MaineGG

The website for the chateau says to take the RER A train to Grande Arche de la Défense then bus 258 to the chateau. On another site I find that there is a little tourist train that will take you from the RER station in Rueil-Malmaison around to all the sites in the area including the chateau. It looks like you can take the RER A train all the way to R-M, and I'm wondering why they recommend taking the bus from La Défense instead of the train all the way to R-M. I'm thinking we should just take the RER all the way out there instead of changing to the bus. Am I missing something? Any suggestions or opinions most welcome.

kerouac

I have always heard that the bus from La Défense is the easiest way to go. An alternative method is to take the RER A to Rueil-Malmaison and take some other bus from that station.

I don't know about tourist trains, but possibly they operate during the tourist season.

Christina

I suppose they recommend the bus because it goes right to the chateau, whereas the RER station is several km away. So once you get out at the RER, you have to either walk a ways to catch that same bus to go to the chateau (it's not too far, but that bus doesn't stop right at the RER, several blocks away), or take a taxi. I took a taxi as I had no patience for walking all the way to the main road and then waiting for that bus. The taxi ride only cost 5-10 euro as it isn't very far.

Now I did take the bus back as it was easy to just walk from the chateau out to the road the bus goes down (that's just outside the chateau), cach the bus and get out at La Defense to get the metro or RER into the city. I wanted to do some shopping at La Defense, anyway.

I don't know anything about that tourist train, maybe it didn't exist when I went. Here is its site and the map.
http://www.rueil-tourisme.com/FR/pag...l-_704875.html

It isn't clear to me exactly where the RER stop is on there, but it says it is free, so it sounds good to me if you have the time. It looks like it must stop somewhere near the RER station. I suspect the directions you found, as well as my experience, were before that train existed.

MaineGG

I think we will take the train/bus out there, then, if the time works out, the tourist train from the chateau stop back to the RER station.
Thanks.

MaineGG

Just back from a good daytrip to Rueil-Malmaison.
Took the Metro to La Defense, emerged from underground to look around a little since my husband had never been there, then caught the 258 bus to the "Le Chateau" stop. Walked to the chateau and arrived just in time for their midday closing from 12:30-1:30, despite their website indicating that they do not close midday until October 1. Spent an hour pique-niqueing with our sandwiches and exploring the gardens which remained open. At 1:30 we were let in and really enjoyed the site. There was a special exhibit which was also interesting.

When we left and walked back to the gate, the Petit Train Touristique was just pulling in. I talked to the driver who said that the circuit took an hour and that the ride was free, so off we went. The next stop on the train was in a park where there was another chateau (Bois-Préau), then we went through back streets to the main square of Rueil-Malmaison past the church where Josephine is buried. After that we wound through town and eventually went along the banks of the Seine for a couple of km. Very picturesque. There is some recorded commentary in French from time to time. We ended up back at the chateau stop and retraced our steps via bus 258 and Metro Line 1 back to Paris.

Christina has given a good link for the Petit Train info.

Thanks all again for your comments and suggestions.

Christina

thanks for the trip report as to how it worked out

FrenchMystiqueTours

Sounds like a great day trip MaineGG. I'm sure your info will be useful to others wanting to do R-M as a day trip.