Balade à pied du château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye au château de Maisons-Laffitte

These are two of the emblematic castles of the department of Yvelines, and it will take you about 2h30 walking from one to the other. In good weather, it is an ideal itinerary to combine sporting and cultural pleasures. From the RER station of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, cross the gate of the park, and already you go along the castle of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, on the left. Don't leave right away and take a look around you: you are walking here in the footsteps of Francis I, Henry IV, Louis XIII and Louis XIV. Before 1682. Saint-Germain-en-Laye was a royal land with Château-Vieux, then Château-Neuf, which has now disappeared. The castle houses the National Archaeology Museum and one of the most important collections in Europe. Then, on your way to the castle of Maisons-Laffitte, you progress for a few kilometres through the state-owned forest of Saint-Germain-en-Laye via the green belt with its trees and its many star-shaped alleys that we owe to François 1st hunter and horseman. You will notably pass in front of the Château du Val, another remarkable building, a real fairy-tale castle, loved by François I and then Louis XIV.

Rate: free of charge.

Distance: 9 km.

Duration: 2h30.

Difficulty: easy

Other practical information: detailed itinerary on the website of the Yvelines Departmental Tourism Committee (www.sortir-yvelines.fr).