18th-Century Château · Marne Valley · 20km East of Paris
Château de Champs-sur-Marne & the Paris Museum Pass
The Marquise de Pompadour’s summer retreat — 900 pieces of furniture by the greatest 18th-century cabinetmakers, Chinese-inspired interiors, and 85 hectares of gardens descending to the Marne.
Last updated: February 2026 · Prices and details verified
Is the Château de Champs-sur-Marne included in the Paris Museum Pass?
Yes — the Paris Museum Pass covers full entry to the Château de Champs-sur-Marne, saving you €9 per person. No reservation required. The château closes between 12:15pm and 1:30pm daily — plan accordingly. Champs-sur-Marne is 30 minutes from central Paris by RER A.
Château de Champs-sur-Marne — Fast Facts
Address
31 Rue de Paris, 77420 Champs-sur-Marne
Nearest Metro
Noisiel (RER A, Chessy branch) — then Bus 220 to Mairie de Champs (RER A)
Bus
220 to Rue de Paris / Mairie de Champs
Opening hours
Monday, Wednesday–Sunday · October–May: 10am–12:15pm and 1:30pm–5pm · June–September: 10am–12:15pm and 1:30pm–6pm · Park open daily until 5:30pm (winter) or 6:30pm (summer) · Closed Tuesday, 1 January, 1 May, 11 November, 25 December
Closed
Tuesdays · 1 January, 1 May, 11 November, 25 December
Individual ticket
€9 (2026)
With Museum Pass
Free — included
What to Know Before You Visit
The Château de Champs-sur-Marne was built in 1699 for the royal treasurer Charles Renouard de la Touanne and has had an illustrious sequence of occupants — the Princess of Conti, the Duc de La Vallière, and most famously Madame de Pompadour, Louis XV’s powerful mistress, who used it as a summer residence from 1757 to 1759. Its literary guest list reads like a roll call of the French Enlightenment: Voltaire, Diderot, d’Alembert. In the 19th century, the banker Louis Cahen d’Anvers restored it in the spirit of the Ancien Régime — and invited Marcel Proust, Isadora Duncan, and King Alfonso XIII of Spain. The château became a presidential residence from 1959 to 1974, receiving de Gaulle’s guests.
No reservation required. No reservation required. Note that the château closes between 12:15pm and 1:30pm daily for lunch — plan to arrive before 12:15pm or after 1:30pm. Closed Tuesdays year-round. The 85-hectare park is free to visit and open until 5:30pm (winter) or 6:30pm (summer) — a pleasant place to wait during the lunch closure.
Note: The château served as a filming location for more than 80 historical productions including Stephen Frears’s Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette (2006) — the interiors are immediately recognisable. The park was designed by André Le Nôtre in the French formal style, descending in terraces to the Marne. It is considered one of the finest 18th-century gardens in the Île-de-France and is free to enter at all times.
Collection Highlights
Three centuries of French art de vivre concentrated in 18th-century rooms that have barely changed — the furniture collection alone is extraordinary.
Highlight 1
The state apartments
28 rooms furnished with 900 pieces of 18th-century furniture by the greatest cabinetmakers of the period: Boulle, Cressent, Riesener, Oeben — a complete survey of French decorative arts from Louis XIV to Napoleon
Highlight 2
The Chinese-inspired rooms
chinoiserie decoration commissioned by the Duc de La Vallière in the 1750s, with lacquered panels, Chinese silk wallcoverings, and furniture combining European forms with Far Eastern motifs, representing the height of mid-18th-century fashionable taste
Highlight 3
The Le Nôtre gardens
85 hectares of formal French garden descending in terraces to the Marne, with boxwood parterres, allées, fountains, and a vast English-style landscape park, considered one of the finest surviving examples of 18th-century garden design in the region
Visitor tip: Arrive at 10am and visit the château interior before the noon closure, then spend the lunch hour in the free park. The formal gardens are at their best in spring and early summer. The RER A from Châtelet takes about 30 minutes to Noisiel, then Bus 220 to the château — check timetables as buses can be infrequent.
Getting There
Take RER A eastbound on the Chessy/Marne-la-Vallée branch to Noisiel (approximately 30 minutes from Châtelet), then Bus 220 to the Mairie de Champs stop. Bus 220 is infrequent — check timetables in advance. By car, take the A4 motorway eastbound and exit at Noisiel — approximately 30 minutes from central Paris.
Ready to Visit Château de Champs-sur-Marne?
€9 entry included with the Museum Pass. Plus 50+ more venues across Paris.
Take RER A eastbound on the Chessy/Marne-la-Vallée branch to Noisiel station, then Bus 220 to the Mairie de Champs stop (the château is on Rue de Paris, a short walk away). Total journey time from central Paris is approximately 40 minutes. By car, take the A4 motorway eastbound and exit at Noisiel.
The Marquise de Pompadour — Louis XV’s most influential mistress and arguably the most powerful woman in 18th-century France — leased Champs-sur-Marne from 1757 to 1759 as a summer residence. She had the Chinese-inspired rooms redecorated to the height of fashionable taste and entertained the leading intellectuals of the Enlightenment here. Her taste and patronage shaped much of what we now consider quintessentially French 18th-century style.
Yes — extensively. The most famous productions filmed here include Stephen Frears’s Dangerous Liaisons (1988, with Glenn Close, John Malkovich, and Michelle Pfeiffer) and Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette (2006). The rococo interiors are an almost perfect 18th-century film set, and the château has appeared in over 80 historical productions.
