Home Destinations Europe France Ile de France Sights

Sights & Attractions in Ile de France

Read our Ile de France sights reviews. Or post your own.

Ile de France Sights

Though small, the Ile-de-France is so rich in treasures that a whole day of fascinating exploration may take you no more than 60 km (35 mi) from the capital. Thus, a great advantage to exploring this region is that all its major monuments are within a half-day's drive from Paris, or less, if you take the trains that run to many of the towns in this chapter. The catch is that most of those rail lines connect the towns of the Ile with Paris, not, in general, with neighboring towns of the region. Thus, it may be easier to plan on "touring" the Ile in a series of side trips from Paris, rather than expecting to travel through the Ile in clockwise fashion (which, of course, can be handily done if you have a car). This chapter is broken up into two halves. Threading the western half of the Ile, the first tour heads southwest from Paris to Versailles and Chartres, turns northwest along the Seine to Monet's Giverny, and returns to Paris via St-Germain-en-Laye and Malmaison after visiting Vincent van Gogh's Auvers. Exploring the eastern half of the Ile, the second tour picks up east of the Oise Valley in glamorous Chantilly, then detours north to Compiègne and Pierrefonds, and finishes up southward by heading to Disneyland Paris, Vaux-le-Vicomte, and Fontainebleau.