Ile de France Attractions
The Ile de France, the inner part of the Paris basin, is the heartland of France, surrounded by the plains of Normandy, Champagne and Beauce and the district of Caux.
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Château de Courances
The Château de Courances, south of Paris, was created about 1630 by the reconstruction of an older castle. The park, designed by Le Nôtre, has a great variety of artificial lakes, fountains and cascades.
The gardens that mark the entrance to this 17th C. château are considered to be some of France's most beautiful.
The gardens that mark the entrance to this 17th C. château are considered to be some of France's most beautiful.
Hours
April 1 to October 31
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | Closed | 14:00 | 14:00 |
| Close | 18:30 | 18:30 |
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l'Abbaye de Morienval
The three-towered Late Romanesque church of Notre-Dame, which belonged to an 11th C. Benedictine abbey, shows in the ambulatory (begun about 1125) one of the earliest examples of Gothic vaulting. The use of ribbed vaulting so reduced the load on the walls that large window openings, admitting increased light into the church, became possible.
Châalis
The remains of the Cistercian abbey of Châalis, founded in 1136, still bear witness to its former greatness. One side of the 13th C. cloister, the chapel (also 13th C., with frescoes by Primaticcio) and the abbot's lodgings are all that have survived the devastation and plundering of the centuries. A sumptuous building of 1740 houses a museum (furniture, pictures, religious sculpture, mementos of Jean-Jacques Rousseau).
Montfort L'Amaury, France
The old town of Montfort L'Amaury (pop. 3,137) lies west of Paris on the edge of Rambouillet Forest. The main features of interest are the old town walls, the church of St-Pierre (15th-17th C.; fine Renaissance windows), a charnel-house (16th and 17th C.) with a finely carved doorway, the ruined castle (view) and the house (now a museum) occupied by the composer Maurice Ravel from 1920 until his death in 1937.
Montfort-L'Amaury Tourist Office
3 rue Amaury
F-78490 Montford-L'Amaury
France
3 rue Amaury
F-78490 Montford-L'Amaury
France
Roseraie de l'Hay
An exceptional rose garden, containing over 3,000 varieties of this flower, is to be found at the edge of L'Hay.
Hours
June 1 to July 31
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open | 10:00 | 10:00 | 10:00 | 10:00 | 10:00 | 10:00 | 10:00 |
| Close | 18:00 | 18:00 | 18:00 | 18:00 | 23:30 | 23:30 | 18:00 |
August 1 to September 30
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open | 10:00 | 10:00 | 10:00 | 10:00 | 10:00 | 10:00 | 10:00 |
| Close | 18:00 | 18:00 | 18:00 | 18:00 | 18:00 | 18:00 | 18:00 |
St Sulpice de Favières
St-Sulpice-de-Favières, in a picturesque village setting in the Ile de France, is a Gothic pilgrimage church of the 13th- 14th C. The Chapelle des Miracles, all that remains of a 12th C. church, contains the relics of St Sulpice.
