Visited for Le Grand Noel festivities and it was a wonderful visit. The light shows, decorations, and setup were excellent. Be sure to book entry tickets ahead of time whether coming for a standard visit or a special event/festivity. Bathrooms onsite and parking was free. Bring good walking shoes. Much of the outdoor area wouldn't be the best for wheelchairs or strollers - bring a baby bjorn for small kids as the loose rocks and cobblestones won't work well for strollers. Staff were friendly and polite. The chateau is notable in size, and a site of many movie scenes, and the surrounding gardens were great to visit. Nighttime light show was absolutely worth it. A very enjoyable visit. Gift shop on the way out as well. Highly recommend.

We loved the Grand Noel theme event that takes place in December every year. Beautiful magic atmosphere with classy Christmas decoration indoors and lights in the garden. It is 40km south east of Paris, we took the train to Melun and a taxi to Maincy. They have also tourist shuttles that you must book in advance from the Melun train station to the castle.

Loved it, but had higher expectations as it was advertised as a castle that, along with the gardens, inspired the construction of the Château de Versailles. The audio guide was quite informative. It has a system that turned itself on when you entered a room that had information stored on it - a very good idea, but it didn't work properly. It didn't start working in every room (we had two audio guides and both made mistakes in different places) and while walking around in some rooms, it switched himself to the neighbor room information. Also, I didn't immediately understand that I had to listen to the story to the end before leaving the room, because in the next room a new story starts automatically and it interrupts the story in the previous room. Orientation was easy as the movement route was well marked. You have to pay extra money to go to the tower, we had no motivation to go there. Unless the goal is to take a longer walk, it would be worthwhile to rent an electric car to explore the park, even with this car it took 45 minutes for a very quick tour of the park (with a few photo stops). The restaurant offered simple food and for us (foreign tourists) the choice was made easy by the fact that the food on offer was displayed.

Enjoyed a truly magical evening at the Chateau during it's 'Candle light' evenings. Even though it was raining on and off, everything was beautiful. We walked the grounds when we arrived, all lit with hundreds of candles along the walkways, steps, balustrades, and windows of the Chateau. Then we took the tour. Don't miss the audio-guide. It is unique from what I have experienced with actors expressing conversations of the past Chateau inhabitants with beautiful music. Loved it. And the evening ended with fantastic professional fireworks. Great evening!

Our accommodation hosts recommend here after we had chatted about possibly going to Versailles. What a place! Not crowded and a few light showers helped keep us cool. My husband and child got discounted entry due to having a disability card. The audio guide was excellent and very clever that it automatically moved on when going into different rooms. We hired one of the buggies doe an hour for €25 which allowed us to see all the gardens had to offer and take photos in different areas of the garden. A real gem and throughly enjoyed. We are so pleased our hosts mentioned it as we wouldn't have known about it.

I drove here with my partner from Paris,driving was easy and parking was available on site (free). Purchased the tickets online + audio guide. If you bought the tickets online, you can bypass the que and head directly to the counter as there's a separate que (faster) when you have pre--purchased tickets. Collection of the audio guides will be at the chateau. I highly recommend it as it gives you a nice insight into the lift of fouquet and the story of the chateau. The Chateau is fantastic, inside & out you'll find yourself lost in the beauty of it all. I brought some food here to have a picnic in the gardens which i highly recommend you do it as well ! We also went for the electric buggy option and ventured all around the gardens, it was really nice especially in the summer! Pay the deposit by cash if you can, saves you a lot of trouble in my opinion. All in all, i highly recommend visiting this Chateau and if you can do a little bit of a read up about the relationship of Foquet,Colbert & Louis XIV to better appreciate the destination !

One of the best chateau visits ever. It is well laid out and not a cattle market with hoardes of tourists but still many visitors. Parking is easy and plentiful. The welcome at the ticket desk was very friendly and helpful. The grounds are well cared for and everything is well laid out. An audio guide is included in the price and worked perfectly and the tour was informative and relaxed. Staff were friendly and helpful throughout. The gardens are vast and we hired a golf cart which was considerably cheaper than Versailles and much less restrictive and worked well on a hot day. A privately owned chateau, this is a well managed property and business and whilst much visited, is probably less well known than some of the Loire châteaux which have simply become horrendous tourist traps, especially Chenonceau.

Not only a beatiful castle, but significant history related to Nicolas Foquet and his eventual downfall. The history is explained very well via your personal tablet as you explore each room, and then make sure you take time to explore the fascinating gardens that were the inspiration for Versailles. We saw it as part of a day trip along with Fontainbleu, which worked well.