Paris Chateaux  Although the Loire valley or the Dordogne are really the places to go for chateaux lovers, the Paris region boasts two chateaux that are totally spectacular!  With so much space in the grounds the children will love the freedom here (I still remember a trip to the Château de Versailles when I was in my teens, more than twenty years ago - Webmaster!)

Fontainebleau

Location: Around 50km south of Paris.  About 45 minutes from Paris’s Gare de Lyon station, then by bus to the château itself.
General Info: Basic tariff is €8 and free for under 18’s and on the first  Sunday of the month.  Website (French only).
Description: A Unesco world heritage site, offering a magnificent chateau in a huge 40,000 acre forest with spectacular gardens.  Claims to have once been home to Napoleon (in common with hundreds of other French residences!).  Less crowded than the Château de Versailles.
Our recommendations: If you have the car, take a side trip to the beautiful hamlet of Barbizon, famous for its painting school and as the home of Robert Louis Stevenson.
For the children: Should find a trip here enjoyable, especially if you combine it with a walk in the woods and perhaps a game of boules!  The horse and carriage rides are great fun.

If you have a car you could easily make a day trip to one of the superb renaissance chateaux of the Loire valley.