Maincy, Seine-et-Marne
A private car and an English-speaking chauffeur from your Paris hotel or any of the three airports to Vaux-le-Vicomte, the chateau that so impressed and so infuriated Louis XIV that he took its architect, its painter and its gardener and built Versailles.
From central Paris, one way: Executive Eco from €110 · Premium Van from €180 · tolls included
Instant price
Tell us where you are going and the price appears straight away. Nothing is charged online. A real person confirms your transfer in writing, usually within the hour.
Fixed price, agreed before you travel.Child seats, tolls, meet and greet and waiting time all included.
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Nicolas Fouquet was Louis XIV's superintendent of finances. Between 1656 and 1661 he assembled three men at the top of their professions, the architect Louis Le Vau, the painter Charles Le Brun and the garden designer Andre Le Notre, and gave them a single estate to work on together. What they produced at Vaux was the first complete statement of the French classical style: house, interiors and gardens conceived as one composition.
On the seventeenth of August 1661 Fouquet threw a party to show it off. There was a play by Moliere, music by Lully, fireworks over the canal and a supper served on gold plate. Three weeks later the king had him arrested. He was tried, convicted and imprisoned for the rest of his life, and Le Vau, Le Brun and Le Notre were put to work on Versailles. Everything you recognise at Versailles was rehearsed here first, at a scale you can actually take in.
Vaux is still privately owned, by the same family since 1875, and it feels it. There are no crowds of the Versailles kind. The gardens run for three kilometres in a straight line and hold an optical trick that only reveals itself as you walk, and the stables house a serious collection of carriages. On Saturday evenings from May to October the whole thing is lit by two thousand candles, which is, by common consent, one of the finest evenings anyone can spend within an hour of Paris.
Vaux-le-Vicomte is the classic case of a place that is close to Paris and genuinely awkward to reach without a driver.
The nearest stations are Melun and Verneuil-l'Etang, and neither is walking distance. The seasonal shuttle does not run every day, which catches a lot of visitors out.
They finish late, well after the last practical connection back to Paris. With a car waiting you can stay for the fireworks instead of watching the clock.
Fontainebleau is twenty minutes away. The two together make one of the best full days in the Ile-de-France, and no train timetable makes it comfortable.
Vaux-le-Vicomte is at Maincy, near Melun, about 55 km southeast of central Paris. The drive takes an hour in normal traffic, a little more if you leave in the middle of the morning rush.
The exact distance depends on where in Paris you start, so the calculator above works on the real road distance between your address and the chateau gates rather than a rounded figure. Tolls, fuel and parking are already inside that price.
Most visitors need three to four hours on site: the house, the stables, the gardens to the far end of the canal and back. Add the drive each way and it is a comfortable day, not a rushed one. If you are also going to Fontainebleau, start early.
Everything is on one estate, so once you are through the gate there is no more travelling to do.
Le Vau's oval salon under the dome, Le Brun's ceilings, and Fouquet's own apartments. Smaller than Versailles and far easier to actually look at.
Three kilometres of axis, with a trick of perspective that hides the canal until you are almost on top of it. Walk to the Farnese Hercules for the view back.
In the stables, with horses, harness and a long line of nineteenth-century carriages. Reliably the part that children remember afterwards.
Saturdays from May to October. Two thousand candles in the house and gardens, and fireworks over the canal at the end. Book the tickets well ahead.
The estate also dresses itself for Christmas from late November, which is a very different visit and, with small children, arguably the better one. Whichever you choose, tell us the closing time when you book and your chauffeur will be at the gate rather than somewhere on the road.
An hour each way and a great deal of open ground to run on. Of all the chateaux near Paris, this is among the kindest to young families.
Baby seats, toddler seats and booster cushions, fitted before you get in. Tell us the ages when you book and they will be in the car.
The gardens are long and the gravel is real. A pushchair travels in the boot without anyone having to fold themselves around it on the way back.
On a day hire the car waits. If the youngest gives out at two o'clock, you go at two o'clock, and it costs nothing extra to change your mind.
One fixed rate per kilometre of real road distance. No airport surcharge, no night rate, no charge for luggage or child seats.
About an hour for roughly 55 km, southeast of Paris towards Melun. Allow a little longer if you are leaving central Paris between eight and ten in the morning.
With difficulty. There is no station at the chateau. You would take a train to Verneuil-l'Etang or Melun and then a shuttle bus that only runs on certain days in season, or a taxi. This is the single most common reason people book a car for Vaux.
On a day hire, yes. Your chauffeur parks at the estate and is at the gate when you come out. On a one-way transfer the journey ends at drop-off, so if you are returning to Paris the same day, ask for the day hire.
Yes, and it is one of our most requested evenings. The fireworks finish late and public transport has effectively stopped by then. Tell us the date when you book and the car will be waiting in the car park.
Yes. They are about twenty minutes apart and make an excellent full day. Vaux in the morning and Fontainebleau after lunch works better than the other way round, because Vaux closes earlier out of season.
Yes. The calculator on this page works out the real road distance between your two addresses and applies the per-kilometre rate. You see the figure before you confirm and it does not change afterwards.
Three to four hours for the house, the stables and the gardens at a civilised pace. Under two hours and you will not reach the far end of the canal, which is the best part.
Yes. All our chauffeurs speak English. Booking, confirmation and any question along the way are all handled in English, which is the main reason most of our passengers choose us over a local taxi.
Places most people combine with Vaux-le-Vicomte, and the pages that explain how we work.
Tell us where you are staying and when you want to leave. You will have a fixed price in writing and an English-speaking chauffeur at the door.
