How to Take a Day Trip from Paris to Château de Chantilly
Château de Chantilly - chantilly, France
The Lesser Known (to tourist) Chateau North of Paris
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is Château de Chantilly worth visiting
Whether or Not It’s Worth Taking a Day Trip from Paris to Chantilly
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things to see at Château de Chantilly
The Great Stables, the Chateau and the Beautiful Grounds
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best time to visit Château de Chantilly
A Chateau for All Seasons
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how to visit chantilly from paris
Taking the Train from Paris to Chantilly
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how much time you’ll need to visit chantilly
A Full Day Exploring the Château de Chantilly
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Bonjour
If this is your first time on The Weithouse - welcome! My name is Taylor and I’m the girl behind the screen and camera bringing you resources to help you plan the trip of your dreams.
In January of 2022, my husband and I left our home in Atlanta, packed our bags and moved to Paris! We lived in Paris for three years and every day we woke up in disbelief that we got to call this incredible city our home
This Paris Day Trip Guide: Château de Chantilly will give you all the information you need to plan a day trip from the City of Lights to the Château de Chantilly.
Bon voyage!
Château de Chantilly
France is a country full of châteaux, and if you find yourself in Paris, you’re not far from a handful of them, including Château de Chantilly. Chantilly, France is a town of roughly 11,000 inhabitants that sits a 20-minute train ride North of Paris. The town is set within a forest of over 15,000 acres and is home to Europe’s largest horse stables as well as Château de Chantilly.
Is Château de Chantilly Worth Visiting?
If you’re planning a trip to Paris, it’s likely that you already have a lot of other itinerary items and are wondering which day trips to take and which ones to rule out. If you’re asking yourself, “Is Chantilly worth visiting,” the short answer is yes!
A visit to Chantilly is mostly focused on spending the day at the Château de Chantilly and there is more than enough to soak in during your dap trip. We personally prefer Chantilly over other chateau day trips like Versailles and Fontainebleau and there are a few reasons why.
Versailles for starters is massive and can be quite exhausting as a day trip from Paris. It’s one of those must-see destinations, but isn’t always a relaxing break from the city.
Fontainebleau is smaller than Versailles, but we think that Chantilly has the best overall charm and relaxing feel for a day trip, with the added bonus of horses (if there are any horse-lovers in your family).
Additionally, if you have children, Château de Chantilly will be a little more exciting as they can explore the horse-stables and there are many kid-friendly activities on the grounds of the chateau.
things to see at Château de Chantilly
If you’re planning a day trip from Paris to Château de Chantilly, there are plenty of ways to spend your day. We enjoyed our day trip to Chantilly by exploring the Great Stables, soaking up the beauty and history of the château, and strolling through the lovely grounds. Don’t forget to end your day with a cup of something topped with Chantilly cream!
You can find the château hours and daily programs here.
The Great Stables
You can start your day trip to Chantilly at the château by visiting The Great Stables, the largest horse stables in Europe, where you will find 9 riders, 27 horses, 10 ponies, 3 donkeys and 1 mule.
The 18th century building is so grand, that when we arrived we thought we were at the château itself, when in fact, we were only at the stables! Visiting the stables is a great kid-friendly activity or an option if you have an avid horse-lover in your family. Activities at the stables include:
The Equestrian Shows (1 Hour)
Equestrian demonstrations (30 minutes)
The Museum of the Horse: The largest museum devoted to the horse in France
If you’re interested in taking horseback riding in Chantilly, you can find a handful experiences here.
The Château
From the stables, you can head to the actual Château, which is surrounded by water and set within a beautiful grounds. Inside the Château, you’ll find the second largest museum of antique paintings in France after the Louvre, the Conde Museum collections, which is made up of 550 paintings. It is also the only French museum to own three Raphael paintings other than the Louvre, so during your visit you get both a beautiful Château and world-famous paintings all in one.
In addition to the art gallery, you’ll find a chapel, a dining room featuring antique China settings, a reading room made up of 19,000 books, and a few bedrooms.
The Grounds
After you’ve spent your time wandering through the Château, head outside to experience the beautiful Château grounds. The grounds are surrounded by water, and consist of an English Garden, a French-Style Garden, an Anglo-Chinese Garden and a Petit Parc. There is a guided Château map which includes two different itineraries to the grounds, a long discovery tour that would take 2 hours and 15 minutes, or a short discovery tour that would take 1 hour.
Our first visit to Chantilly was in early November, and the foliage and weather were both absolutely breathtaking. There are some picnic tables on the grounds as well if you packed sandwiches for lunch and wanted to enjoy the nice weather.
lunch at the chateau
You’ll likely be spending a few hours at the chateau and will need a bite to eat at some point in the day. The chateau and grounds offers three eating experiences of various scales for your food needs.
On our December day trip to Chantilly, we had lunch at the La Capitainerie, which is located in the basement of the chateau. We needed a reservation so we made one for later in the afternoon. It was an absolutely stunning atmosphere with a delicious two or three course meal option. The restaurant is open Restaurant is open (except on Tuesdays) from 12 pm to 6 pm. You can find more information here.
If you don’t want something too fancy to eat, you can grab food at either The Hamlet which is located on the chateau grounds (the restaurant is closed from 12 November 2024 to 14 March 2025 included), or at Le Café des Écuries which is located in the stables and offers snacks and drinks.
(Pictured below: The exterior of The Hamlet on our winter trip to Chantilly)
best time to visit chateau de chantilly
If you have more flexibility on time and are wondering when the best time to visit Chantilly is, you don’t have to worry too much. The chateau is open year-round and seems to be a chateau of all seasons.
We personally visited Chantilly two times, once in early November and once in late December.
In early November, the foliage was absolutely beautiful on the grounds. In December at Chantilly, our day started with a heavy fog and then cleared up to provide stunning winter light on the grounds.
Although we’ve never visited in the spring or summer, I think they would both provide lovely atmospheres for exploring.
(Pictured below - images from our December trip to Chantilly)
HOW TO GET to chantilly (from Paris)
Getting to the Château de Chantilly from Paris is straightforward and takes roughly 20-minutes by train from Gare du Nord. Outlined below are the steps to take to get from Paris to Château de Chantilly:
Book your train tickets from Paris Gare du Nord to Chantilly—Gouvieux
Book your tickets to Château de Chantilly
On your trip date, arrive at the Paris Gare du Nord train station and take the approximately 24-minute train to Chantilly—Gouvieux
Once in Chantilly—Gouvieux, exit the train station and follow the signs from the train station to the Château de Chantilly. It is an approximately 20-minute walk through the forest.
You’ll arrive first at The Great Stables, which you can explore first or save for the latter part of your day.
From The Great Stables, walk to the entrance of Château de Chantilly.
If taking the train on your own isn’t your speed, you can book a private tour to Chantilly by car like this one through Viator.
how much time you’ll need in chantilly
To really appreciate all that Château de Chantilly has to offer, I would recommend setting aside a full day for your trip. We arrived in Chantilly around 10AM and stayed until 4PM, but we didn’t have time to explore the full grounds. If you plan to visit The Great Stables, the Château, see the entire grounds, and get some form of Chantilly cream during your visit, I would give yourself roughly 8 hours of exploration time.
STICK AROUND FOR A WHILE
Visiting Chantilly from Paris?
Don’t miss our Complete Guide to Paris, a travel guide created from our time living as American Expats in the City of Lights, or our other France travel guides, including a day-trip guide to visiting Monet’s Gardens and a guide to visiting Normandy from Paris.
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