48.40° N · 2.70° E
The palace of Francis I and Napoleon, free gardens, a sandstone forest for walking and climbing and Barbizon, the painters' village.
What to do
Each plan says how long it takes, who it's for and whether you can book.
Visit · 2 h · €17 · free up to age 18 and for EU residents under 26 · closed Tuesdays
Walk · 1 h 30 · free · Le Nôtre's Grand Parterre, English garden, Diana's garden and the Grand Canal
Climbing with an instructor · mid-afternoon · €42 adults, €34 ages 7 to 9 · Saturdays from February to June · equipment included
Itineraries
Days and weekends already planned out, with how to get between each stop and who to book with.
Plan the trip
Each choice narrows the next: the season shapes how best to travel, and how you travel decides where you stay and where you eat.
When to go
Spring and autumn are ideal for the forest, with temperatures for walking and climbing. In summer, the forest is welcome for its shade, but there is a fire risk and closed sectors. The palace is visited all year; in winter it is open until 17:00.
How you travel
Choose how you're travelling and we'll tell you where to stay, how to get around, where to eat and which services you'll need. We only show the ways of travelling that make sense here.
Fontainebleau can be done from Paris without a car: you fly to Orly or Charles de Gaulle, with direct flights from the main Spanish cities, and from Gare de Lyon a train puts you in Fontainebleau-Avon in about 40 minutes. For the forest and Barbizon, though, a car helps.
The palace, gardens and town are done by train and on foot: line R from Gare de Lyon and bus 1 from the station. The forest is another matter: without a car, stick to the palace park and the trails that leave from the town.
With a car, Fontainebleau is much more than the palace: the forest, with its sandstone rocks, and Barbizon, the painters' village, are a quarter of an hour away. From Paris it is about 70 km on the A6.
Who you're with
A trip with a toddler is not the same as one with a teenager. Pick yours to see what works and what to bear in mind.
Fontainebleau is one of the easiest palaces with children, because the forest is next door. A morning in the state rooms and an afternoon scrambling over sandstone rocks is the plan that works best.
For teenagers, Fontainebleau is above all the forest: the world capital of bouldering, where climbers come from everywhere. The palace goes down better told through Napoleon.
Where to stay
We show you what suits the way you travel.Change how you travel
Why we like it: Former coaching inn turned four-star hotel, with 45 rooms and 10 suites, a Cinq Mondes spa and a brasserie, a few steps from the palace.
Why we like it: Four-star hotel in a town house in the centre of Fontainebleau, with 27 rooms of 17 to 48 m², a terrace and the Mediterranean restaurant Gina.
Services for this trip
Where to eat
From set lunch menus to Michelin stars. We mark the price level and what to order at each place.
What to order: French brasserie cooking on the terrace of the former coaching courtyard
What to order: the Sunday brunch, from 11:30 to 14:00, for €45
What to order: the lunch menu, the most affordable way to try Kunihisa Goto's cooking
Map
The places to stay and services on the map are the ones for the way you travel. Turn on the layers you want and tap a point to see its details.
Nearby
The closest places, whichever country they are in.
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Tips
Versailles is closed on Mondays and Fontainebleau on Tuesdays: plan the week around that.
The train leaves you in the town; the routes and the climbing start in forest car parks.
After the fires some sectors are closed. The tourist office publishes which.
Wet sandstone breaks and is slippery; leave the bouldering for another day.
It is closed. That day, stay with the gardens, the forest and Barbizon (whose museum is also closed on Tuesday).
By train on line R from the Gare de Lyon to Fontainebleau-Avon: about 40 minutes with the ordinary Metro-Train-RER ticket, €2.55 in 2026. The station is in Avon, about three kilometres from the palace; the line 1 bus drops you next to it. By car it is about 70 km on the A6, an hour without traffic.
If you fly from Spain, Orly is the most practical: metro line 14 goes direct from the airport to the Gare de Lyon, where the trains leave. From Charles de Gaulle you have to change at Châtelet.
The train is enough for the palace, the gardens and the town. For the forest and for Barbizon, which are a quarter of an hour away by car, it is best to have a car: the starting points of the routes and the climbing have no public transport.
The palace in the morning: two hours for the Gallery of Francis I, the ballroom, Marie Antoinette's apartments and Napoleon's throne room. Then the gardens, which are free: Le Nôtre's Grand Parterre, the Carp Pond and the Grand Canal. In the afternoon, the forest: the Franchard gorges or the walk to the Tour Denecourt, or else Barbizon and its painters' museum.
With two days, the pace changes: one day for palace and town, another for the forest, with the bouldering introduction if it falls on a Saturday. Fontainebleau lends itself to a night's stay: it is a quiet town, with good restaurants, and at night there are no tourist coaches.
Admission to the palace costs €17 (€15 reduced). Under-18s and EU residents aged 18 to 25 enter free, and everyone on the first Sunday of each month, except July and August. It is open from 9:30 to 18:00 from April to September and until 17:00 from October to March. Closed on Tuesdays: if you want to combine it with Versailles, which is closed on Mondays, Monday is a good day for Fontainebleau and Tuesday for Versailles.
The courtyards, gardens and park are free every day. Dogs may not enter the courtyards or the gardens, even on a lead; in the park, around the Grand Canal, they can.
The Fontainebleau forest surrounds the town: thousands of hectares of pines, oaks and sandstone boulders that have made it a place of pilgrimage for bouldering. After the fires, the tourist office says it is 90% open, but some sectors remain closed, including the Trois Pignons, the Faisanderie and Apremont. Before setting out, check its interactive map. Stay on the marked paths, don't smoke or light fires, take your rubbish with you and call 18 if you see smoke.
On rue Grande, steps from the palace, Le Cadran, the brasserie of the Hôtel Napoléon, opens every day except Tuesday. Gina, at the Hôtel de Cavoye, opens daily and has brunch on Sunday. For something special, L'Axel, Kunihisa Goto's French cooking with a Japanese soul. For a picnic, the palace gardens allow it on a blanket.
To sleep, the Hôtel & Spa Napoléon, a former coaching post with an indoor pool, and the Hôtel de Cavoye, from the same house, smaller and quieter.
Questions
On the line R train from the Gare de Lyon to Fontainebleau-Avon, about 40 minutes, and the 1 bus to the palace.
€17, free for under-18s and EU residents aged 18 to 25.
Tuesdays.
Yes, the courtyards, the gardens and the park.
90% of it; some sectors remain closed after the fires.
To the park and the forest, on a lead; to the courtyards and gardens of the palace, no.
Geocaliahttps://www.geocalia.com/en/france/ile-de-france/fontainebleau
