An underrated and happily less-swamped domain than the Loire, the blissfully scenic Château de Chantilly makes an ideal day trip from Paris. Explore the eclectic home of the Princes of Condé and later the Duc d’Aumale, before wading through Le Nôtre’s surrounding horticultural masterpiece.

Take lunch at the quaint Hameau, facing the exquisitely renovated thatch Hamlet (the inspiration for Marie Antoinette’s), to sample the restaurant’s home-made rillet. Don’t miss out on the crème Chantilly—the decadent substance was allegedly invented by the ill-fated François Vatel, maître d’hôtel at the Château de Chantilly in the 17th century.

Subjected to revolt and revolution across a swath of the millenia, the château itself bears a storied history. When the Duc d’Aumale inherited the ravaged castle in 1830, all that stood were the fractured arms of the once-imposing structure. Wildly ambitious and flush with funds, the Duc commissioned Honoré Daumet in 1875 to augment the 17th-century remains with a neo-gothic museum to house his fine collection of art. Works by Raphael, Titian, Poussin, Tiepolo as well as the extraordinary book of hours once owned by the Duc de Berry hang in the sumptuous salon-style picture galleries.