Fontainebl'hostel

The château, home to seven centuries’ worth of French rulers, is a must-see; Napoleon loved the place so much he stopped off for a hasty farewell as he fled into exile. This massive and ornate pile now houses four museums and galleries, as well as 1,500 rooms decked out with due royal extravagance: for a quick taste, drop in on Marie-Antoinette’s Ottoman-style boudoir. If that’s not the kind of dropping you fancy, head for the forest to scramble along its sandstone boulder tracks. There are paths if you (or your ankles) prefer an easier time of it, and all-weather biking trails taking you through this diverse ecosystem of oak forests, peat bogs, heaths and wooded ravines, roamed by herds of deer and the odd, wild boar. There’s history outside fancy Fontainebleau as well: Roman ruins at Sceaux-du-Gâtinais and the houses and favoured drinking dens of the French 19th-century landscape painters who named their movement after the handsome village of Barbizon (both half an hour’s drive). For a spot of gastro-tourism, make for villages like Milly-la-Forêt and Boutigny-sur-Essonne (15 and 25 minutes) to taste and buy the famed Gâtinais peppermint, watercress and honey. The latter ingredient goes into some fab local beers if you’re thirsty... There's so much to do here that the big city 18 miles to the north might not feature in your plans; if it does, the museums and galleries, boulevards and cathedrals of Paris are an hour away, easily doable for day trips.