Fontainebleau and Vaux le Vicomte Chateaux Day Trip from Paris

Great tour

The transport was prompt. Both destinations were not over crowded as most of the city. The audio tours were informative for both locations.

Great trip

Excellent trip! Well organized , great itinerary and very comfortable! We were met at the meeting place, given tickets to both castles and schedule. The bus was very comfortable and the driver very pleasant. It was enough time for everything.

Chateau tour

Great excursion! Fontanbleau was better than Versailles in many ways. We had a fairly comfortable ride to and from.

Good enough tour of two interesting landmarks

The audio tour was a bit lengthy and full of more detail and longer than it was interesting. I am glad we got to see both properties but it made for a long day with the bus ride. I like small guided tours better (more expensive) but the one we wanted was sold out.

Good trip

The pickup spot was a bit difficult to get to, but otherwise the process was smooth. Both locations were wonderful, and ample time was left for lunch. I wish we had had about 30 minutes more at Vaux. The bus was comfortable.

Disappointing

Trip was disorganized. No one to give direction who spoke English, even though 75% of the people on the bus were from North America. The bus driver was rude, and changed our departure time from Fontainebleau from 1400 to 1300 without informing anyone.If it had not been for someone who spoke minimal French most of us would have missed the bus. There was no representative from Viator or Paris City to greet us at either venue and give simple directions. We were simply dumped off and and left on our own I have a one day bus tour to Normandy scheduled for tomorrow. I pray it goes better.

Fountainbleau was beautiful Vaux le Vicomte was incredible!!!

The visit to Fountainbleau was beautiful, however, the visit to Vaux le Vicomte was incredible!!! Vaux le Vicomte was unknown to us. but not anymore, the gardens were THE BEST part of this excursion. We would have given the excursion a 5 rating if not for the miserable ride to and from. Either the the coach driver didn't understand or the coach air conditioning was not working. It was warm on the way there and a sauna on the way back in the afternoon - miserable!! I guess it was worth it just for the visit to Vaux le Vicomte.

Difficult to Find

The tour was wonderful. I only gave you three stars because the meeting place was hard to find. I tried to chat and got no answer. I tried to call and got no answer.

The magnificence of...

The magnificence of Fontainebleau. We thought every should have experience. We were amazed by the rich history of the Palace.

Fountainebleau and Vaux-le-Vicomte…Suggest Visiting Two Separate Days

I was actually staying in Fericy, France near Fountainebleau. I did NOT take a tour from Paris. Fountainebleau is a fabulous palace, well worth visiting. It is authentically furnished with items that are truly magnificent. It has the only remaining throne room presently on exhibition and lots of Napoleon memorabilia. Vaux-le-Vicomte was visited on a separate day. I think it might be overwhelming to visit both chateaux on the same day. They each deserve a fresh perspective. If I had to choose between the two, I would probably go with Vaux-le-Vicomte as my favorite. They do an excellent job describing the chateau and story of it’s creation via the headsets. Although I didn’t experience it, I am told “Les Soirées aux Chantelle’s” is a very memorable experience. Since this chateau is privately owned, it seems there is an extraordinary effort to ensure it is very authentic.

Interesting format!

The 2 sites were awesome. Our day was a bit confusing. Each person/group was given an envelope with tickets and a schedule. When we arrived at Fou tainbleau, the driver pulled to the side of the road and opened the bus doors. He said,"Fountainbleau." We exited the bus and headed inthe direction he pointed. Similar situation at Vaux l'Viacomte...nice driver. He waited for stragglers. But a bit more explanation before we left would've been appreciated!

Great full day excursion!

Both properties were beautiful with so much history. Vaux Le Vicomte grounds were breathtaking, and the audio tour was excellent!

Nice day

After clearing the hurdles of finally getting the paperwork done and getting the tickets and finding out where the pickup point was… you get the idea (many phone calls) we had a lovely day. Vaux le Vicomte really well done. Not a whole lot of time to do everything at Fontainebleau so I would skip the train tour of the garden and spend more time inside.

Do not use ParisVision Tours

We took the tour to Fontainebleu and Vaux-le-Vicomte on Saturday, 08 July 2023. The two chateaux were well worth seeing. The audio guide for Vaux-le-Vicomte was especially impressive, probably the best encountered yet. However, strongly recommend avoiding any and all tour services offered by this particular tour operator, Paris Vision Tours. In this particular case, ParisVision Tours failed to provide one of the key elements specified for the tour: There was no working air-conditioning (AC) on the bus. As a result, that day ParisVision Tours also endangered its passengers. On the day in question, 08 July 2023, the temperature outside reached 33° C (91° F). The temperature inside the bus registered as high as 37°C (97° F) in the front of the bus and 40°C (104°F) in the back of the bus. There were both children and older people on the bus. This was unsafe! A company’s reputation can be made (or lost!) on how well it deals with problems, and far less on getting things right. The air conditioning system on the bus never was working properly. The company had three chances to correct the problem: 1. Identify and correct the fact the air conditioning was inoperative before the bus ever departed. This was not done. 2. Arrange for a replacement bus with working air conditioning to pick up the passengers before leaving Fontainebleu. After this first leg of the tour, it already was quite obvious the AC was not working. This was not done. 3. Arrange for a replacement bus with working air conditioning to pick up the passengers before leaving Vaux-le-Vicomte. After this second leg of the tour, it was even more obvious the AC was not working, and the day was getting warmer. This was not done. Instead the company did nothing, creating dangerous conditions both for the very young and for the elderly passengers when the bus became stuck in a serious traffic jam The driver of the bus, the company’s on-scene representative, also failed to take three basic actions: * The driver did not announce the problem to the passengers and apologize. * The driver did not announce what actions, if any, he was taking to address the problem. (It seems doubtful he was taking any actions at all.) And, * With the AC inoperative, the driver told one irate passenger he had the ventilation system on “maximum AC”. In many, if not most, vehicles, “max AC” means the vehicle’s ventilation system is recirculating the vehicle’s air. With the AC broken, the best setting would have been to use maximum outside air. This might have kept the temperature in the bus 4°C to 7°C (7°F to 13°F) cooler. This failure of ParisVision Tours to provide one of the key the services offered, the air conditioned bus, resulted in dangerous heat conditions for the elderly and the children aboard the bus. This failure could have been prevented at three different points and ParisVision Tours did nothing. Instead ParisVision Tours elected to endanger its passengers. This is unsatisfactory. Go see Fontainebleu and Vaud-le-Vicomte, but go with another company. ParisVision Tours will not honor its contract. Strongly recommend not going on any ParisVision Tour.

Basic but just what we needed

We are not ones to like doing tours like these with a guide so this was perfect for us. It is basically just transportation and the tickets to the castles. Bus was comfortable, driver could have better driving skills, we had a lot of hard stops and sharp acceleration. I have having transportation issues to get to the rally point in the morning but was able to communicate with the tour issuer using WhatsApp.

So my fault but we didn't...

So my fault but we didn't get to do the tour. What I learned is it's almost impossible to get a taxi or uber from about 8a-10a. I tried for 40 minutes before departure and the concierge at my hotel also tried to help but neither of us could find a free car or taxi. Because of this we arrived about 5 minutes late and the tour had left so we lost all thay money for 5 of us. Book a car AHEAD of time not the morning of

Beautiful chateaus

Fountainbleau and vaux le vicombe are both beautiful! The places were not crowded with people. We especially enjoyed seeing most of the garden of vaux le vicombe with a golf car.

Rude tour guides

Buses were in the wrong area; someone told us to wait in a certain area, they ignored us, the bus left without us. We had to force them to admit their error and reschedule us for 06/25/23, but we are going to cancel. If these same people are running the tour, we’re not interested.

Great landmarks, poor loading and unloading location

Fontaineblu and Vicomte are iconic French landmarks. This trip gives you a bus driver to take you to each with plenty of free time to explore on your own. If you are looking for a guide or included lunch, this is not the tour for you. Worst part of the trip is the meeting and drop off place way out of the mainstream of Paris for tourism. Cab rides to and from were 30 euros plus, adding materially to the cost of the day trip.

We didn’t have a guide...

We didn’t have a guide the time to let us to see both castle was around 2.5hours and we needed Mac 1 hour We stood in the traffic 2.5 hours

Fontainebleau and Vaux le Vicomte Chateaux are a must see

Fontainebleau and Vaux le Vicomte Chateaux are a must see. After spending 5 days in Paris it was great to get to the countryside. Vaux le Vicomte Chateaux Is beyond amazing. Fontainebleau was Beautiful and gave you a glimpse of what it was like to be king.

The guide was excellent. ...

The guide was excellent. The pick up was easy to find and the operators were friendly. Lunch was very nice.

Meh

Buildings and Gardens fantastic but really not sized for tour groups. Need better tour operator to at least explain on the bus and exteriors of sites. This was basically a bus ride to and from; the bus had no plug in outlets to charge phones. This was very unlike other VIATOR tours I have been on. If this had been my first I would never use the company again.

Great day trip!

Enjoyed each Châteaux. We felt he amount of time allotted was great. Recommend doing the train at Fountainbleau and the golf cart at Vaux le Vicomte. Golf cart is $20 for 45 minutes but you get to see everything. It would be impossible to walk it all.

Chateaus Impressive; Tour Company Disappointing

Pickup location inconvenient, directions wrong, no guide on bus to set expections. Fontainebleau video guide was confusing and narration too long. Petit train was a ripoff...narration headphones did not work on this very bumpy ride. Audio guide and visitor experience at Vaux le Vicomte Chateaux were excellent.

Fun in the country

Both locations are fabulous. Bus driver was wonderfully skilled and kind. Was surprised to have no tour leader with us and that no one gave us directions of any sort at either location. Past trips have had tour guides tell us some history on the bud ride as well as directions of what to do when we arrived. We were just left to figure it out .

Find your way to location

When referencing the address it should be mentioned there are 5 Pullman hotels! Google takes one to the nearest Pullman Hotel. We almost missed the tour twice by going to the wrong Pullman. For people unfamiliar with Paris - tourists- that information is essential. Emphasize «  Use only the address. It is hard for non-French speakers to spell accurately and Pullman is easy.

Used the website for direction!

Bonjour - We missed the bus! Went to Pullman!!! A partial refund would be nice. Where will the bus be on Saturday 4/29 to Fontainebleau? We again bought 2 tickets.

Avoid Paris

Didn't take the tour. Couldn't get transportation, a taxi to get across town. Make sure you give yourself at least an hour to get to the meeting place. The traffic, protesting and construction all over paris has made this place not worth visiting. Don't come until after the Olympics.

Comfy coach, good driver, clean bus, and beautiful experience in Fontainbleau and Vaux.

Castles visit. Napoleon’s museum in Fontainbleau was well arranged and informative. Experience in Vaux was exceptionally superb, with the performance-style audio guide and the gardens free time visit with individual golf cars.

Stay away from this trip, it’s a health hazard

Don’t be deceived by the advertisement: there is a driver, not a guide. And the van does not have air conditioning: as you can see in the photos, there were 35 degrees C (95F) in the van! Poses a high risk for people with heath concerns.

Fun trip. Will do it again.

Smooth ride. Driver was always on time (we did get off to a late start leaving Fontainbleau, but that was due to a few passengers getting on the wrong bus). The driver tried to get the air conditioner running and eventually did get it running, but temp inside the cabin was 32° Celsius for several miles.

The gardens and the...

The gardens and the palaces. The bus driver did not wait at the indicted address and the guide/organizer did not speak English.

Nice tour with surround-sound audio option!

We did a lot of tours around Paris, and this was a favorite! A highlight of the tour was the surround-sound audioguide, which played out different scenes and conversations depicting the story of the chateau's owner and creator, who unfortunately for him, crossed Louis XIV. Our teenager even enjoyed it! Pros: not crowded, excellent audio tour, golf car rental on the grounds for exploring the expansive property (25 euros/hr), a bonus carriage museum, and did I mention not crowded? Cons: meeting point was far from central Paris, long bus ride. This tour did not have a in-person guide, just the audio guide. You are basically paying for the admission, audio tour, and bus transportation. If you have your own car, parking is adjacent and easy.

Wonderful Tour!

This trip was excellent! I liked both of these castles way better than Versailles that we had seen over the weekend! Absolutely no lines or crowds and both castles and grounds were beautiful!!!

A great escape from the city

This was a very interesting tour, with lots to discover at both castles. It was great to get out of Paris for a while as well. We had plenty of time at Fontainebleau to explore and have a quick and tasty lunch at a restaurant in the village just outside the gates to the castle. We were also given ample time at Vaux, but perhaps a bit too much. Two hours there would have been enough and would have allowed for an earlier return to Paris.

fountainebleau

The expert was good overall I would like the itinerary to be switched as I felt there was more things to do at Fountainebleau. This is not a guided tour you will not get any commentary on the bus. You do get audio guides at each Chateau.

Our unrealized excursion

Bus broke down between the two places visited and we lost two hours, in addition to inconveniences of a rushed shorter stay, less time for conveniences and food. Moreover, there was not even an apology for the delay, much less an offer of a partial refund. I will remember this experience when booking further trips.

The castles were...

The castles were interesting and beautiful. Things that disappointed me: there was a woman that gave us tickets before the bus ride and a bus driver that took us to the castles and dropped us off, but then everything else was up to us. I expected someone to be with us more. Also, there wasn’t clear direction on when to eat. Luckily we ate at Fontainebleau because there was little to eat at Vaux le Vicomte. Also, we had far too much time at Vaux le Vicomte. It would have been better if we had another hour at Fontainebleau to walk around town. But the part that was really disappointing was the temperature on the bus. It was cool in the morning, but on the way back, the outside temperature was 75 F while it got to over 90 F (33 C) in the bus. When we asked the driver about it, he said there wasn’t anything he could do. An hour drive with that hot of temperature was terrible, especially considering it was nice outside. The castles were interesting but the cost was higher than it should have been for what we got, and the other problems lead me to not recommend this trip to anyone.

Estates on view

This tour combines two different types of estates providing an excellent opportunity to understand French history.

Paris!

Great trip from start to finish. Tour left on time. Driver and person who checked is on were very accommodating. Highly recommend.

Interesting and comfortable tour.

Schedule was outlined and met. Audio guides worked well. Appropriate amount of time available at each location. Van was comfortable. Driver was very accommodating.

Avoid Paris City Vision if you might need a refund.

I had a similar experience as reported by others. I booked a Paris Vision Tour in December, 2019, then had to cancel it in April, 2022. I was told that Paris City Vision could not process refund to credit cards. They apparently have no problem with bookings! After many emails, they refunded the money to my PayPal account. Note that I did not use PayPal for the original booking. The refund finally arrived in my PayPal account minus a 5% fee!? Go figure! At least I got 95% of my original booking charge refunded

Recommended!

Great guide and comfortable vehicle. We were lucky to have a nice day with few visitors to either location. We had plenty of time for a relaxing lunch in a little town.

TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE

DON’T BOOK THIS TOUR. First, the tour company failed to send me my ticket, so I didn’t have complete information about the departure, so I arrived just a few minutes after the scheduled time (due to traffic) and the bus left without me! I was only 4 minutes late and as I was turning the corner in the Uber I saw the bus depart. This means the tour guide did not even wait 3 minutes for me! The worst part is, when I called the tour company the French woman on the phone was extremely rude and unapologetic. She told me that everyone was advised to get to the departure point 30 minutes early — however, I never received that information because the tour company never sent the ticket! I should receive a full refund. DON’T go on tours with Paris CityVision. They are rude and unprofessional. I recommend Blue Fox Travel. The customer service and care is so much better.

A very disappointing experience.

Both chateaux were lovely and well worth a visit. However, this experience did not qualify as a "tour." Basically, after subtracting the cost of the tickets, you are paying about $70 for a bus ride. No representative of the company accompanied us. The bus driver was completely silent the entire trip--not so much as a hello or au revoir. He made no indication when we had arrived, not even opening the door until we figured out for ourselves that we were there. We had to ask him when we needed to be back and the passengers had to agree among ourselves to take a head count to make sure no one was left behind. To top it off, the driver took us to the wrong chateau first, and then we just sat there for 10 minutes--while he made no explanation -- and then headed off to the right destination, losing about 30 minutes of touring time at the chateau. And, by the way, if you have purchased a museum pass, Fontainbleu is included. This tour was over-promised and over-priced. I do not recommend it.

Not what I expected

The very nice lady, who met us at the meet point, wished us a nice day and disappeared. We were left with the bus driver, who seemed clueless and often lost.

Meeting time

Driver should use an appropriate method of counting passengers. Water should also be provided on the bus

Recommended Day Trip to See Famous Palaces!

We reserved "Fontainebleau & Vaux le Vicomte Day Trip from Paris" weeks ahead of time. We had a great day with Dominique as our tour guide and Maxine as our driver. The entire day went smoothly and there was exactly enough time to see everything and stay on schedule. First we went to Vaux le Vicomte, which had many beautifully decorated rooms, the servant's quarters, and a unique audio guide with dramatization of events in the owner's life. We had lunch there, which was a simple and good buffet style, then the afternoon was spent at Fontainebleau. We got the basic tour which had a bit of explanation during the ride, in both English and Spanish. Others paid for extra narration and they were provided with earphones and a tour around the grounds too, I think. Would most definitely recommend this tour to see in comfort and convenience, the dozens of lavishly decorated rooms of the chateaus of the royalty in France!

France Chateaux Excursions

This excursion was well conducted and well worth the time and cost. A great experience! Tour conductor was very knowledgeable. We highly recommend it!