Paris Guide
Around Paris
The outskirts of Paris have been swallowed up by the capital's expansion, but, despite a bland proliferation of industrial buildings and modern flats, many towns, especially to the south and west, retain their identities and links with the past. Royal or noble châteaux dedicated to hunting and other leisured pursuits once studded the region, and it's surprisingly easy to escape the city on a day-trip to take a stroll in the gardens, parks and forests that surround them. The most renowned château by far, on the very edge of the Paris conurbation, is Versailles , an overwhelming monument to the reigns of Louis XIV, who built it, and Louis XVI, whose furniture now fills it. The much more modest Malmaison preserves the exquisite Empire furnishings of Napoleon's wife, Josephine. Artists have also traditionally sought an escape in the countryside around Paris; Meudon, for example, was Rodin's final home and resting place. Quite the reverse of a bucolic retreat is La Défense, Paris's gleaming modern business district, graced with the stunning Grande Arche.
The northern and eastern suburbs have more than their fair share of cités (high-rise housing estates), but are punctuated by distractions. At St-Denis, the impressive Gothic basilica was the wellspring of the Gothic style, and the burial place of almost all the French kings; these days, it stands proudly at the centre of a fascinating multi-ethnic suburb. Whether the various suburban museums deserve your attention will depend on your degree of interest in the subjects they represent: air and space travel at Le Bourget; contemporary art in Vitry-sur-Seine's Mac/Val; and the authoritative collection of china at Sèvres.