Châteaux Near Paris: Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte
Two royal houses within an hour of Gare de Lyon, entry at 17 and 18 EUR, and twelve listings from 18 to 600 EUR rated 4.57 across 1,417 reviews.
Once Versailles has been done, the Paris region still has two royal houses and neither behaves like it. Fontainebleau is the palace you can walk into: 17 EUR, no timed slot, buy it at the desk on the day, and it closes on Tuesday rather than Monday. Vaux-le-Vicomte is private, costs 18 EUR, and is shut for four months of the year, with a shuttle from the nearest station that only runs between March and November and refuses cash. Between them they explain most of what the Paris Museum Pass does and does not do.
The catalogue here is the odd one out in France, and in a good way. The median is 151.13 EUR, the lowest of the three French destinations, and the cheapest listing anywhere in the country sits in it: an 18 EUR entry ticket to Vaux-le-Vicomte. That ticket is also the most reviewed product in the whole Paris tree, at 4.7 from 592 reviews, which says something plain about what people actually want here. They want the ticket. Twelve listings, 1,417 reviews, 4.57 weighted.
One number in this group is worse than the French average and worth checking before you buy. Free cancellation covers 9 of the 12 listings, or 75 per cent, against 91 per cent at Versailles, 100 per cent in the Loire and 84 per cent across the whole of this site. Three products here cannot be undone. Two of the twelve confirm instantly.
Both palaces are separate journeys out of Gare de Lyon, and that is what settles the honest answer to how many fit in a day. One, comfortably. Two, if you accept that the second gets whatever is left of the afternoon. Neither operator publishes a recommended visit length, which is unusual and unhelpful, but Fontainebleau sells a ticket covering two full museum routes and Vaux-le-Vicomte is a château with formal gardens you are expected to walk. Neither is a forty-minute stop.
The weekday matters as much as the hour. Fontainebleau closes on Tuesday, which is the day the Louvre is open, so a carefully planned Paris week frequently ends up with two museums and no palace. Vaux-le-Vicomte is open every day of its season and none of the rest, so from November to the middle of March the Paris region has exactly one royal house within reach, and it shuts on Tuesday. That is the whole planning problem in two sentences.
The sharpest thing in the Paris data is a pair of listings that sell the same day. Both take in Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte, both leave Paris in the morning and come back in the evening. One runs nine hours and costs 79 EUR, rated 4.1 from 347 reviews, and it is the worst rated product in the Paris catalogue with a real sample. The other runs ten hours in a small group and costs 220 EUR, rated 4.8 from 266 reviews. Same two châteaux, 141 EUR and seven tenths of a rating point apart.
That is not an argument for always paying more. It is an argument for reading what a Paris day trip is doing with its hours, because these two châteaux are two separate journeys out of Gare de Lyon, and the coach time has to come from somewhere. Where it comes from is the time inside.
What follows takes the two palaces one at a time, sets out what each ticket covers and what the pass does with it, then deals with the part that goes wrong most often: the trains, the bus fare that does not combine with the train fare, and a shuttle you have to book before you leave home.
Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte in Nine Private Hours, Hotel Pickup
Nine hours with a private guide who collects you at your hotel, built around the Gallery of Francis I and Napoleon's throne room at Fontainebleau.
Palais-Royal Murder Investigation with a Costumed Actor, in French
A costumed actor runs an 1841 murder case through the Palais-Royal, the Galerie Vivienne and the Buren columns. The whole visit is conducted in French.
Paris and Versailles in Seven Hours by Vintage Sidecar, Two Passengers
Seven hours on a genuine vintage sidecar for two, one in the chair and one behind the pilot, with a route drawn to order across Paris and out to Versailles.
Passage des Panoramas to Galerie Vivienne: Private Covered Passages Walk
Two hours through the Passage des Princes, des Panoramas, Verdeau and the Galerie Vivienne, with the Palais-Royal gardens in between. Non-refundable.
Palais Royal to Opéra Garnier on Foot: Place Vendôme and the Perfume Museum
A walk from the garden Richelieu built to the Opéra Garnier, taking in the Comédie-Française, rue Saint-Honoré, Place Vendôme and the Musée du Parfum.
Sainte-Chapelle, Conciergerie and the Working Courts of the Palais de Justice
A private guide covers all three buildings on the Île de la Cité, including the Palais de Justice, still the seat of the Paris appeal court. No refunds.
Vaux-le-Vicomte, Fontainebleau and a Photo Stop at Blandy-les-Tours
A small-group minibus leaves Avenue de Wagram for both châteaux, with a photo stop at the medieval castle of Blandy-les-Tours on the way to Fontainebleau.
Vaux-le-Vicomte Entry Ticket: State Rooms, Basement Kitchens, Coach Museum
The ticket covers the state rooms, the private apartments, the library, the basement kitchens and the Coach Museum, plus 33 hectares of Le Nôtre's gardens.
Vaux-le-Vicomte with a Bilingual Driver and Electric Car at Your Disposal
A bilingual driver and a premium electric car stay with you all day, door to door from your address, with detours to a restaurant or the shops on request.
Vaux-le-Vicomte and Fontainebleau by Coach with Audio Guides Included
Both castles are visited at your own pace with the audio guide included, leaving by coach from the Hotel Pullman Bercy and moving on to Fontainebleau after 1pm.
Vaux-le-Vicomte by Night: Golf Cart Gardens and a Three-Course Dinner
A car collects you from your Paris hotel; the gardens are crossed by golf cart and the evening ends with three courses outdoors, Champagne and wine included.
Vaux-le-Vicomte 3D Audio Guide and Fontainebleau in Costume, from Paris
A 3D-sound audio guide walks you through Fouquet's staterooms and kitchens, and at Fontainebleau there is the option of visiting in period costume.
Ratings collected by Viator, Tripadvisor and Tiqets
Two palaces, two opposite sets of rules
Fontainebleau is a state palace with an unusual pedigree. It is not run by the Centre des monuments nationaux, which is what most people assume for a French royal house open to the public: it has had its own dedicated public establishment since 2009, under the Ministry of Culture, and a decree of 24 May 2024 created a national domain around it. The practical effect is that its rules are its own, and they are the friendliest in this catalogue.
Vaux-le-Vicomte is a private house that opens to visitors, and its rules follow from that. There is no under-18 exemption and no free entry for European residents aged 18 to 25; the only free age band the operator publishes is under six. There is no Paris Museum Pass acceptance, because the regional tourist board's list of included sites does not carry it. And there is a closed season of roughly four months, which no state monument in the Paris region has.
| Château de Fontainebleau | Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte | |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs it | Its own public body since 2009, not the Centre des monuments nationaux | A private owner |
| Adult ticket 2026 | 17 EUR, 15 reduced | 18 EUR, 14.50 reduced, 13.50 for gardens only |
| Family rate | Not published as a single figure | 59 EUR for two adults and two or three children |
| Free entry | Under 18, EU residents aged 18 to 25, disability card plus companion, unemployed, press | Under 6 only |
| Paris Museum Pass | Included | Not included |
| Timed slot | Not required, buy at the desk on the day | Not required by day, obligatory for the candlelit evenings |
| Opening | All year: 9:30 to 18:00 April to September, 9:30 to 17:00 October to March | 14 March to 1 November only, 10:00 to 17:30 |
| Last admission | 17:15 in summer, 16:15 in winter | Not published separately |
| Closed | Tuesday, 1 January, 1 May, 25 December | 2 November to mid-March, plus Friday 4 September 2026 |
| From Paris | Line R to Fontainebleau-Avon, then bus 1 to the Château stop, 4.60 EUR each way | Line R to Melun, about 25 minutes, then a pre-booked Châteaubus |
| Parking | Not published on the pages we read | Free |
Fontainebleau, the palace with no queue to manage
The full ticket is 17 EUR, 15 reduced, and it covers the Grands Appartements and the Musée Napoléon Ier. The audio guide, called the Visioguide, is 4 EUR. A guided tour adds 7 EUR to the entry price. The palace's own visits page says the Petits Appartements and Napoleon's private apartments are seen on guided tours, though the 7 EUR figure and that statement sit on different pages, so treat the connection as likely rather than confirmed and ask at the desk.
The gardens and the park are free and open every day, which makes Fontainebleau the cheapest way into a royal park near Paris and a legitimate reason to come without going inside at all. The free-admission list is generous by any standard: under-18s, European residents aged 18 to 25, holders of a disability card and one companion, people out of work, asylum seekers and refugees, teachers of art and architecture, press card holders and museum professionals. Reduced entry covers large families, non-EU visitors aged 18 to 25 and chèques-vacances holders.
One published concession needs checking rather than trusting. The palace states that entry is free on the first Sunday of every month, except July and August, and June in 2025. That reference to 2025 on a page read in September 2026 suggests the paragraph has not been revised for the current season. If a free Sunday is the reason for your trip, confirm it with the palace first. The photography rules are firm and specific: no flash indoors, and tripods, drones, stabilisers and professional filming are all banned inside. Courtyards and gardens are unrestricted.
No slot, no app, no reservation
The horseshoe staircase faces the main courtyard, and there is no timed-entry system between you and it. Fontainebleau does not require a booked slot at any time of year: the ticket can be bought online or at the desk on the day of the visit, which the palace states in as many words.
That single difference is worth a great deal to anyone who has tried to plan a Versailles morning. It also means the palace publishes no recommended visit length, and its own how to get here page is an interactive route planner rather than a page of text, so there is no official figure for how long the train takes or which bus stop to use. Everything practical about arriving here has to be assembled from the transport operators instead.
Vaux-le-Vicomte, and the four months it does not exist
Eighteen euros gets you the château and the gardens; 14.50 is the reduced rate; 13.50 buys the gardens alone, which is the cheapest way into the estate and a real product rather than a consolation. A family of two adults with two or three children pays 59 EUR. Children under six go free, and that is the whole of the age policy: none of the French national exemptions apply, because the house is private.
The season is the thing to plan around. The domain opens daily from 14 March to 1 November, 10:00 to 17:30, and closes for the winter from 2 November until the middle of March. The operator also flags one exceptional closure in 2026, on Friday 4 September. Outside the open season there is no visit, no shuttle and no taxi fare worth paying, which is a simpler answer than most French monuments give.
The candlelit evenings are a separate ticket, at 22 EUR, sold as a distinct category in the operator's own booking system, and they are the one thing here that requires a booked time slot. Their dates are worth confirming directly, because the château's own pages disagree: the event page gives 24 May to 27 September, 17:30 to 20:30, while the visitor information page gives Saturdays from 16 May to 26 September. Two pages, one estate, two calendars. On the ordinary daytime visit no slot is needed at all.
Smaller rules, all from the operator: parking is free, food brought from outside is allowed and there are picnic areas, dogs are welcome on a lead in the gardens, the shop and the refreshment areas but only on weekdays and never on the flowerbeds, and wedding photography is banned outright across the domain. That last prohibition appears at neither Versailles nor Fontainebleau.
The Paris-region year, palace by palace
One of these two is open every week of the year and one is not. The gap is the single biggest planning fact in this part of France, and it runs from November to the middle of March.
| Month | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Château de FontainebleauOpen all year, 9:30 to 18:00 from April to September with last admission at 17:15, and 9:30 to 17:00 from October to March with last admission at 16:15. Closed every Tuesday, plus 1 January, 1 May and 25 December. The gardens and park are free and open daily. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Château de Vaux-le-VicomteOpen daily only from 14 March to 1 November, 10:00 to 17:30, and closed from 2 November to the middle of March. One exceptional closure is announced for Friday 4 September 2026. The Châteaubus shuttle from Melun runs on exactly the same dates as the season. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
Hours from chateaudefontainebleau.fr and vaux-le-vicomte.com, read 5 September 2026. Candlelit evening dates are disputed between two of the operator's own pages.
The fares, and the two mistakes that cost money
Since 2025 Île-de-France Mobilités has replaced fare zones with two flat single tickets: 2.55 EUR for metro, train and RER, and 2.05 EUR for bus and tram, each valid across the whole network without a distance limit. That is excellent news for Versailles and a trap for Fontainebleau, because there is no transfer between the two titles.
Fontainebleau is the Transilien line R from Paris Gare de Lyon, in the direction of Montargis, Montereau or Laroche-Migennes, to Fontainebleau-Avon. Then bus line 1 towards Les Lilas to the stop called Château, run by Transdev Île-de-France. Train plus bus is 4.60 EUR each way, 9.20 return, and the usual error is buying one ticket at Gare de Lyon and discovering the second fare at the bus door. With any Navigo pass the question does not arise.
Vaux-le-Vicomte is the same line R to Melun, described by the estate as a direct train of about twenty-five minutes, and then the Châteaubus. It leaves from Avenue Gallieni in front of the Café de la Gare, a white bus with an orange logo, and it runs on the season's own dates, 14 March to 1 November 2026. Booking online in advance is compulsory and it takes neither cash nor cards on board. Weekend departures from Melun start at 10:15 and the last useful one is 14:15; on weekdays the middle of the day thins out considerably. Returns run from mid-afternoon to 19:45. If it goes wrong, the estate quotes a taxi at 18 to 20 EUR from Melun and 20 to 25 EUR back, with five euros more at night.
The second mistake is older and still circulating. Guides and forums still route people to Vaux via Verneuil-l'Étang and a shuttle of that name. The estate's own pages no longer mention either, in French or in English. Anyone who follows the old advice arrives from Gare de l'Est at a village with no connection. For the candlelit evenings there is a separate coach from Paris itself, leaving Avenue des Terroirs de France by the Cour Saint-Émilion metro at 16:30 and returning from the château at 23:40, on Saturdays from 16 May to 26 September 2026 plus Monday 13 July.
The same day, sold twice, at 79 and at 220 EUR
Twelve listings, and the two that matter most are a natural experiment. A nine-hour day trip taking in Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte costs 79 EUR and holds 4.1 from 347 reviews. A ten-hour small-group day trip taking in the same two costs 220 EUR and holds 4.8 from 266. Both samples are large. The cheaper one is the worst rated product in the Paris catalogue.
The obvious explanation is group size, and it is probably most of the answer, but the hours matter too. Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte are two separate journeys out of Gare de Lyon, and a coach that visits both has to cross between them. Neither palace publishes a recommended visit length, but the 17 EUR ticket at one covers two full museum routes and the other is a château with formal gardens you are meant to walk. Nine hours minus the driving is not a great deal per stop.
Three other things in this catalogue are worth naming. The most reviewed listing in the Paris tree is not a tour at all: it is the 18 EUR entry ticket to Vaux-le-Vicomte, at 4.7 from 592 reviews, which is more than either day trip. The best rated with a usable sample is a 70 EUR two-hour walking tour of the Palais Royal quarter, 4.9 from 54 reviews, at the opposite end of the scale from the 535.50 EUR evening dining experience at Vaux, which sits at 4.1 from 34. And there is one product for the Conciergerie, a two-hour private tour with Sainte-Chapelle and the Palais de Justice at 203.26 EUR, rated 4.8 from 74 reviews; we have no operator figures for those monuments and have not invented any.
Paris region questions, answered with operator figures
Which châteaux near Paris does the Museum Pass cover?
Fontainebleau is on the regional tourist board's list of included sites. Vaux-le-Vicomte is not, because it is private property. Versailles is included but still requires a free timed ticket booked online, and its gardens are excluded on fountain-show days from April to November.
Can I turn up without booking?
At Fontainebleau, yes: no timed slot is required at any time of year and the ticket can be bought at the desk on the day. At Vaux-le-Vicomte the daytime visit needs no slot either. The only thing that does is the candlelit evening, at 22 EUR, which is a separate ticket with a compulsory time.
How do I get to Fontainebleau by train?
Transilien line R from Paris Gare de Lyon to Fontainebleau-Avon, then bus line 1 towards Les Lilas to the Château stop. Since the 2025 fare reform the two titles do not combine: 2.55 EUR for the train plus 2.05 for the bus, so 4.60 each way and 9.20 return.
How do I get to Vaux-le-Vicomte?
Line R from Gare de Lyon to Melun, about 25 minutes, then the Châteaubus from Avenue Gallieni. It must be booked online in advance and takes no cash or cards on board, and it runs only from 14 March to 1 November. A taxi from Melun is quoted at 18 to 20 EUR. Do not route yourself via Verneuil-l'Étang: the estate no longer uses it.
When is Vaux-le-Vicomte open?
Every day from 14 March to 1 November, 10:00 to 17:30, and closed from 2 November until the middle of March. One exceptional closure is announced for Friday 4 September 2026. Entry is 18 EUR, or 13.50 for the gardens alone.
Is Fontainebleau free on the first Sunday of the month?
The palace says yes, except in July and August, and except June, but the exception it prints names June 2025, on a page read in September 2026. That is a sign the paragraph has not been updated. Confirm with the palace before planning a trip around it. Normal entry is 17 EUR, 15 reduced.
Why is the same day trip sold at 79 and at 220 EUR?
Because one is a coach and the other is a small group. The 79 EUR version runs nine hours and is rated 4.1 from 347 reviews, the weakest score in the Paris catalogue. The 220 EUR version runs ten hours in a small group and is rated 4.8 from 266. Both take in Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte.
Data verified on. Tickets and hours from chateaudefontainebleau.fr and vaux-le-vicomte.com. Pass coverage from visitparisregion.com. Fares from Ile-de-France Mobilites. Catalogue from our database, 5 September 2026.