Rejuvenation guaranteed in the heart of one of the most beautiful forests in France!
One of the largest forests in FranceThe national forest de Compiègne is the third largest in France by size (14 hectares, the surface area of Paris, it is said). It was the favorite hunting ground of the kings of France! Since the Middle Ages, it has been designed for hunting with straight roads (357 km today) and star-shaped crossroads where white signposts stand, a particularity of this forest.
Mainly made up of oaks and beeches, with a rich fauna of no less than 6 species and a large population of deer, roe deer and wild boars, your walk can take you to remarkable sites such as the Beaux-Monts biological reserve or the ponds. Saint Pierre.
Why not organize a circuit “to discover the remarkable trees of the forest”, the most emblematic of which is the Saint-Jean oak, 800 years old? On foot with 300 kilometers of trails, or by bike with 130 kilometers of cycle paths, nature is yours!
The Alley of the Beaux-Monts
FROM THE FOREST TO THE CHÂTEAU DE COMPIÈGNEOne day in 1810, when Empress Marie-Louise, second wife of Napoleon I, approached one of the windows of her apartments, she was stunned. While the previous evening trees still lined the horizon, a splendid opening extends the park into the heart of the forest.
The legend of the Beaux-Monts was born. Out of love, her husband, Napoleon I, created a huge alley in the middle of the woods in the perspective of the castle. It is said that he did it in one night, when in reality a curtain of trees hidden from view the work of realization.
Delicate attention, it is a question of reminding the young wife of the Emperor of his Schönbrunn palace, with whom the latter, against all expectations, finally fell in love. The prospect, some sixty meters wide and a little over 4 km long, was not in fact finally completed until 1823. Long after Napoleon I and Marie-Louise had deserted the castle forever de Compiègne.
Today, the site is primarily a paradise for walkers and nature lovers.
