Less than an hour from Paris and just a few minutes from La Belle Étoile campsite in Melun, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is one of the most beautiful places to visit in Seine-et-Marne. Personally, we at C’est si Bon love this château.
You’ve heard of Versailles. But do you know the château that made it possible? The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, nestled in Maincy in the heart of the Seine-et-Marne region, is much more than just another tourist stopover in the Île-de-France region. It’s the model on which Louis XIV built Versailles, to the point of jealousy and imprisonment of its owner. A story of excess, artistic genius and dizzying fall, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is one of the highlights of your camping holiday in the Paris region.
Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte: a gathering of exceptional artists
In 1653, Nicolas Fouquet – Louis XIV’s Superintendent of Finances, the most powerful man in France after the King – decided to build the most sumptuous residence in the kingdom. To achieve this, he brought together three of the great artists of their time: Louis Le Vau for the architecture, Charles Le Brun for the interior decoration, and André Le Nôtre for the gardens. It was the first time these three masters had worked together – and their collaboration produced a masterpiece.
In less than five years, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte was built in all its Baroque splendor, where previously there had been nothing but fields and swamps. Eighteen thousand workers were employed on the site. That’s a lot of work! Three entire villages were razed to the ground to make way for the gardens. The result is unrivalled in France: an elliptical domed chateau of stone and gilded brick, surrounded by a moat, opening onto formal gardens that stretch as far as the eye can see, over 33 hectares of boxwood embroidery, ponds and waterfalls. A gem not to be missed on your camping vacation at La Belle Étoile, just a few minutes from the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte.
The party on August 17, 1661: one evening too many
In retrospect, given Louis XIV’s character, Fouquet could have shown a little more humility. Yet, carried away by his delusions of grandeur, on August 17, 1661 he organized the party that was to bring about his downfall. Intended as a tribute to the king, the feast was above all a display of his wealth before the powerful of the kingdom: six thousand guests, a ballet composed by Lully, a play by Molière created for the occasion, fireworks, fountains spouting in synchrony and solid gold crockery made up an evening the like of which no one had ever organized in France. Not even the king. And so it was that the king left Vaux-le-Vicomte in vexation. Very upset. So much so that he had D’Artagnan arrest Fouquet ten days later and send him to prison for the rest of his life, in 1680. He confiscated the tapestries and furniture from Vaux-le-Vicomte and commissioned his 3 creators to build him the Château de Versailles.
Did you know? Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is France’s largest privately-owned château, extending over 500 hectares. It has been passionately maintained by the same family – the Vogüés – since 1875.
Visit the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte on your camping vacation in Seine-et-Marne
A visit to the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte extends over four floors and offers a complete journey into the world of the Grand Siècle. Nicolas Fouquet’s private apartments, the grand salons, the period kitchens and basements are all accessible – furnished and decorated with a remarkable fidelity that gives the impression that their occupants have only just left. The highlight of the visit: climb up to the skylight that dominates the dome to enjoy an exceptional panoramic view of the gardens and the Brie countryside. It’s a perspective that makes it possible to understand at a glance Le Nôtre’s genius for composition and the absolute coherence between architecture and landscape. The Musée des Équipages, housed in the outbuildings, completes the tour with a remarkable collection of antique carriages and cars.
The gardens of Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte: all the talent of Le Nôtre
If the château is impressive, the gardens at Vaux-le-Vicomte have nothing to be ashamed of. Here, André Le Nôtre laid the foundations of what would become the French garden style: infinite perspectives, parterres embroidered with string-cut boxwood, geometric basins, cascades and water features. Thirty-three hectares of promenade of rare elegance.
The Bassin du Miroir, which reflects the façade of the château in perfect stillness at quiet hours, is one of the most photographed spots in the Ile-de-France region. There’s no doubt that it will be one of the most Instagrammable spots on your camping holiday in Ile-de-France. Further afield, the grotto and canal offer cool spots to enjoy in summer. For families, electric buggies are available for hire to explore the more remote corners without tiring.
Candlelight Evenings for a Midsummer Night’s Dream at Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte
If you have to choose just one time to visit the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, choose a Saturday evening between early June and late September for the famous Soirées aux Chandelles. Thousands of candles light up the château and its gardens, creating an unparalleled atmosphere of romance and enchantment. The water features come on, the evening is punctuated by entertainment, and the estate is revealed in a radically different light – more intimate, more mysterious.
Throughout the year, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte also offers a rich program of events: the Grande Chasse aux œufs at Easter for families, the Rendez-vous Grand Siècle in summer, theatrical and torchlight tours, and more.
Why does the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte deserve a day of your time during your camping trip in Paris?
It will be objected that Versailles is bigger and more famous. True enough. But the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte offers something that Versailles no longer can. Here, there are no compact crowds or rooms stripped of their furnishings. The rooms are inhabited, the gardens are on a human scale, and behind every detail – a sculpted keystone, a trompe-l’oeil by Le Brun, a boxwood parterre – lies a story that the guides are delighted to tell.
The Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte is also an open-air history lesson: that of a man who wanted it all, achieved it all, and lost it all in a single night. A story that, three and a half centuries later, continues to haunt the salons and gardens of France’s most beautiful private château with undiminished intensity.
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