Must-see attractions in Île-de-France

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

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…

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…

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

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…

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…

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

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…

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…

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…

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

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,…

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

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

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

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…

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 …

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

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,…