Circular walks in Maisons-Laffitte and the Saint-Germain Forest

Start from Maisons-Laffitte station (RER A).

(S/E) Take the town centre exit, leave the town hall on your left and carry on straight ahead along Avenue de Longueuil. At the junction, carry on straight ahead, passing through the gates marking the entrance to the park.

(1) When you reach Place du Château, turn right onto Avenue du Général Leclerc. Carry on straight ahead until you reach the entrance to the château.

(2) Then turn left onto Avenue Carnot. Carry on straight ahead, continuing along Avenue Édouard VII and passing the Anglican church (temple) on your right. At the end of the avenue, turn left onto Avenue Belleforière. Then take the first right, into Avenue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and head up to Place Wagram.

(3) Take the first right onto Avenue Gretry and carry on straight ahead. You’ll come out onto Avenue Béranger; follow it to the left and cross Place Sully (birthplace of Jean Cocteau). Carry on straight ahead until you reach Place Charlemagne.

(4) Take the third right onto Avenue Charlemagne, heading towards the racecourse. At the end, turn left onto Avenue Molière and walk alongside a car park.

(6) Take the second left onto Avenue Picard and walk past the statue of a racehorse. This will take you back to Place Charlemagne.

(4) Then take the fifth right onto Avenue Marivaux. At the end, turn right onto Avenue Eglé and you’ll immediately arrive at Place Colbert (with the church opposite).

(7) Take the second left onto Avenue Marengo. Carry straight on until you reach Place Napoléon, in the centre of which stands a statue of the emperor.

(8) Take the third left onto Avenue de la Moskova. Walk past the sports grounds and you’ll come to a roundabout.

(9) Take the second right onto Avenue Montebello. Cross Avenue du Général Foy, Avenue Catinat and Avenue Mirabeau in turn.

(10) At the next junction, turn slightly left onto Avenue du Cardinal de Retz. Take the second left, Avenue Lafayette, and you’ll immediately come to another junction (with a sculpture of a horse in a hundred-year-old oak tree).

(11) Turn sharply right onto Avenue Voltaire. Return to Avenue du Cardinal de Retz and follow it to the left. You will immediately cross Avenue Poniatowski and, at the next junction, turn right onto Avenue Pascal. Continue straight on until you reach the Porte du Nord.

(12) Go through the gate and continue in the same direction. Carry on along Route forestière du Pavillon, keeping a military site on your right.

(13) At the corner of the military base, turn right. After about 50 metres, turn left onto a footpath. At the first junction, turn right.

(14) Cross a wide forest track and continue along the path opposite. At the T-junction, turn right. Keep going straight on (north-west), cross several perpendicular paths and reach a star-shaped junction.

(15) Carry on straight ahead along a bridle path.

(16) At the next junction, take the second left onto Route du Corra. Carry on straight ahead, pass the Étoile Sainte-Honorine and arrive at a junction at the eastern end of the Étang du Corra.

(17) Turn right and start walking round the lake anti-clockwise. Stay as close to the lake as possible and ignore all the paths branching off to the right. You’ll come to a shelter at the western end of the lake, near a car park.

(18) Walk past the shelter, leaving the car park on your right, and continue south-east along a path. At a T-junction, turn left and you’ll soon reach the Étoile des Pendants de Conflans.

(19) Roughly opposite, take the third path on the right (south-east). Carry on straight ahead until you reach the next junction, the Étoile du Renard.

(20) Take the second path on the left. After about 150 m, turn right onto the Route du Bout du Monde. Carry straight on until you reach the next junction, the Étoile de la Garenne.

(21) Then take the third path on the right and continue to the Pavillon de la Muette.

(22) Go round the pavilion on the left and take the third exit, the Route des Pavillons. Soon, this path runs alongside the Route forestière des Pavillons, on your right.

(23) At the Étoile des Pétrons (car park), carry on along a tarmac road.

(13) At a junction you passed earlier, carry straight on in the opposite direction to your outward journey.

(12) Pass through the Porte Nord again and immediately turn right onto Avenue Bourdaloue (Caves du Nord on the right). At the next junction, turn right and you’ll immediately come to another junction.

(24) Turn left onto Avenue Albine. Carry on straight ahead until you reach Place Marine.

(25) Cross the square and carry on straight ahead towards the Château de Maisons-Laffitte, which you saw at the start of the walk.

(1) Turn right onto Avenue Eglé. At the junction (traffic lights), carry straight on until you reach Maisons-Laffitte station (S/E).

This route presents no particular difficulties: the paths are signposted with varying colours, but at least the signs are there.

Near the car park at the Corra pond, there is a shelter which can be used for a picnic in case of rain.

Public toilets near the station, behind the cultural centre (though they are often closed). There are plenty of cafés near the station.

• Avenue Longueuil: the main thoroughfare of Maisons-Laffitte, Avenue Longueuil pays tribute to the patron of the Château de Maisons, René de Longueuil.
• Château de Maisons-Laffitte: built by Mansart, it is a perfect example of 18th-century classical architecture
• Jean Cocteau’s House: Jean Cocteau’s birthplace, which belonged to his grandfather, and where the artist cherished wonderful memories of his childhood.
• Racecourse: the tradition of horse racing was introduced to the town by the Count of Artois, who used to race his horses along the Seine where the racecourse stands today.
• Stables: the property of Franck Jay Gould, a wealthy American with a passion for horse racing, who settled in Maisons-Laffitte in 1910.
• Statue of Napoleon: on the square of the same name. The focal point of Maisons-Laffitte Park, from which avenues radiate; the park was designed as a memorial to the glory of Napoleon, as evidenced by the names of the avenues.
• Sculpture of a horse carved from a centuries-old oak tree: Storm Ciaran in November 2023 felled the oldest oak tree in Maisons-Laffitte Park. In its memory, the park’s association commissioned a Breton artist, Christophe Donnard, to carve these sculptures from the wood.
• Étang du Corra: this is a protected natural area designated as a ZNIEFF (natural area of ecological, faunistic and floristic interest).
• Pavillon de la Muette: a former hunting lodge built by the architect Ange-Jacques Gabriel for King Louis XV between 1764 and 1775 on the ruins of the castle of the same name, which had been built for King François I in the 16th century.
• Porte du Nord: a monumental gate that guarded the entrance to Maisons-Laffitte from the Forest of Saint-Germain
• Les Caves du Nord: the remains of the King’s Gate, the passageway between the royal estate of the Forest of Saint-Germain and the park of Maisons-Laffitte.
• Place Marine on Avenue Albine: one of the park’s iconic squares, from which 15 avenues radiate, including Avenue Albine: the first thoroughfare laid out by Mansart to link the château to the Forest of Saint-Germain.