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Castles · YvelinesWorth a visit
Château de Monte-Cristo
In 1844, at the height of his fame, Alexandre Dumas bought wooded land on a hillside at Le Port-Marly, in the Yvelines, and gave his architect these instructions: "Right here you will lay out an English park, in the middle of which I want a Renaissance house. For my study, a Gothic pavilion surrounded by water... There are springs; you will make waterfalls of them." So was born the Château de Monte-Cristo, an elegant residence with fully sculpted façades set in a vast English-style park with grottoes, waterfalls and rockeries. This magical place, born of the writer's fancy, is now a listed historic monument.
In our guidesDiscovering Yvelines: a practical guide
