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
Candy
Wherever possible we prefer to travel on our own as opposed to going on a tour package. With France - Just For You, they arranged for a vehicle and booked us into a couple of lovely B&B’s and a great Boutique Hotel in Paris and booked a couple of activities that we were interested in. Besides that, they put together a book for us with everything we …
Robert
From Bordeaux, Medoc wineries, Basque country of France and Spain, Carcassone, Dordogne, pre-historic caves, beautiful medieval towns and villages, switch-back mountain roads, sunshine, truffles, food & wine and gracious b&b hosts to final flight home, this was the trip of a lifetime! We drove over 3,200 kms with the help of our included gps and …
Laura from Canada
Words cannot begin to describe how pleased we are with the 22 day trip that the France Just for You team created for us as we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary. We normally plan our own trips but when we looked at France we became overwhelmed with how much we could do. We found the FJFY team and saw that they had all 5 star reviews. You can …
Jenifer
When planning my 60th birthday celebration, my sister and I stumbled upon France Just For You, which saved us from the potential nightmare of traveling with 40 strangers on a bus. As a result, my sister and I, along with our husbands, experienced a trip of a lifetime! From the beginning, Emilie was extraordinarily responsive, informative, and more …
Leslie
There are not enough superlatives for our experience with Emilie. Prompt correspondence and thorough questions led to the perfect vacation for my family. Her choice of hotels in Paris and Provence were exactly what I would have chosen on my own. Her tour guide recommendations were spot on. The fact that she arranged all of our transfers, train …
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 …