Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [271]
Return to beginning of chapter
INFORMATION
À La Petite Reine ( 01 60 74 57 57; 32 rue des Sablons; hire per half-/full day €13/16; 9am-7.30pm Tue-Sat) Bike hire for adults and kids; a helmet or a child’s seat each costs €3.
Arobaze Café ( 01 60 72 24 52; www.arobazecafe.com, in French; 5 rue de Ferrare; per hr €3; 10am-10pm Mon-Sat, 2-8pm Sun) Internet café with 30 machines.
Forêt de Fontainebleau Tourist Office (Antenne Forestière; 01 60 74 99 99; Carrefour du Coq, La Faisanderie; 9am-12.30pm & 1.30-6.30pm Fri, Sat & Sun May-Oct) Seasonal tourist office in the forest to assist walkers, cyclists and other forest ramblers.
Librairie Michel ( 01 64 22 27 21; 15 rue de la Paroisse; 9.30am-1pm & 2.30-7pm Mon-Sat, 10.30am-1pm Sun) Maps, travel and walking guides, including ones for the forest (above).
Post Office (2 rue de la Chancellerie)
Reel Books ( 1 64 22 85 85; 9 rue de Ferrare; 11am-7pm Tue-Sat) English bookshop with new and secondhand titles, and a great noticeboard crammed with ads aimed at the large local Anglophone community.
Tourist Office ( 01 60 74 99 99; www.fontainebleau-tourisme.com; 4 rue Royale; 10am-6pm Mon-Sat, 10am-1pm & 2-5.30pm Sun May-Oct, 10am-1pm Sun Nov-Apr) A converted petrol station west of the chateau. It sells loads of walking guides and maps; offers 30-minute self-paced audioguide tours (€4.60, 30 minutes) of the chateau interior, its parks and gardens or of the Forêt de Fontainebleau (2km); and takes prepaid bookings for monthly visits of the National Prison Museum, Police Motocycle Museum and Sporting and Military Horseriding Centre. It also has a limited number of bikes for hire (€5/15/19 per hour/half-day/day); reserve in advance.
Return to beginning of chapter
EATING
There are lovely café terraces on which to soak up the sun across from the chateau on place Napoléon Bonaparte, behind the old-fashioned merry-go-round, and there are a couple of drinking options on rue de la Corne. Rue de Montebello tours the world with Indian, Lebanese and other international cuisine.
La Rose de l’Orient ( 06 08 88 36 49; 20 rue de Ferrare; mezzes per piece €1, sandwiches €4, grills €7.50; 10.30am-8pm Tue-Sat) This Lebanese eatery is the spot for a fast cheap lunch courtesy of two sisters, one of whom cooked for diplomats in Paris before launching into business alone. Five plastic tables inside or take away a mezzes-and-pita-bread picnic.
Au Vague à l’Âme ( 01 60 72 10 32; 39 rue de France; lunch menus €11.50 & €16, dinner menus €25; lunch Tue-Sun, dinner to 1am Tue-Sat) This cheerful café-restaurant with a vague nautical theme is the place for Breton specialities, including mussels, fresh oysters and an oyster terrine to die for.
Le Ferrare ( 01 60 72 37 04; 23 rue de France; starters €5-7.50, mains €13-17; 10am-1am Mon-Sat) If you want to know where locals lunch, pile into this quintessential brasserie with typical fare and a blackboard full of Auvergne specialities. Tripe anyone?
Le Franklin Roosevelt ( 01 64 22 28 73; 20 rue Grande; starters €5-8, mains €13-19; 10am-1am Mon-Sat) If the Fontainebleau regular is not in Le Ferrare, it’s a dead cert you’ll find him here. Another great brasserie, with wooden panelling, red banquet seating and oodles of atmosphere, the Franklin keeps weekday punters happy with a good-value €10 plat du jour (daily special).
La Table des Maréchaux ( 01 60 39 55 50; 9 rue Grande; starters €15-20, mains €23-30, menu lunch Mon-Fri €32, dinner €40; lunch & dinner to 11pm) Tucked in fancy Hôtel Napoléon, this romantic restaurant with its flowery interior-courtyard garden is a must in summer. Cuisine is inventive: traditional French inspired by foreign flavours and exotic spices.
Crêperie Ty Koz ( 01 64 22 00 55; 18 rue de la Cloche; small/large crêpes & galettes €3-7/5.80-10.20, 1L pichet cider €9.40; lunch & dinner to 10pm