France
La Roche Guyon
La Roche-Guyon: A Cliffside Château and Its Kitchen Garden on the Seine
- Port traffic
- QuietNext 30 days
Good to know
Where Ships Stop
River ships stop at La Roche-Guyon on the Seine in the Val-d'Oise, about 58 km from Paris and 9 km from Giverny; your cruise line will tell you where your ship moors. The village is small, the château rises from the riverbank up the cliff, and its kitchen garden lies between the main street and the river.
- The village is inside the Vexin regional nature park and belongs to the Les Plus Beaux Villages de France association.
- It had about 400 inhabitants in 2023.
- There is no bridge here: the last one, to Moisson on the far bank, was blown up in 1940 and never replaced.
- The château is open every day from early April to early November. Hours change with the season, so check before you go.
La Roche-Guyon on Your Own
Everything in La Roche-Guyon is a short walk apart: the château against the cliff, the keep above it and the kitchen garden by the river. Give the château most of your time, and leave room for the casemates fitted out for Rommel in 1944.
- The château: The visit climbs from the riverbank up the cliff. Some rooms are cut into the chalk itself, and the tour takes in a library, a small theater and the stables added in the 18th century. The Esther tapestries returned to the Grand Salon in 2001.
- The keep: The almond-shaped 12th-century keep stands on the plateau above. Its only access is an underground stairway of 250 steps cut into the hillside around 1190.
- The kitchen garden: The walled garden of three hectares is laid out in four squares, divided by paths into 32 triangular beds, with a watering basin at the center of each square. It reopened in 2004 after more than a century of neglect.
- Rommel's casemates: The casemates fitted out for Field Marshal Rommel's headquarters in 1944 are part of the château visit.
- Getting back on time: All-aboard is usually about 30 minutes before sailing, and your ship posts the exact time. A ship will not wait for passengers touring on their own.
Tipping in France
French law requires the cost of service to be built into restaurant prices, so a tip is not expected. If you want to thank a waiter, most French people simply round the bill up to the next multiple of five euros.
- Keep a tip for service that was out of the ordinary.
Culture and Local Life
La Roche-Guyon's cultural life revolves around its château, which hosts exhibitions and seasonal events, and around the kitchen garden, now run along ecological lines. In the 18th century the château's salons drew some of the leading thinkers of the French Enlightenment.
- The château hosts events through the season, among them a flower festival and a wine fair.
- In the 18th century the Duchess of Enville's salon drew thinkers such as Turgot, Condorcet and the English writer Arthur Young.
- Since 2008 the kitchen garden has been managed to join heritage and ecology, as a place for growing a wide range of produce and for teaching about biodiversity.
- The château is the setting for the medieval part of The Time Trap, a Blake and Mortimer comic by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs.
History
The château began as a 12th-century fortress guarding a Seine crossing on a route to Normandy and grew into a ducal residence under the La Rochefoucauld family. The 20th century brought a record-breaking bridge, its destruction in 1940 and Rommel's headquarters in 1944.
- A cliff fortress: The present castle dates from the 12th century and was dug into the cliff. Abbot Suger described it as a grim stronghold hollowed out of the rock, with only a few small openings.
- River tolls: King Philip Augustus stayed at the castle in 1185 and rewarded its lord, Guy de La Roche, with the right to charge tolls on boats using the Seine.
- Agincourt and a siege: A later Guy de La Roche, from the same family, was killed at the Battle of Agincourt. In 1419, after a siege of six months, his widow left the castle rather than accept Henry V of England as her overlord.
- The La Rochefoucauld family: The estate passed to the La Rochefoucauld family by marriage in the 1600s. They greatly extended the château in the 18th century, and the kitchen garden, first laid out in the 17th century, was redesigned around 1741.
- The Enlightenment: After his reforms failed in 1776, Louis XVI's minister Turgot withdrew here for a time as the duchess's guest.
- A record bridge: A suspension bridge crossed the Seine from 1840 to 1914. Its concrete successor, opened in 1935, had an arch span of 160 meters, a record for its type at the time. French army engineers blew it up on June 9, 1940, and the blast shattered windows across the village.
- Rommel's headquarters: In 1944 the château was the headquarters of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, and casemates were fitted out in the cliff for him.
- A capital that never was: Around 1960 French planners floated the idea of building a new administrative capital near La Roche-Guyon, and architects entered a design competition for it.
- To learn more ashore: Visit the Château de La Roche-Guyon, where the keep, the salons and Rommel's casemates are all part of the tour.
La Roche-Guyon with Children
La Roche-Guyon works well with children because everything is close together and much of it is outdoors. Match the stops to their ages and energy.
- Younger children: Walk the paths of the kitchen garden by the river, with its pattern of triangular beds and a watering basin in the middle of each square.
- School age: Climb the 250-step stairway cut through the rock up to the keep, and look for the rooms dug straight into the cliff.
- Teenagers: Visit the casemates fitted out for Rommel in 1944, then look up the Blake and Mortimer story The Time Trap, which uses the château as a setting.
Port crowds
Next 30 days
Traveler photos
Photos from travelers
Reviews
Traveler reviews
Be the first to share your experience.
Suggest an edit
See something missing or incorrect?