Île-de-France (beyond Paris)

Île-de-France is the region around Paris, and most visitors never leave the city at its centre. That is a mistake, because the ‘island of France’ was for centuries a royal hunting ground, and the kings left it covered in forests, palaces and gardens that are still there. Its borders were untouched by the 2016 reform. Beyond the suburbs, nearly a quarter of its land is forest and about half is farmland, much of it wheat and sugar beet on the great plateaus of the Brie and the Beauce.

Fontainebleau, Rambouillet, Saint-Germain-en-Laye and dozens of smaller woods ring the capital. Versailles is the famous palace, but Vaux-le-Vicomte, whose splendour is said to have hastened its owner’s arrest by Louis XIV in 1661, is often more enjoyable, and Provins, a walled town of medieval trade fairs, feels a world away from the boulevards. Along the Seine and the Oise, villages such as Giverny, Auvers-sur-Oise and La Roche-Guyon kept the light and riverbanks that drew Monet, Van Gogh and the Impressionists.

For someone tired of Paris, this is the easiest escape of all. Suburban trains and regional lines put you in a forest, a château park or a riverside village within an hour, and on a weekday you may have the paths to yourself. Climbers come to Fontainebleau’s sandstone boulders, cyclists follow the Seine, and walkers can link villages along marked trails without ever seeing a tower block.

• Sandstone boulders and oak forests of Fontainebleau
• Chalk cliffs and loops of the Seine around La Roche-Guyon
• Château parks and formal gardens
• Valleys of the Oise and the Chevreuse
• Wheat and brie country of the Seine-et-Marne plateau

Facts

• The region’s borders were not changed by the 2016 territorial reform.
• The Palace and Park of Fontainebleau were inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1981.
• Provins, Town of Medieval Fairs, has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 2001.
• The Palace and Park of Versailles were among France’s first World Heritage inscriptions, in 1979.