Vaux Le Vicomte castle is certainly not as famous as Versailles…however it deserves a visit as much as Versailles does.  This is one of the most magnificent chateaus in France.

Located about 40 miles away from Paris (on your way to Burgundy), the whole estate reaches nearly 500 hectares. It was built by Nicolas Fouquet, Superintendent of Finances under young King Louis 14th.

A 17th century masterpiece, Vaux le Vicomte was the backdrop to many major historical events and witnessed the tragic eviction of its creator, Nicolas Fouquet, who was imprisoned following an extraordinary trial about which the writer Voltaire said: “On 17 August at 6 in the evening, Fouquet was King of France; at 2 in the morning, he was nobody” . Upon Louis 14th request, Fouquet was arrested in Nantes by D’Artagnan, captain of the Musketeers.

 

Vaux le Vicomte gardens also deserve a long stroll. To design the gardens, Fouquet called upon André le Nôtre who was the pioneer of French garden art. The perfect harmony between garden and architecture results from the collaboration of a trio : Le Nôtre the landscape gardener, Le Vau the architect and Le Brun the painter-decorator.

France Just For You

Experts in self-drive tours in France

Travelers Reviews

5.0
Don
We heard about Emilie from a friend who used her travel services twice. They spoke so highly of her we figured we had to visit France just to meet her. We traveled to the Loire Valley with another couple and she interviewed us separately to understand what we wanted to see and do and what we didn’t want to do. As a result, she designed a perfect …
Steve
Emilie, set up an outstanding itinerary that met all our desired needs, created a wonderful schedule with built in flexibility to handle planned and unplanned changes. Her suggestion for special sites to see and foods to sample were right on and an enhancement from the normal tourist recommendations. The attention to detail was greatly appreciated …
Martina & Simon from the UK
A fantastic well-planned self-drive tour We had the most amazing time on our 6 week self-drive tour designed by Laura, travelling through Brittany, Loire, Dordogne, Medoc, Basque France, Languedoc, Provence, the Alps, Alsace and Champagne. This was a big trip for us and it was everything I’d hoped and dreamed and even more besides. All our …
Teri & Family from the US
Customized Itinerary with Fantastic Service & Support for France Travel Laura and Emilie with France Just for You provided exactly the itinerary we asked for. We corresponded with them several times to develop exactly what we were interested in and it worked out beautifully. This saved us so much time! We even experienced some challenging airline …
Linda & Scott
This was our first visit to France to celebrate my 40th birthday. We started in Reims/Champagne region, Burgundy, Loire Valley Normandy and finished in Paris. Our 21 day trip was exceptional in every way! Emilie and her team thought of everything and their service from fist email to our return home could not be faulted. The only way I can describe …
Eileen
Thank you, Emilie! This was just the trip that we had envisioned. The B&B's that you booked for us were perfect. The excursions were fabulous. The amazingly detailed books that you prepared for us were our guides and will forever remind us of our trip. You listened to what we wanted and arranged a trip just for us. I cannot imagine how this trip …