Fontainebleau Palace and The Painters’ Village of Barbizon Day Trip from Paris

There’s more to France than legends dare to unveil. Get used to this royal feeling as you’ll visit Château de Fontainebleau is one of the most visited areas and one of the largest French royal châteaux. It has everything that a tourist needs; a touch of history, a touch of art and a lot of other things that are ready to be discovered. The Palace dates from the medieval age and served as a royal residence for the French kings. Now it is a museum and a  UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

The village of Barbizon owes its fame to the 19th-century landscape painters Théodore Rousseau, Jean-Baptiste Corot, Charles-Francois Daubigny and Jean-François Millet who lived there. Their artistic movement, the Barbizon School (1830 to 1875), was considered a precursor of Impressionism.

We leave Paris in the morning from your hotel and driving to Fontainebleau Palace. Capétiens, Valois, Bourbons, Bonaparte and Orléans, all members of French ruling dynasties, have lived within these walls. Reaching there, the guide will give you an orientation along with your entrance ticket and a set of headphones for an audio tour. A lot of attractions are available on these 130 hectares of parks and gardens, including horse-drawn carriage rides, jeu de paume (real tennis) games, Segway rides, boating, ice-cream and hot-air balloon trips. The keep, which dates from 1137, is the most visible remaining medieval feature. Some of the interior passageways and spiral staircases set within these great walls are witness to this era. Since the end of the 19th century, it has been home to four museums: The Empress’ Chinese Museum (1863), The Napoleon I Museum (1986), The Galerie de Peinture (Paintings Gallery) (1998) and The Furniture Gallery (2009).

After 2 hours of exploration or more we’ll continue our tour to the charming village of Barbizon, located near the Fontainebleau Forest. The Barbizon School of painters were part of an art movement towards Realism in art, which arose in the context of the Romantic Movement of the time, and was active from 1830 through 1870. Here, in the village we’ll take a walk exploring the village’s landmark, Auberge Ganne, the inn where the artists used to meet and now home to the Musée Départemental de l’École de Barbizon. After one hour walking across the streets of the village we’ll have our lunch to a local restaurant, share a drink together and answer to all of your remain questions. So are you ready to enjoy this tour?