Montfort-l'Amaury-Les Étangs de Hollande loop

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An easy and very pleasant circuit in the Rambouillet forest, passing by the Étangs de Hollande.

Details

n°76510
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  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 15.54 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 4h 40 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Moderate
  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 89 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 89 m
  • ▲
    Highest point: 185 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 132 m
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Photos

Etang de Hollande
Etang de Hollande
Crossroads between maison forestière and route de Montfort
Route Forestière du Parc d'en haut

Description of the walk

Start opposite the church in Montfort l'Amaury.

(S/E) Turn left onto Rue de Sancé, which joins theGR®1. Follow theGR® for about 2.5 km. After entering the forest, you will walk along the Étang de la Plaine.

(1) Then, after the Brûlins crossroads, descend slightly towards the Porte Baudet or Maurus crossroads

(2) before climbing back up to Route Belsedene and joining the Carrefour des Maurus.

(3) Leave theGR® and take the paved cycle path on the left that connects Montfort to Rambouillet. Follow it to the large Comte de Toulouse crossroads.

(4) Cross the crossroads and continue straight ahead on the Route du Chêne Montavale, which you will follow to the Étangs de Hollande, noting the Table du Roi halfway along.

(5) Cross the ponds, which offer a lovely view, and continue straight ahead (the road is a bit bumpy due to horses and a riding centre on the left) until you reachthe third road on the right (Route des Bergeries).

(6) Follow it for about a kilometre until you rejoin the Montfort-Rambouillet cycle path.

(7) Turn right onto the cycle path and follow it.

(8) Cross the Route aux Vaches and stay on the cycle path until you reach the large Carrefour du Poteau de Hollande.

(9) Turn left onto the Route des Deux Châteaux and follow it to the end where it joins the D138.

(10) Turn right onto this road and follow it for about 50 m, then turn right onto thefirst forest road (Le Parc d'en Haut) until you reach a forest house.

(11) Leave the road and take a small path on the left opposite the gate. This is the Route de Montfort. Continue straight ahead in this direction until you reach the starting point of the hike (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 143 m - Church of Montfort l'Amaury
  2. 1 : km 1.39 - alt. 172 m - Étang de la Plaine
  3. 2 : km 2.36 - alt. 161 m - Étang des Maurus - Guyonne (rivière)
  4. 3 : km 3.15 - alt. 180 m - Carrefour des Maurus
  5. 4 : km 4.08 - alt. 184 m - Carrefour du Comte de Toulouse
  6. 5 : km 6.13 - alt. 174 m - Bourgneuf crossroads
  7. 6 : km 7.18 - alt. 179 m - Route des Bergeries
  8. 7 : km 8.37 - alt. 176 m - Fork
  9. 8 : km 9.25 - alt. 171 m - Cross Route aux Vaches
  10. 9 : km 9.8 - alt. 183 m - Carrefour du Poteau de Hollande
  11. 10 : km 11.85 - alt. 181 m - D138
  12. 11 : km 12.23 - alt. 182 m - Forest house
  13. S/E : km 15.54 - alt. 143 m - Church of Montfort l'Amaury

Always be cautious and plan ahead when you're outdoors. Visorando and the author of this route cannot be held responsible for any accidents occurring on this route.

The GR® and PR® markings are the intellectual property of the Fédération Française de Randonnée Pédestre.

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Reviews and comments

4.5 / 5
Based on 64 reviews
Reliability of the description
4.7 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.7 / 5
Route interest
4.2 / 5
Randonneur56
Randonneur56

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 09, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

The location of this hike is interesting for more than one reason. However, the route would benefit from starting at the large car park at the bottom of the hill, reducing the long straight stretches and passing by the castle ruins towards the end before descending into town and then to the car park.

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User 28617714

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Mar 01, 2026
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

A pleasant hike for beginners, but some sections are too straight, making it monotonous.

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Saint Michel
Saint Michel

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Dec 08, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A pleasant, easy hike with a beautiful succession of forests and horse pastures.

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Joelle Provasi
Joelle Provasi

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 13, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A beautiful route through the Rambouillet forest with a picnic halfway along the route by the sunny Hollande ponds.

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krando94
krando94

Overall rating : 4.5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 02, 2023
Reliability of the description : Not used / Not applicable
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A great ride, the Rambouillet forest is very nice, and the various ponds are top notch. On the other hand, I suspect that the author of this walk likes asphalt and straight paths: lots of tarmac, and long straight lines that are a bit monotonous at times (a bit too much for me), even though it's still a forest path (on the other hand, I don't have the impression that it's specifically cycle paths, as indicated in other comments: I've come across more walkers than cyclists myself).

There's also a very small section of the D138, which is quite busy and where cars drive very fast, and along which you have to walk on the grass.

Montfort l'Amaury is a very pretty town, and the church of Saint-Pierre de Montfort-l'Amaury is well worth a visit.

I advise you to park in the Parking du Palais in Montfort-l'Amaury, as parking in the church square is virtually impossible.

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cotef2002
cotef2002

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jan 15, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Beautiful walk in the middle of the woods
Little frequented, calm ++.
A great time

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ngueriot
ngueriot

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 26, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

Lovely forest walk! With ponds to boot! I really recommend it!

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mopara
mopara

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Nov 14, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Very pleasant with the addition of the Montfort heritage trail. Autumn colours guaranteed despite cloudy weather.

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Cachdi
Cachdi

Overall rating : 4.5 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 10, 2021
Reliability of the description : Not used / Not applicable
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A very pleasant walk in the forest, not very busy and accessible to all. We did it in October and there were some very muddy sections. Make sure you bring suitable footwear.

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Sesenta
Sesenta

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 22, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Thanks to the advice of previous hikers, we made a return trip from Montfort to Etangs de Hollande to avoid the monotony of tarmac.
This was a lovely forest walk, with no difficulties, except at the star of the king's table, where we neglected the narrow path in favour of a wider one to the right, which led us onto the road.
We recommend visiting Montfort, which is a pretty commune, in particular climbing up to Anne de Bretagne's tower (before hiking!), which offers a beautiful panorama of the surrounding countryside, or visiting the interior of the church with its splendid stained glass windows.

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mdre
mdre

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 23, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★☆☆ Average
Ease of following the route : ★★★☆☆ Average
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : Yes

The route is completely bogged down in the forest section with all the fallen debris....
Make sure you have good shoes and clothes that won't hurt!

This increases the difficulty a little but it's quite fun. The description is brief and I had to check my route several times with the GPS.

The tarmac part of the route is very nice despite everything, but what's more annoying are the cars that come and go to park but, on a Sunday, even a grey one, that's a bit normal, isn't it?

Of course, Monfort is a lovely village to visit, but it's such a long way from the capital!

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Malo_Marion
Malo_Marion

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : May 01, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

Very well described route. Varied landscapes of forest and crossing the ponds of Holland. The first half is much more interesting, whereas the long straight stretches on the return are a little monotonous, and on tarmac (a cycle path).

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evelynebor
evelynebor
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 26, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

Pleasant walk. Some parts were muddy, but it was manageable. Do it again in the spring to enjoy the vegetation.

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Vasi
Vasi

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 14, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

The forest was superb under the few centimetres of snow, which masked the tarmac on some of the paths. The route was easy to follow as there were many clearly marked forest paths. Coffee break at the King's Table crossroads.

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A PIED A VELO OU A CHEVAL
A PIED A VELO OU A CHEVAL

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Feb 21, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

This pleasant forest walk also gave us the opportunity to discover Montfort l'Amaury, a small medieval town in the Yvelines region.
Montfort l'Amaury, a small medieval town in the Yvelines.

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