History and art enthusiasts will have plenty to admire in Fontainebleau , not only at the palace, which for eight centuries was called home by the 34 French kings and two emperors who embellished and enriched it, but also at Vaux-le-Vicomte, which predates and inspired Versailles.
And when your mind is full and you want to stretch your legs and challenge your muscles, you can of course rock climb, as Fontainebleau forest is world-famous for its bouldering opportunities, but also cycle, walk, ride, canoe and swim, to name but a few. If you want to canoe or wild-water swim, then from about mid-May to mid-September.
Or you can take bus 1, which leaves every 15 minutes from the train station. There are no lifeguards so it's officially forbidden, but everybody does it anyway! Check the Vaux-le-Vicomte website for information on the program of candlelight visits, fireworks, dressing-up days and a host of other activities.
Book online and check the schedule here. Francis I, a keen hunter, wanted somewhere comfortable to stay in the deer- and boar-filled forest, so in he ordered the fortress built by Louis VII in to be rebuilt and decorated in what would become known as the School of Fontainebleau style: a combination of frescoes surrounded by a riot of willowy, stucco figures. Today it is a Unesco World Heritage Site. Fontainebleau did not suffer the same fate as Versailles in the wake of the French Revolution.
The latter was never lived in again whilst the former became an imperial palace, restored by Napoleon Bonaparte β As you walk down the beautiful Horseshoe staircase renovated in at the front of the palace, imagine how the Emperor must have felt that day in April , when he stood there and said goodbye to his troops gathered in the vast courtyard before leaving for exile in Elba. This courtyard has since been known as the Cour des Adieux Farewell Courtyard. Built between and , the 1.
