Château de Versailles • More Grand Châteaux • Chartres • Giverny and Auvers-sur-Oise
Though there’s plenty to see within Paris’ ring road, quick and efficient public transportation expands your sightseeing horizons. The sights covered in this section are about 30 to 60 minutes from central Paris. Do them as day trips, or—for a more relaxed experience—stay overnight.
The granddaddy of them all is the palace of Versailles, 12 miles southwest of Paris. It was the residence of French kings and the cultural heartbeat of Europe for a century. While Versailles is the grandest of the Grand Châteaux, fans of these big palaces have plenty of other options, including Vaux-le-Vicomte (the most beautiful), Fontainebleau (gorgeous rooms and Napoleon’s throne), or Chantilly (best art and water setting).
In Chartres, an hour southwest of Paris, one of Europe’s greatest Gothic cathedrals soars above traffic-free lanes and people-friendly squares—and helps compensate for Notre-Dame’s closure in Paris. Lovers of Impressionism and flowers should make a pilgrimage to Giverny to see Claude Monet’s garden, with its pond and lily pads still as picturesque as when he painted them. Fans of Vincent van Gogh can visit Auvers-sur-Oise, a modest little town that attracted many Impressionist painters, and where Van Gogh spent his final days gazing at crows over wheat fields.
