travelbunny

I will be in Paris end of Sept to mid Oct (business and family matters). I have never been to Vaux le Vicomte and havent been to Giverney in years. questions- if I go to Giverney. I know there is a Fat Bike Tour but I also understand you can just rent a bike at the train station and bike to Giverney, Is this true and is there ever an issue with bikes on a weekend? secondly- V le V- I am thinking of a candle light evening there. : any opinions? Thanks.

Leburta

Can't speak to the idea of bike rentals in Giverny, but I have a thought on Vaux le Vicomte. I believe that the evening openings are not all year long, so you should be sure to check the hours before planning that trip. I went during the summer, and it was quite magical at night.

bob_brown

I have visited Vaux le Vicomte in the daylight and at night. The candle light stuff sounds romantic etc. BUT let me ask you this: How much of your house can you see by candle light? While not exactly stumbling around in the dark, I realized from my daylight visit that we were missing quite a bit because the rooms are fairly dark. The ceilings are high, the rooms are huge, and the candles are still candles.

The other downside of the night tour is that you absolutely cannot see those magnificent gardens and fountains nor can you go up in the dome to see a marvel of engineering and construction.
(Remember that place was built before we had those high rise steel towers with huge hoists on them.)

I think the candle light idea sounds great but if you want to see the full Vaux, I suggest going in the day time.
Otherwise you get murky view of the true magnificence of the place.

Dukey

The great view of VLV by candlelight is from the outside I suppose.

I would strongly recommend you do it during the day for the reasons outlined above. It is certainly worth seeing especially since it served as a prototype for Versailles.

Getting back and forth from the railroad station in Melun can sometimes be a challenge but I think it is definitely worth the effort.

Sue_xx_yy

If you enjoy biking, I have found a website (paris.org/Kiosque/jun96/af.2.jun96.html ) that suggests you rent a bike and take the RER D line to Melun. (Note: you can't take the bike on the RER D between Chatelet and Gare du Nord, but you would in this case be taking the RER D at Gare de Lyon, so this restriction wouldn't affect you. Also no restrictions of any kind on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.) Near Melun, north-east to be precise, is Vaux-le-Vicomte. (There's also, according to website, a bike/pedestrian path near Melun as well that follows the river, and is lovely.)

The downside to my suggestion is that while the website seems reliable, in truth it would be nice to have some firsthand feedback from someone who has done this and could give an indication re traffic conditions, etc.

Christina

You can rent a bike at Vernon and the Giverny website tells you exactly where. Apparently a cafe or two right near the train station rent some, but the real bicycle rental place is 800 m from the station. You have to leave a piece of identity for security. I suppose they can run out, but you could always go with the idea of doing that, and if they don't have any, go by bus, anyway.

I've been to Vaux le Vicomte and enjoyed seeing it, but during the daytime, of course. Old chateaux are fairly dark, I suppose those candlelight tourist things (which are always expensive) may not be a regular tour of the place. I wouldn't do that, but that kind of tourist thing has never appealed to me.

NeoPatrick

One long time poster here posted about the Vaux le Vicomte candlelight tour, but I can't remember who (Bob Brown, maybe?).
As I recall it sounded like a sort of fun thing to do but only if you had also done the full daytime tour before.

These two sites are so dramatically different, I'm not sure how to recommend one over the other. Both were very neat (although I didn't do the candlelight tour).

slangevar

I rented a bike near the Vernon station last Sunday and they had PLENTY. No one seems to know about the bike thing, even though the Giverny tourist site has fantastic, explicit directions on how to rent the bike and where to find the bike path.

It's a great ride... about 5 km of lovely countryside before you get to the long road leading up to Monet's house. Everyone I met in Giverny was jealous that I came by bike.

travelbunny

Thank you everyone. I will try to rent a bike at Vernon. Vaux le Vicomte will be a day trip if I can manage to have 2 days away (or if it is really rainy will go there rather than Giverney.

gracejoan3

I have done both at Vaux le Vicomte. Day time for my first visit.

French friends took me for the candlelight evening....it was spectacular!! A zillion candles, both inside and outside.

Only some eveings and only certain times of the year. If you have the time, I would recommend it.

You can find info online.

Enjoy..........