A Baroque French Château from the 17th century, Vaux-le-Vicomte is privately owned, and was designed by Louis Le Vau, who also worked on the Palace of Versailles. Try to go between May and October, and on Saturday evenings when they light up 2,000 candles. You’ve seen this palace in a movie or two for sure! This is about an hour away from Paris.

Hopefully these places will inspire you to go outside Paris. Sometimes, when you get outside of the larger cities, you can get a more authentic feel of the nation. You can relax a little more, try the food, and even save a little money eating at, “hole in the wall” eateries and cafes.