Which Vauban sites are on the World Heritage List?

Twelve groups since 2008, including the citadel of Besançon and the Gironde estuary lock (the citadel of Blaye, Fort Paté and Fort Médoc), as well as Briançon, Mont-Dauphin, Mont-Louis, Neuf-Brisach, Saint-Martin-de-Ré, Arras, Longwy, Camaret-sur-Mer, Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue and Villefranche-de-Conflent.

Vauban fortifications: which ones are open all year?

2 are listed as open all year: Barrage Vauban and Fort du Socoa. The others open in season, and winter hours are often shorter.

Vauban fortifications: how much is admission?

Across the 4 places whose prices we know, adult admission ranges from €5 to €12. 1 are free to enter.

Vauban’s citadels and forts

20 châteaux listed

20 citadels, forts and castles built, remodelled or lived in by Vauban, with admission prices and opening seasons.

Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban (1633-1707), born in the Morvan, was Louis XIV’s military engineer. Commissioner general of fortifications from 1678 and Marshal of France in 1703, he built or remodelled hundreds of strongholds, from the Channel coast to the Pyrenees and the Rhine. Twelve groups of his fortifications have been on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2008.

Two of them are here: the citadel of Besançon, on the spur that closes the loop of the Doubs, and the lock of the Gironde estuary, where Fort Paté, in mid-river, and Fort Médoc, on the left bank, crossed their fire with the citadel of Blaye from 1689.

On the coasts he reworked the citadel of Belle-Île, which he visited three times in the 1680s, the castle of Brest, the Château du Taureau in the bay of Morlaix and the fort of Socoa at Ciboure. On the eastern borders he fortified Belfort, the Fort de Joux, Landau and the fortress of Mont Royal on the Moselle, which the French themselves destroyed ten years later. In 1673 he bought the Château de Bazoches, facing Vézelay, and set up the workshops where his engineers drew their plans.

The attributions come from the French Ministry of Culture’s Mérimée records and from our own pages. For each of the 20 places: what links it to Vauban, the adult admission price where we know it, the opening season and a map.

The places, one by one

From the best known to the most discreet. Prices are for one adult; the season comes from the opening periods each place publishes.

Citadel of Besançon
Besançon, Doubs
Built by Vauban in the second half of the 17th century; a World Heritage site with the other Vauban sites, it houses three museums.
Season not published
Opening hours and access
Château de Bazoches (Bazoches Castle)
Bazoches, Nièvre
Vauban bought it in 1673, lived here with his family and housed his engineers’ workshops; visitors see his living and working rooms and the gallery where the plans of his strongholds were drawn.
Adult admission: €12Open February to November
Opening hours and access
Fort Médoc
Cussac-Fort-Médoc, Gironde
Built from 1689 to 1691 to Vauban’s plans to close the Gironde estuary; a World Heritage site with Blaye.
Season not published
Opening hours and access
Fort Paté
Blaye, Gironde
Built in 1689 on an island in mid-estuary, between the citadel of Blaye and Fort Médoc.
Season not published
Opening hours and access
Citadelle du Palais, à Belle-Ile-en-Mer
Le Palais, Morbihan
Its star shape is the work of Vauban’s engineers; Vauban himself came three times in the 1680s.
Season not published
Opening hours and access
Palace of the Kings of Majorca
Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales
The 13th-century palace is wrapped in the citadel Vauban built after Roussillon became French.
Season not published
Hours to be confirmed
Opening hours and access
Château du Taureau (Taureau Castle)
Plouezoc'h, Finistère
Demolished, rebuilt and enlarged from 1689 to 1692 under Vauban and the engineer Garengeau.
Season not published
Opening hours and access
Fort de Bertheaume
Plougonvelin, Finistère
Built on Vauban’s orders at the end of the 17th century to watch the entrance to the roadstead of Brest.
Adult admission: €5Open on certain days only
Hours to be confirmed
Opening hours and access
Château de Brest (Brest Castle)
Brest, Finistère
The two medieval towers of the keep are enclosed in an extension built by Vauban.
Season not published
Opening hours and access
Château, actuellement musée d'Art et d'Histoire, et enceinte urbaine
Belfort, Territoire de Belfort
Charged with fortifying the town, Vauban joined the castle to the town walls between 1687 and 1703.
Season not published
Hours to be confirmed
Opening hours and access
Fort de Joux
La Cluse-et-Mijoux, Doubs
Vauban drew the bastioned trace of the fourth and fifth enclosures; Toussaint Louverture was held here until his death.
Adult admission: €9.50Open April to November
Opening hours and access
Citadelle d'Entrevaux
Entrevaux, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence
Built at the end of the 14th century, strengthened under Richelieu and then by Vauban; it is reached on foot up nine ramps.
Season not published
Hours to be confirmed
Opening hours and access
Barrage Vauban
Strasbourg, Bas-Rhin
A fortified lock bridge over the Ill, built at the end of the 17th century to Vauban’s plans; its roof terrace overlooks the Petite France.
Open all year
Opening hours and access
Château de La Petite-Pierre (Petite-Pierre Castle)
La Petite-Pierre, Bas-Rhin
Its fortifications were remodelled by Vauban at the end of the 17th century.
Season not published
Opening hours and access
Château de Landskron
Leymen, Haut-Rhin
Ruins fortified by Vauban and destroyed in 1813; only the keep still stands.
Season not published
Opening hours and access
Fort du Socoa
Ciboure, Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Entirely remodelled by Vauban and his assistant François Ferry from 1693.
free admissionOpen all year
Opening hours and access
Château Neuf
Bayonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques
Sent to Bayonne in 1680, Vauban enlarged the castle’s barracks and had its lower windows walled up.
Season not published
Opening hours and access
Fortress of Landau
Landau in der Pfalz, Rheinland-Pfalz
Fortifications built from 1688 to a design by Vauban for Louis XIV; gates and ramparts survive in the town.
Season not published
Opening hours and access
Fortress Mont Royal
Traben-Trarbach, Rheinland-Pfalz
A fortress built by Vauban from 1687 for 12,000 men and destroyed by the French ten years later; the remains are free to explore.
Season not published
Opening hours and access
Château de Vauban (Vauban Castle)
Bazoches, Nièvre
The fortified house of the hamlet that gave the family its name; Vauban bought the estate back in 1684 and joined it to Bazoches.
Season not published
Opening hours and access

The map

The 20 places on this page. Tap a point to open its page.

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The route

At the tip of Finistère, the Fort de Bertheaume and the castle of Brest are about twenty kilometres apart; the Château du Taureau, in the bay of Morlaix, is an hour’s drive away and reached by boat.

Stop	From the previous stop
1.Fort de Bertheaume · Plougonvelin
2.Château de Brest (Brest Castle) · Brest	16 km
3.Château du Taureau (Taureau Castle) · Plouezoc'h	56 km

72 km in a straight line overall

Frequently asked questions

Which Vauban sites are on the World Heritage List?: Twelve groups since 2008, including the citadel of Besançon and the Gironde estuary lock (the citadel of Blaye, Fort Paté and Fort Médoc), as well as Briançon, Mont-Dauphin, Mont-Louis, Neuf-Brisach, Saint-Martin-de-Ré, Arras, Longwy, Camaret-sur-Mer, Saint-Vaast-la-Hougue and Villefranche-de-Conflent.
Vauban fortifications: which ones are open all year?: 2 are listed as open all year: Barrage Vauban and Fort du Socoa. The others open in season, and winter hours are often shorter.
Vauban fortifications: how much is admission?: Across the 4 places whose prices we know, adult admission ranges from €5 to €12. 1 are free to enter.