This beautiful palace is located on the way from Fontainebleau to Paris. I was quite surprised as in the rainy Sunday afternoon the palace attracted more tourists than Fontainebleau and its large parking was almost totally occupied.

Entrance fee is 17 EUR normal, 13.5 reduced, so it is quite expensive, but the palace is a private property and its maintenance is, I assume, consuming lots of resources. The total area of the palace and the huge gardens is 500 hectares, out of which the formal French garden, which requires a lot of care, is 33 hectares.

The palace’s construction commenced in 1656 by Nicolas Fouquet, high official in Louis XIV court. Very soon the owner was arrested and condemned to life sentence. Ancestors of the current owners bought the palace in XIXth century.

Currently the palace is quite well preserved and it takes some time to visit it properly. If you want to visit the huge garden, there are melexes that can take tourists – distances are indeed quite big. According to the brochure provided, visiting the palace and all garden area with huge Hercules statue requires half a day tour.

The palace is one of the earliest entries on French T-List (1996) and no information was provided on its possible inscription. I am also not aware what could be an outstanding universal value of the object but anyway it was a pleasant visit not only for WHS or TWHS fans.