What to see in Fontainebleau ?

Fontainebleau derives its character from an embraced paradox: a royal town sandwiched between a 25,000-hectare forest and ordinary Parisian suburbs. The Château de Fontainebleau, residence of nearly all French kings from the twelfth to nineteenth century, commands an scale that Versailles drowns under mass tourism. Here, rooms are still visited with a certain tranquillity, and history reads in successive layers of architecture without excessive staging.

Spring and autumn are the most sensible seasons, when the forest changes colour and school coaches are fewer. Allow a full day, two if you want to walk through the Apremont Gorge. The RER D from Gare de Lyon remains the most direct route, around forty minutes. Avoid spending all your time in the château: to miss the forest would be to overlook the essence of Fontainebleau.