Must-see attractions Île-de-France, France - Lonely Planet (2024)

Cathédrale Notre Dame

Chartres

One of Western civilisation’s crowning architectural achievements, the 130m-long Cathédrale Notre Dame de Chartres is renowned for its brilliant-blue…

Château de Versailles

Versailles

Amid magnificently landscaped formal gardens, this splendid and enormous palace was built in the mid-17th century during the reign of Louis XIV – the Roi…

Château de Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau

The resplendent, 1900-room Château de Fontainebleau’s list of former tenants and guests reads like a who’s who of French royalty and aristocracy. Every…

Disneyland Resort Paris

Île-de-France

Basic one-day admission fees at Disneyland Resort Paris include unlimited access to attractions in either Disneyland Park or Walt Disney Studios Park. A…

Versailles

The section of the vast gardens nearest the palace, laid out between 1661 and 1700 in the formal French style, is famed for its geometrically aligned…

Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte

Île-de-France

The privately owned Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte and its fabulous formal gardens, 20km north of Fontainebleau and 61km southeast of Paris, were designed and…

Château de Chantilly

Chantilly

A storybook vision amid an artificial lake and magnificent gardens, the Château de Chantilly contains a superb collection of paintings within the Musée…

Fontainebleau

On the northern side of the Château de Fontainebleau is the formal Jardin de Diane, created by Catherine de Médicis. Le Nôtre’s formal, 17th-century…

Domaine de Trianon

Versailles

Northwest of Versailles’ main palace is the Domaine de Trianon. Admission includes the pink-colonnaded Grand Trianon, built in 1687 for Louis XIV and his…

Tour Nord

Chartres

Climbing 350 steps up to the 112m-high Tour Nord (aka Clocher Neuf; New Bell Tower) of the Cathédrale Notre Dame is well worth it. A 70m-high platform on…

Portail Royal

Chartres

The west, north and south entrances of the Cathédrale Notre Dame have superbly ornamented triple portals, but the west entrance, known as the Portail…

Grand Trianon

Versailles

In the middle of the park, approximately 1.5km northwest of the main building within the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette are Versailles' two smaller palaces,…

Cathédrale de Notre Dame

Île-de-France

Senlis' Gothic cathedral was built between 1150 and 1191. The cathedral is unusually bright, with original stained glass. The 78m-high south tower dates…

Petit Trianon

Versailles

Within the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette, the ochre-coloured Petit Trianon, built in the 1760s, was redecorated in 1867 by Empress Eugénie, the consort of…

Disneyland Park

Île-de-France

Disneyland Park has five themed pays (lands): the 1900s-styled Main Street USA; Frontierland, home of the legendary Big Thunder Mountain ride;…

Walt Disney Studios Park

Île-de-France

Disneyland Resort Paris' sound stage, production backlot and animation studios provide an up-close insight into the production of films, TV programs and…

Hameau de la Reine

Versailles

Part of the Domaine de Marie-Antoinette, this mock village of thatched cottages, a pond and a photogenic mill was constructed from 1775 to 1784 for the…

Grandes Écuries

Chantilly

The Grandes Écuries, built between 1719 and 1740 to house 240 horses and 400-plus hounds, stand west of the château near Chantilly’s famous hippodrome …

Château de Chantilly Gardens

Chantilly

Sprawling over 115 hectares, the wondrous gardens of the Château de Chantilly encompass the formal Jardin Français (French Garden), with flower beds,…

Forêt de Chantilly

Chantilly

Once a royal hunting estate, the 63-sq-km Forêt de Chantilly is criss-crossed by walking and riding trails. Long-distance trails here include the GR11,…

Versailles Stables

Versailles

The Grandes Écuries are the stage for the prestigious Académie du Spectacle Équestre. It presents spectacular Reprises Musicales equestrian shows, for…

Salle du Jeu de Paume

Versailles

In May 1789 Louis XVI convened the États-Généraux, made up of more than 1118 deputies representing the nobility, clergy and the Third Estate (‘common…

Senlis Museums

Île-de-France

Senlis was a royal seat from the time of Clovis in the 5th and 6th centuries to Henri IV (r 1589–1610), and contains three small but well-formed adjacent…

Cathédrale Notre Dame Crypt

Chartres

The 100m crypt of Cathédrale Notre Dame, a tombless Romanesque structure built in 1024 around a 9th-century predecessor, is the largest in France. Tours…

Forêt de Fontainebleau

Fontainebleau

Beginning just 500m south of the Château de Fontainebleau and surrounding the town, the 280 sq km Forêt de Fontainebleau is one of the prettiest woods in…

Église St-Pierre

Chartres

Flying buttresses hold up the 12th- and 13th-century Église St-Pierre. Once part of a Benedictine monastery founded in the 7th century, it was outside the…

Académie du Spectacle Équestre

Versailles

Versailles' Grandes Écuries (Greater Stables) are the stage for the prestigious Académie du Spectacle Équestre. It presents spectacular Reprises Musicales…

Musée Vivant du Cheval

Chantilly

Inside the Grandes Écuries (Grand Stables), west of the château near Chantilly's 19th-centrury hippodrome (racecourse), the Musée Vivant du Cheval's…

Musée des Beaux-Arts

Chartres

Chartres’ fine-arts museum, accessed via the gate next to Cathédrale Notre Dame’s north portal, is in the former Palais Épiscopal (Bishop’s Palace), built…

Bassin de Neptune

Versailles

The gardens' largest fountains include the 17th-century Bassin de Neptune, a dazzling mirage of 99 gushers 300m north of the palace, whose straight side…

Clocher Vieux

Chartres

Along with the the Portail Royal, the main Romanesque feature of the Cathédrale Notre Dame is the 105m-high Clocher Vieux (also called the Tour Sud or…

Église St-Aignan

Chartres

Église St-Aignan is interesting for its wooden barrel-vault roof (1625), arcaded nave and painted interior of faded blue and gold floral motifs (c 1870)…

Grand Canal

Versailles

Oriented to reflect the sunset, the Grand Canal, 1.6km long and 62m wide, is traversed by the 1km-long Petit Canal, creating a cross-shaped body of water…

Centre International du Vitrail

Chartres

After viewing the stained glass in Chartres’ cathedral, nip into the town’s International Stained-Glass Centre, in a half-timbered former granary, to see…

Bassin d’Apollon

Versailles

At the eastern end of the Grand Canal, the Bassin d'Apollon was built in 1688. Emerging from the water in the centre is Apollo's chariot, pulled by…

Orangerie

Versailles

On the southwestern side of the palace, the Orangerie, built under the Parterre du Midi (Southern Flowerbed), shelters tropical plants in winter.

Grandes Écuries

Versailles

The Grandes Écuries (Great Stables) house the Académie du Spectacle Équestre.

Petites Écuries

Versailles

Versailles' School of Architecture and restoration workshops fill the Petites Écuries (Little Stables).

Collégiale St-André

Chartres

From rue Cardinal Pie, the stairways Tertre St-Nicolas and rue Chantault – the latter lined with medieval houses (number 29 is the oldest house in…

Louis XIV Statue

Versailles

This soaring statue of Louis XIV guards the gates to the Château de Versailles.