chateau de maintenon

Living about a one hour drive from Maintenon, we go there with friends and family quite often. And every time we go back to this castle, we find something we missed during one of our previous visits. And I wll go back again !!!

This lovely chateau is in a beautiful park and as you look down the parterre you see the amazing aqueduct in the distance. It's not huge but beautifully maintained and there is an intereseting history to it. The grounds have recently been replanted and are a picture. When we were there it was fairly quiet so very peaceful. Right next door is a golf course and a park. Definitely worth a detour.

Only 55 minutes by train from Paris' Gare Montparnasse you will arrive at the small town of Maintenon. Cross the small square in front of the station and you will see a sign 'Chateau', continue along that road for about 20 minutes and you will reach the middle of the town. There you will see another sign 'Chateau' and not even an 8-minute walk and there is the chateau. The chateau is small compared to other French castles and so is the park. In the chateau you will see the apartment of Madame de Maintenon and separately that of the King - Louis 14, her lover and then later her husband. (Their marriage was morganatic.)The park, laid out in the French way, is beautiful.In the park you will see the viaduct built on the orders of Louis 14 to carry water to his Versailles Chateau. The viaduct runs through the town and walking to the chateau from the station you will walk alongside it. Have your camera ready.The castle's staff are all friendly people and will reply to any questions you may have.The people of the town too are friendly.After your visit to the chateau you can enjoy a drink or something to eat in any of the restaurants or bistros.I am sure that you would love the Chateau de Maintenon.

We decided to visit Maintenon after reading Ina Caro's book. It is a beautiful chateau. The grounds are lovely, and the aqueduct and the history added to the visit. Our visit was an enjoyable side trip from Chartres. It was not crowded.

This place was great and while I'm doubting I'll be in the area again, i'd go back if I was nearby. It's a bit off of the beaten path in France from the main tourist attractions, but this place had great grounds and a lot of character, and it's not crowded at all.

Wel kept and beautiful gardens if you are in Paris take the train and stop by, not many People around so is nice to visited !

This is a comparatively small chateau, with huge amount of art work. The grounds are gorgeous, with a moat, lots of blue sage and a viaduct. It would be great to be able to buy a book or DVD in English. but there weren't any

Easy day trip from Paris by approximately hourly train service from Gare Montparnasse. Pleasant 10 minute walk through village from station to chateau. Can easily be combined with visit to Chartres, since they are on the same rail line and there are frequent trains between the two communities. Chateau is a jewel with a fascinating history, apartments are beautifully furnished, grounds are meticulous, and the remains of the Vauban viaduct are the icing on the cake. We visited mid-August and it was pleasantly uncrowded. If the throngs at Versailles get you down, try this tranquil and lovely chateau instead. In fact, try it anyway!

Visiting this small chateau requires that you park your car in the small municipal lot in front of the entrance. That requires a local parking card that can be purchased in the nearby shops. Instead of doing that, just go into the chateau entrance and ask for one. They will provide one free (return it when you leave). The chateau began as a castle in the 12th century and morphed into the current form in the 16th century. Although the building appears to be modest, it houses some very beautiful artwork. The adjacent gardens are beautiful and very well maintained.

I enjoyed my visit to this chateau despite getting locked inside (I was the first visitor and they had forgotten to unlock the wooden exit doors so I was trapped between them and the automatic glass doors - luckily I was able to get back into the building and call for help from the balcony!) I had wanted to see this chateau since being impressed with a photo of it many years a go and it certainly lived up to expectations. It is easy to get to - an hourly train service from Paris to Chartres then a walk of not much more than 10 minutes. There are no helpful signs at the station - to go directly to the chateau take the road facing the station building then at the mini roundabout there is a sign (cut across the small park). If you are not in a hurry take the road to the left and you go past the ruins of the aqueduct - then turn right underneath it to reach the mini roundabout. The town has little of interest - a church with some modern stained glass and a tourist office plus a few shops. The castle opens at 10.30 so don't arrive too early as there is little else to do. The formal gardens are small but colourful and the setting is magnificent with views across the water to the aqueduct which you can walk down to. The interior is in two parts - the first section is the area where Madam de Maintenon had her room and the main part consists of the other formal rooms. Most of the interior and some of the outside is 19th cent. renovation or reconstruction but the rooms are lavish and impressive. And the best bit - you don't have to go on a long, boring guided tour as it is 'visite libre' and you get a very good little guide book in English to explain the history and main features!

The castle is nice but small. The visit is not long and our children stayed interested. In the castle the portrait gallery is great. A family history of a thousand years and resemblance between family members that are great grand mothers. The garden is nice with a spectacular view to the aqueduct. Apparently 30000 men died trying to build it. Parking is easy, except on Thursday morning ( market)

We were looking for a nice day trip out of Paris and first found the Notre Dame cathedral in Chartres. When looking for other things to do near the cathedral, I came across this chateau not too far away and easy to get to from the train station. If you are taking the train, you will want to get off at the Maintenon station (the one before Chartres when coming from Paris) and it is a 15 min walk from the train station. The walk is very nice through the small town. The chateau itself is very nice (it's a smaller one) and we especially enjoyed the gardens in the back and the walk to the aqueducts. My son enjoyed running around the gardens and along the lake to the aqueducts. One could easily spend between 1-2 hours here. Exploring the town of Maintenon was also a nice treat. I highly recommend coming here if you are only planning on staying in Paris and want to get out of town one day to see a small chateau.

This is a really neat little Chateau with a grand history. It's humble beginnings belie the fact that it eventually was the home of Louis IV's second "secret" wife. It also has the ruins of an aquaduct meant to carry water to power all of Versailles fountains. It is definitely worth a stop and a stroll through the house and garden.

Well, I will start with Trip Advisor. The Chateau is in Maintenon and your saying it is Chartres, while perhaps technically correct in some respect, is confusing to those who know that it is in Maintenon and quite some distance from the Loire. That said, on to the review.We do not normally review "attractions" in Paris and its environs on the theory that the major attractions are so well known and so well (or not so well) covered by "guide" books that our take is too idiosyncratic to be useful to others.We have had the very good fortune to live in Paris for the past four years for extended periods of time. During that time frame we also had to good fortune of having Ina Caro publish her wonderful book "Paris to the Past: Traveling through French History by Train". We initially became acquainted with her by following her on "The Road from the Past: Traveling through History in France" which is still (published in 1994) an excellent read and take on wonderful places to visit in France if you have both the time and the car (we had both, living in France in 1997-1998).In any event, it was time (where we were in the book) to visit M. Maintenon's lovely Chateau. It is absolutely worth the trip (just over/under an hour from Gare Montparnasse -given our travels our and back). From the Gare at Maintenon it is a pleasant 20-25 minutes walk (we are not spring chickens any longer -- those who walk at a quicker pace could probably do it in 15 minutes). As Ina observed, Taxis are not easily found, especially at the noon hour on a Sunday. In town we had a nice Sunday lunch of very traditional French food at a very busy place just across from the Chateau (it was our first time eating there so we do not rate first times at restaurants). Thus, no name and no rating. Now, to the main attraction. The Chateau is small (in comparison to those along the Loire) or Versailles which we had visited earlier in the week as it is the previous Chapter in Ina's book ( and which we had visited on more then one occasion over the years). We started in the gardens (Le Notre had a hand in their design and building). They are beautiful and as you look out over them and the water that surrounds them you see the aqueduct (Vauban's handiwork) that had been designed to bring water to the gardens of Versailles. The ruins are incredible and they would be worth a visit on their own (in my view -- I like ancient ruins that were designed with a real function in mind that is quite obvious in looking at them). You can walk down along the water to them and get a real feel for their construction.On to the Chateau. As I said, it is small, 13 apartments open to view. The guide that comes with the admission fee is one of the best we have encountered. If you have not read about Madame Maintenon and Louis XIV you get enough for it all to make sense (and if you have not and think furniture when you think Louis XIV, then you need to catch up on this part of Louis' life). "Nough said!. The apartments are small, but the crowds has begun to leave by the time that we had left the gardens so we were not "sardined" and could take our time as we moved through the rooms. It probably is a very different "feel" being in some of the rooms at the same time as a guided tour (and the guides, in many many attractions, who sometime seem to think that some of their tour are still back in Paris, if you get our drift).We leave the rest to you who have the time and the inclination to make the trip out. And, if you don't, then read more about Madame Maintenon and Louis XIV and we are fairly certain that you will want to make the trip the next time that you visit Paris.

By far one of my most favourite places in France. We did a day trip by train and went to Chartres first, and then stopped at Maintenon to see the chateau on the way back. There is virtually no crowd. The gardens are perfect for that spring/summer picnic under the trees alongside the waterway at the Chateau, with the aqueduct in the background. If you're looking for an option at a slower pace than a day at Versailles, then Maintenon is the place to go.