8 Beautiful Gardens in France You Have to See for Yourself
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Is there anywhere in the world more enchanting than a French garden? You can find famous ones all over the country, but here we rounded up eight of the most beautiful gardens in France to guide your travel plans or even just your travel daydreams.
From Paris to Versailles to the South of France, these gardens are sure to stun any visitor. Some are French formal gardens with their hedges and flowers in symmetrical patterns and long allées of trees lining the path, while others in the countryside are more relaxed and colorful. Verdant gardens worth a visit are located all over the world (there are so many public gardens and museum gardens, amongst other locales!), but there are arguably none quite like French gardens. What compares to a collection of exotic succulents overlooking the French Riviera or an artist’s emerald paradise? Now for that garden tour across France!
The Gardens of Château de Villandry in Villandry
Vivacious shades of red, pink, and emerald carefully sculpted into a sprawling maze greet visitors to Château de Villandry. Jean Le Breton, Minister of Finance for François I, began cultivating the oasis of Renaissance-style gardens in the 16th century in an effort to better connect the imposing castle to its nine surrounding hectares of land.
As ownership switched over the centuries, the gardens fell to disarray until Joachim Carvallo purchased the fallen chateau and poured time into restoring the greenery to its full Renaissance glory. Today, Château de Villandry’s property includes a bubbling water garden, an ornamental flower garden, and expansive kitchen garden.
Claude Monet's Garden in Giverny
In a letter about Giverny to dear friend and art critic Théodore Duret, painter Claude Monet simply put, “I am in raptures; Giverny is a splendid place for me.”
With its towering weeping willows, arbors of roses and wisteria, and ponds of water lilies, it’s clear why Monet spent his later years tending and painting the wondrous garden that surrounded his pink stucco cottage in the northern France village.
Open to the public to explore both in person and virtually, a trip to the home and gardens feels like you've walked into an Impressionist masterpiece.
The Hanging Gardens of Marqueyssac
Overlooking the southwestern France's Dordogne Valley on a rocky cliff, the Hanging Gardens of Marqueyssac contains over 150,00 boxwood trees meticulously laid and manicured to create mesmerizing patterns. The original plans for the garden at the 17th-century chateau have been attributed to a student of royal landscape architect André Le Nôtre. However, it’s believed that Julien de Cervel began developing the verdant labyrinth as we know it today after purchasing the property in the 1860s.
After much restoration and the addition of a cascading waterfall from the belvedere, the green space officially opened to the public in 1996 and has since been named one of the “Notable Gardens of France” by the Committee of Parks and Gardens of the French Ministry of Culture.
The Gardens of Eyrignac Manor in Salignac-Eyvigues
Hidden in the heart of the Périgord Noir region, the elaborate topiary garden at the Manor d'Eyrignac has been passion project for the Sermadiras family for nearly 500 years. The origin of the first gardens at the manse date back to the 18th century when Louis-Antoine Gabriel de la Calprenède began laying out plans for Italian-inspired formal gardens.
Over the years, yews, hornbeams, cypress, and countless other sculpted treasures were planted in a structured manner to complement the architectural lines of the manors and the woodland that surrounds the property.
The Gardens at Château de Vaux le Vicomte in Maincy
Nicolas Fouquet, the superintendent of finances of Louis XIV, called upon three of the country’s most renowned artisans to develop a château and garden the embodied French grandeur. Together, architect Louis Le Vau, landscape architect André le Nôtre, and painter-decorator Charles Le Brun worked to build the architectural jewel of the 17th century, marking the beginning of the “Louis XIV style” where structures and gardens were built on a visual axis.
In particular, the formal gardens feature symmetrical, strong lines with flowers and boxwoods laid out in arabesques. There are also a number of surprises throughout the property—including a Grand Canal hidden from the château’s view.
Parc de Bagatelle in Paris
Just outside the hustle and bustle of Paris lies a quaint château surrounded by breathtaking arbors and fields of roses, thriving orangeries and whimsical garden follies. Originally built as a hunting lodge for the Maréchal d'Estrées, Comte d'Artois looked to rebuild the structure as his personal getaway from life at court in 1775.
Queen Marie-Antoinette wagered against her brother-in-law that new château could not be built within three months. Ultimately, the Comte won the bet completing the house and its stunning gardens in a mere 63 days by employing nearly 800 people to work on the project.
The Gardens at the Palace of Versailles in Versailles
The lavish network of trimmed topiaries, storied fountains, beautiful sculptures and fragrant flower beds at the Palace of Versailles make up one of the most famous gardens in the world. King Louis XIV of France commissioned famous French landscape designer André Le Nôtre to renovate the gardens of Versailles in 1661 and became the crowning jewel of his reign. Every 100 years, the gardens needs to be replanted to maintain its youthful, flourishing appearance.
The Jardin Botanique d'Èze in Èze
Standing high above the French Riviera on the southern coast of France, the Jardin botanique d'Èze was established after World War II by the town’s mayor André Gianton and Jean Gastaud of the neighboring Jardin Exotique de Monaco. The astonishing collection of cacti and succulents spanning from Africa to the Americas was planted on the ruins of an old chateau with jaw-dropping views of the Mediterranean coast.
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