionarium.

The older the child, the more they will enjoy Walt Disney Studios, a cinematically driven area next to the Disneyland Park, where many of the newer Disney character–themed rides can be found. It's divided into four "production zones," giving visitors insight into different parts of the production process, including Animation Courtyard, where Disney artists demonstrate the various phases of character animation, and Production Courtyard, where you can go on a behind-the-scenes Studio Tram tour of location sites, movie props, studio interiors, and costumes, ending with a visit to Catastrophe Canyon in the heart of a film shoot.

At the Marvel Avengers Campus—the park’s newest attraction in eight years and the first stage of Disney Paris’s major multi-year transformation—kids become real-life recruits in the superhero universe, taking daring steps alongside Black Widow, Doctor Strange, Black Panther, and the like. The Avengers Assemble: Flight Force high-speed roller coaster offers hardcore thrills (your mission: save the Earth and the Avengers' Campus from Kree missiles), while Spider-Man W.E.B. Adventure takes you on a 3-D odyssey to test your web-throwing skills as you fight a horde of Spider Bots. The Avengers Campus is small (it can be traversed in five minutes), but it offers animations, a stunt show, three restaurants, and a boutique where superheroes-in-training can stock up on all the essential equipment.

The grandest stables in France were built by Jean Aubert in 1719 to accommodate 240 horses and 500 hounds used for stag and boar hunting in the forests nearby. Now with 30 breeds of horses and ponies living here in straw-lined comfort, the palatial stables function as the Musée Vivant du Cheval (Living Horse Museum). Equine history is explored through an array of artifacts, prints, paintings, textiles, sculptures, equipment, and weaponry. Visitors can also enjoy the elaborate horse shows and dressage demonstrations year-round; check the website for dates and times.

After several years living north of Paris, Monet moved downriver to Giverny in 1883. With its pretty pink walls and green shutters, his house has a warm feeling that’s a welcome change after the stateliness of the French châteaux. Rooms have been restored to Monet's original designs: the kitchen with its blue tiles, the buttercup-yellow dining room, and Monet's bedroom on the second floor. Reproductions of the painter's works, and some of the Japanese prints he avidly collected, crowd its walls. The garden à la japonaise, with flowers spilling out across the paths, contains the famous "tea-garden" bridge and water-lily pond. Looking across the pond, it's easy to conjure up the grizzled, bearded painter dabbing at his canvases—capturing changes in light and pioneering a breakdown in form that was to have a major influence on 20th-century art.

The garden—planted with nearly 100,000 annuals and even more perennials—is a place of wonder. No matter that about 500,000 visitors troop through each year; they seem to fade in the presence of beautiful roses, carnations, lady's slipper, tulips, irises, hollyhocks, poppies, daisies, nasturtiums, larkspur, azaleas, and more. With that said, it still helps to visit midweek when crowds are thinner. If you want to pay your respects to the original gardener, Monet is buried in the family vault in Giverny's village church. Although the gardens overall are most beautiful in spring, the water lilies bloom during the latter part of July and the first two weeks of August.

The excellent Musée d'Art et d'Archéologie displays finds ranging from Gallo-Roman votive objects unearthed in the neighboring Halatte Forest to the building's own excavated foundations (visible in the basement); note the superb stone heads bathed in half light. Upstairs, paintings include works by Manet's teacher, Thomas Couture (who lived in Senlis), and charming naïve florals by the town's own Séraphine de Senlis.

After touring the painterly grounds of Monet's house, you may wish to see some real paintings at the Musée des Impressionnismes. Originally endowed by the late Chicago art patrons Daniel and Judith Terra, it featured a few works by the American Impressionists, including Willard Metcalf, Louis Ritter, Theodore Wendel, and John Leslie Breck, who flocked to Giverny to study at the hand of the master. But in recent years the museum has extended its scope with an exciting array of exhibitions that explore the origins, geographical diversity, and wide-ranging influences of Impressionism—in the process highlighting the importance of Giverny and the Seine Valley in the history of the movement. There's an on-site restaurant and salon de thé (tearoom) with a fine outdoor terrace, as well as a garden "quoting" some of Monet's plant compositions. Farther down the road, you can visit Giverny's landmark Hôtel Baudy, a restaurant that was once the preferred watering hole of many 19th-century artists.

The King's Potager—a 6-acre, split-level fruit-and-vegetable garden—was created in 1683 by Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinye. Many rare heirloom species are painstakingly cultivated here by a team of gardeners and students studying at the famous École Nationale Supérieure d'Horticulture. You can sample their wares (which are used in some of the finest Parisian restaurants) or pick up a bottle of fruit juice or jam made from the king's produce. Perfumed "Potager du Roi" candles, sold at the delightful boutique, make a nice souvenir.

Like Chartres Cathedral, the church of St-Pierre, near the Eure River, is considered a masterpiece of Gothic architecture, and its magnificent 13th- and 14th-century windows are from a medieval period not represented at the cathedral. The oldest stained glass here, portraying Old Testament worthies, is to the right of the choir and dates to the late 13th century.

Set on the slopes of Mont Valérien, this is one of 11 American Cemeteries in France. Established in 1917 as a World War I cemetery, these 7½ pristine acres of sweeping, perfectly manicured lawn now harbor the remains of 1,559 American men and women who perished in World War I and 23 unknown soldiers from World War II. At the top center of the grounds, classic white marble loggias have bronze tablets that bear the names of 974 missing World World I soldiers, with rosettes beside the names of those who have since been identified. Marble figures stand in memory of all Americans who lost their lives in the two World Wars. Panoramic views of Paris and the Eiffel Tower from the loggia and the entire grounds add to the immense feeling of grandeur. Along with the views, the beauty, quiet, and stillness of this place, with its sea of immaculate white marble crosses, is a moving experience indeed. The cemetery is a quick uphill walk from the Suresnes Mont Valérien regional train station (and about a 20- to 25-minute train ride from Saint-Lazare station in central Paris), indicated by signs. If you're unsure, just head uphill from the station.

Though there are no actual Millet works, the Atelier Jean-François Millet is cluttered with photographs and mementos evoking his career. It was here that the painter produced some of his most renowned pieces, including The Gleaners.

Not far from the palace, a breadth of 120 yards makes Avenue de Paris wider than the Champs-Élysées, and its buildings are just as grand and even more historic. The avenue leads down to Place d'Armes, a vast sloping plaza usually filled with tour buses. Facing the château are the Trojan-size royal stables. Recently added bike lanes along the length of the avenue allow for a scenic cycling tour that leads to the historic neighborhoods that flank Versailles: the Quartier Saint-Louis to the south (to the left when facing the château) and the Quartier Notre-Dame to the north (to the right when facing the château).

The breathtaking Cathédrale Notre-Dame, one of the country's oldest and narrowest cathedrals, dates to the second half of the 12th century. The superb spire—arguably the most elegant in France—was added around 1240, and the majestic transept, with its ornate rose windows, in the 16th century.

Not far from the Grandes Écuries stables, on a lovely square at the heart of the town's old center, the Cathédrale Saint-Louis (also known as the Cathédrale de Versailles) dates to the reign of Louis XV. Outside, the 18th-century seat of the Bishop of Versailles is notable for its dome and twin-tower facade; inside, the sanctuary is enriched with a fine organ and paintings. On Thursday and Saturday mornings, the square in front of the cathedral hosts a classic farmers' market.

If you need an incentive to linger here until dusk, "Chartres en Lumières" (Chartres's festival of lights) provides it: 28 of the city's most revered monuments, including the glorious Notre-Dame Cathedral, are transformed into vivid light canvases. Thematically based on the history and purpose of each specific site, the animated projections are organized into a city walk that covers a wide swath of the Old Town's cobbled streets and bridges. The spectacle is free and occurs nightly from sunset to 1 am from late April through mid-January. A train tour of the illuminated city operates several times a night from May through September.

If you're fond of the swashbuckling novels of Alexandre Dumas, you’ll enjoy the Château de Monte-Cristo at Port-Marly on the southern fringe of St-Germain. Dumas built the château after the surging popularity of books like The Count of Monte Cristo made him rich in the 1840s. Construction costs and lavish partying meant he went broke just as quickly, and he skedaddled into a Belgian exile in 1849. You may find the fanciful exterior, where pilasters, cupolas, and stone carvings compete for attention, crosses the line from opulence to tastelessness, but—as in Dumas’s fiction—swagger, not subtlety, is what counts. Dumas’s mementos aside, the highlight of the interior is the luxurious Moorish Chamber, with spellbinding, interlacing plasterwork executed by Arab craftsmen (lent by the Bey of Tunis) and restored thanks to a donation from the late Moroccan king Hassan II.

Surrounded by a magnificent 36,000-acre forest, this elegant château is a popular spot for biking and walking. Most of the structure dates to the early 18th century, but the brawny Tour François Ier (Francis I Tower), named for the king who died here in 1547, was part of a fortified castle that earlier stood on this site. Highlights include the wood-paneled apartments, especially the Boudoir de la Comtesse (Countess's Dressing Room); the marble-sheathed Salle de Marbre (Marble Hall), dating to the Renaissance; and the Salle de Bains de Napoléon (Napoléon's Bathroom), adorned with Pompeii-style frescoes. Compared with the muscular forecourt, the château's lakeside facade is a scene of unexpected serenity and, as flowers spill from its balconies, cheerful informality. Guided visits in English are available on the hour (10–5) by reservation.

Next to the St-Germain RER train station, this stone-and-brick château, with its dry moat, intimidating circular towers, and La Grande Terrasse, is one of the most spectacular of all French garden set pieces. The château itself, gleaming after a five-year renovation, dates to the 16th and 17th centuries, but a royal palace has stood here since the early 12th century, when Louis VI—known as Le Gros (the Plump)—exploited St-Germain's defensive potential in his bid to pacify the Île-de-France. A hundred years later, Louis IX (St. Louis) added the elegant Sainte-Chapelle, the château's oldest remaining section. Note the square-top, not pointed, side windows and the filled-in rose window on the back wall. Charles V (1364–80) built a powerful defensive keep in the mid-14th century, but from the 1540s François I and his successors transformed St-Germain into a palace with an appearance more domestic than warlike. Louis XIV was born here, and it was here that his father, Louis XIII, died. Until 1682, when the court moved to Versailles, it remained the country's foremost royal residence outside Paris, and several Molière plays were premiered in the main hall. Since 1867 the château has housed the impressive Musée des Antiquités Nationales (Museum of National Antiquities), holding a trove of artifacts, figurines, brooches, and weapons, from the Stone Age to the 8th century. Behind the château is André Le Nôtre's Grande Terrasse, a terraced promenade lined by lime trees. Directly overlooking the Seine, it was completed in 1673 and has rarely been outdone for grandeur or length.

Since vitrail (stained glass) is the key to Chartres's fame, you may want to visit the Galerie du Vitrail, which specializes in the noble art. Pieces range from small plaques to entire windows, and there are books on the subject in English and French.

Chantilly, France's equestrian epicenter, is home to the fabled Hippodrome racetrack. Established in 1834, it comes into its own each June with two of Europe's most prestigious events: the Prix du Jockey-Club (French Derby) on the first Sunday of the month, and the Prix de Diane for three-year-old fillies the Sunday after. On main race days, a free shuttle bus runs between Chantilly's train station and the track.