Castles near Paris by train: 4 day trips
4 days · 7 châteaux · 368 km
Versailles, Rambouillet, Vincennes, Fontainebleau, Chantilly, Pierrefonds and Vaux-le-Vicomte, paired by railway line rather than by road.
Written for visitors staying in Paris without a car. Every stop here is a return trip from a Paris station, and the pairs follow the railway lines rather than the map: two castles share a day only when the same line serves both. Four days cover the seven; any single day works on its own. Distances shown between stops are straight lines and mean little for a train trip, so read the practical line under each day instead. Book Versailles, which sells timed tickets and turns people away without one. Vincennes and Rambouillet are short visits of an hour or so; Fontainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte deserve most of a day each. Each fiche gives the opening days, which differ: several of these castles close on a Monday or a Tuesday.
Day 1
28 km on the road
Versailles and Rambouillet are on the same line out of Paris Montparnasse (Versailles Chantiers, then Rambouillet): give Versailles the morning from opening time, and Rambouillet, an hour’s visit close to its station, the late afternoon. Versailles is also reached by RER C, station Versailles Château Rive Gauche.
château de Rambouillet (Rambouillet Castle)
Rambouillet · Yvelines
28 km from the previous stop60 min14e siècle
The rest of the route
The stops on the following days. The full plan, with distances, goes out by email.
Day 2
Vincennes is the last stop of métro line 1, which also serves Gare de Lyon: the keep in the morning, then the train to Fontainebleau-Avon and a local bus for the last stretch to the château.
Day 3
Both from Gare du Nord: Chantilly-Gouvieux station is about 25 minutes on foot from the château. Pierrefonds has no station, so continue to Compiègne and take a bus or a taxi for the last 15 km.
Day 4
Vaux-le-Vicomte on its own: train from Gare de l’Est to Verneuil-l’Étang, then the château’s seasonal shuttle or a taxi for the last 7 km. By road it is about 55 km southeast of Paris.
Before you go
Opening seasons vary from one castle to the next, and several close for part of the year. Check each castle’s fiche before you fix your dates: it carries the hours and prices as they were verified, with the date of verification.
The order of stops is chained nearest-first from the starting town, and distances are as the crow flies: allow a third more by road. Only châteaux whose opening to the public we know are included.