Paris_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 7th Edition) - Lonely Planet [272]
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SLEEPING
La Guérinière ( 01 60 71 97 57; balestier.gerard@wanadoo.fr; 10-12 rue de Montebello; d incl breakfast €60, extra bed €20; ) This charming B&B provides some of the best-value accommodation in town. Owner Monsieur Ballestier speaks English and has five rooms, each named after a different flower and dressed in white linens and period wooden furniture. Coquelicot (meaning ‘poppy’), with its white walls and exposed beams, is particularly charming.
Hôtel de l’Aigle Noir ( 01 60 74 60 00; www.hotelaiglenoir.fr; 27 place Napoléon Bonaparte; s/d €160/170; ) Rich elegance and smart service with a gorgeous pool, grand Empire-style furnishings, and plush suites are the trademarks of this sparkling-white 17th-century mansion, across from the chateau.
Hôtel de Londres ( 01 64 22 20 21; www.hoteldelondres.com; 1 place du Général de Gaulle; d €90-120) Classy, cosy and beautifully kept, the London is charmingly furnished in warm reds and royal blues and has been in the same family for 70-odd years. The priciest rooms have balconies with dreamy chateau view.
Le Demeure du Parc ( 01 64 22 24 24; www.hotelfontainebleau.fr; 6 rue Avon; d €90-120; ) Adjacent to the chateau park, this hotel languishes in a 17th-century residence where Jean Racine once laid his head. The swimming pool overlooked by its excellent restaurant, Le Village Café, is magical.
Hôtel Richelieu ( 01 64 22 26 46; richelieu.bacchus@wanadoo.fr; 4 rue Richelieu; d €48-65) The rooms without windows are best avoided at this clean and welcoming but bland, 18-room hotel. Bacchus swigs wine next door and has a sterling reputation.
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VAUX-LE-VICOMTE
Privately owned Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte ( 01 64 14 41 90; www.vaux-le-vicomte.com; adult/child 6-16yr €12.50/9.90, family ticket €39, candlelight visit €15.50/13.70; 10am-1pm & 2-6pm Mon-Fri & 10am-6pm Sat & Sun mid-Mar–early Nov, candlelight visits 8pm-midnight Fri Jul & Aug, 8pm-midnight Sat May–mid-Oct) and its magnificent French-styled gardens, 20km north of Fontainebleau, were designed and built as a precursor to Versailles by Le Brun, Le Vau and Le Nôtre between 1656 and 1661.
Unfortunately, Vaux-le-Vicomte’s beauty turned out to be the undoing of its owner, Louis XIV’s minister of finance Nicolas Fouquet: Louis, seething with jealousy that he had been upstaged at the chateau’s official opening, had Fouquet thrown into prison, where he died in 1680.
Today visitors swoon over the beautifully furnished chateau interior, including its fabulous dome. In the vaulted cellars an exhibition looks at Le Nôtre’s landscaping of the formal gardens, complete with elaborate fountain displays ( 3-6pm 2nd & last Sat of month Apr-Oct) and lit by thousands of candles after dark. The collection of 18th- and 19th-century carriages in the chateau stables, included in the chateau visit, forms the Musée des Équipages (Carriage Museum). While the chateau interior shuts for lunch weekdays, the French-styled gardens remain open and can be strolled. Weekends and school holidays, rent prince, princess or musketeer costumes for the kids to prance around in. Fun seasonal events include Easter-egg hunts.
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TRANSPORT: VAUX-LE-VICOMTE
Distance from Paris 60km
Direction Southeast
Travel time An hour by car or by RER and taxi.
Car N6 from Paris and then A5a (direction Melun and exit ‘Voisenon’); from Fontainebleau N6 and N36.
RER train Line D2 from Paris (€7) to Melun, 6km southwest, then taxi (€15 to €20) or chateaubus shuttle three to five times daily Saturday and Sunday April to October (single/return €3.50/7).
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CHANTILLY
Don’t come Tuesday, when Chantilly’s beautiful chateau bathed in parkland and its grandiose stables fit for