Chantilly is famous for three things: cream, lace (think the perfume) and horses. The town—about an hour from Paris on the train—is home to one of the Ile de France’s most underrated Chateaux, as well as arguably the most fantastic stables in all of Europe—the Grandes Ecuries.

Built by the seventh Prince of Condé, Louis-Henri de Bourbon, in the eighteenth century, the fantastic neo-classical stable was once home to 240 horses and 500 hounds, a brood even more extraordinary than the king’s.

The stables are open daily (except for Tuesdays), offering a “dressage” in the Ecuries’ towering theater that features the lavishly groomed and well-behaved ponies, who reside in the once royal stables and strut their stuff to dramatic tunes. The prestigious Prix de Diane is raced along the imposing walls of the Grandes Ecuries. Every June since 1843, the well-heeled and extravagantly-hatted of Paris venture to Chantilly to cheer on their favorite fillies.