Guédelon’s Path

Market circuit n°23.
In an hour walking, rendezvous in the 13th century, on a legendary path and meet the middle-age castles builders.

Details

38250
Creation:
Last update:
Last review:
  • Walking
    Activity: Walking
  • ↔
    Distance: 9.76 km
  • ◔
    Average duration: 3h 00 
  • ▲
    Difficulty: Easy

  • ⚐
    Back to start: Yes
  • ↗
    Ascent: + 82 m
  • ↘
    Descent: - 78 m

  • ▲
    Highest point: 297 m
  • ▼
    Lowest point: 227 m

Photos

Description of the walk

Departure from le Champ de Foire facing the northern entrance of the old graveyard.

(S/E) Cross la Rue (street) du Petit Pont and take the Chemin de la Déplaisance (at the very left), to North-West direction. On the way, leave a path going an the right. You’re arriving at Les Jolivots’ hamlet (cross on the right).

(1) Take the little road going to West (ignore the one going rightly right that serves some houses). Keep going until the end, walking along the château de Ratilly on your left (ability to turn around it).

(2) Keep going leaving all around you Les Martins’ hamlet, Le Bourg-sans-Paille’s hamlet and Les Pautrats’ hamlet.

(3) From the end of this road borded by funny trees called “tétards”, take the sandy path going North-West. Leave a first path crossed on your right (forest path) and keep going to the next crossing.

(4) Take the path on your right and go down leaving a walk on the right.

(5) Pass at the foot of les Neufs Pas. Keep going left to achieve on a large road (D955).

(6) _Cross cautiously_, go down on the right (the path goes along a wooden fencing) to join the middle-age castle Guédelon. At the end of your visit, retrace your path.

(5) Turn left (visually, almost straight). Cross the ford on the footbridge or even through the stream if the level of water allows it. Forget the path going left and rejoin the Château Colnot (a simple house on the right).

(7) Turn right, go in front of a small pond. At the fork, veer off right and arrive at a crosswalk of 5, whose a larger forest path.

(8) Take the second left path. Several side junctions are to be left. After a glade with a field on the right, a path is on the right.

(9) Take it and keep going to the first crosswalk. Turn right and at the second crosswalk, turn left. Then, keep walking straight to the wood’s exit. So rejoin the departure point (S/E).

Waypoints

  1. S/E : km 0 - alt. 235 m - Fairground. Close to the - La Vrille
  2. 1 : km 0.84 - alt. 251 m - Crossroads, on the right, a cross.
  3. 2 : km 1.34 - alt. 272 m - Château de Ratilly
  4. 3 : km 2.16 - alt. 286 m - Les Pautrats
  5. 4 : km 3.07 - alt. 284 m - Crossroads
  6. 5 : km 4.46 - alt. 263 m - Common point Return journey - Les Neufs Pas
  7. 6 : km 4.58 - alt. 260 m - D955 road - Chantier médiéval de Guédelon
  8. 7 : km 6.06 - alt. 279 m - Arrival on a small tarmac road
  9. 8 : km 6.98 - alt. 274 m - Crossroads of 5 roads
  10. 9 : km 8.06 - alt. 263 m - Crossing T-paths
  11. S/E : km 9.76 - alt. 235 m - Champ de foire (campervan site)

Notes

The path a bit muddy at the end when it has recently rained. Possibility to eat in Guédelon. Lovely circuit to do with children.
This circuit is offered by the Tourist Center of Puisaye-Forterre.
It is reported and marked by a yellow line (PR®) and is n°23. If you have encountered a difficulty (obstacle, lack of marks, lack of upkeeping…) thank you to tell us here.
Accommodations (B&B, gites and youth hostel) and restaurants in the village of Treigny.
Reserved camping-car park in the center of the village.

Worth a visit

Let yourself be counted by the legend of the nine steps.
(6) Don’t miss a complete visit of Guédelon, once your on-site.
More informations : Tourist Center of Puisaye-Forterre.

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.

Reviews and comments

4.6 / 5
Based on 17 reviews

Reliability of the description
4.8 / 5
Ease of following the route
4.6 / 5
Route interest
4.4 / 5
IsaBubu
IsaBubu

Overall rating : 3.3 / 5

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

As I was staying in Treigny, I went on this hike to visit Guédelon Castle.
Like other hikers, I would say that the first part of the route is interesting, that Ratilly Castle is well worth a look (it’s very easy to walk around it) and that the legend of the nine steps is worth a smile.
As for the return journey, that’s another story; the path was completely rutted by logging machinery, with deep, very wide ruts filled with stagnant, very black water, which we had to work our way around through the woods and brambles.
If I’d anticipated that, I would have come back the same way I went

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Feanturi
Feanturi

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 29, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

Very pleasant route. At the start of level 5, the path is a little chaotic due to timber skidding equipment. Still at level 5, there is a collapsed footbridge, but this is not a problem for the moment. The stream is dry. Otherwise, it is a relaxing and well-marked route entirely through the woods. Worth doing again
One last comment. At level 8, on the second path on the left, a yellow cross obscures the markings, which may confuse those who are not using a paper map or other form of guidance. You really have to step forward to see the markings.

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ERH
ERH

Overall rating : 3.7 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 28, 2025
Reliability of the description : ★★★★☆ Good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : No

I really enjoyed the first part. I didn't enjoy the second part so much, because at the time I did it, that part was very bogged down and impassable for several kilometres.

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Revelatta2B
Revelatta2B

Error in my review of our hike on 11/8/24. It was, of course, the Château de Ratilly!

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Revelatta2B
Revelatta2B
• Edited:

Overall rating : 4.3 / 5

Date of your route : Aug 11, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

The route is easy to follow except for one section on the way back from Guédelon, where the GPS shows a path to the right but nothing. You have to continue for about 150m to find the path. Then the GPX track takes you right back to the path.
We arrived near Guédelon before 10.30am and the crowds hadn't arrived yet. Just two cars parked in the undergrowth.
The path is very rough on the way back.
It's a shady path, which, by the way, allows you to get away from it all at the Château de Ratilly and can also be a way to visit Guédelon for the brave.

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POULIN Gérard
POULIN Gérard ★

Hello scalp92,
I'm sorry about this delay. Incivility is everywhere. The car park is saturated during the months of May, July and August. Improvements have been planned for years, but nothing is happening on the ground.
I hope you enjoy your walks in this area, which is full of beautiful spots.

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scalp92
scalp92

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : May 20, 2024
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A varied tour but marred by the presence of cars parked in the forest near Guédelon
When you go on a tour, you don't expect to come across a car park in the middle of nowhere; either Guédelon enlarges its car park, or access across the forest is forbidden.
However, this minor inconvenience didn't prevent us from enjoying the walk.

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jjnp
jjnp

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Oct 15, 2023
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : Yes

A very nice walk around Ratilly castle. It's a pity that part of the return path has been worn down by farm machinery and is much used by quad bikes and motocross bikes.

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Mpmaerten@
Mpmaerten@

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 22, 2022
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★☆ Good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good
Very busy route : No

A passage on the way back is impassable due to trees that fell during the last storm.

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chaautaux
chaautaux

Overall rating : 3 / 5

Date of your route : Jun 12, 2022
Reliability of the description : Not used / Not applicable
Ease of following the route : Not used / Not applicable
Route interest : ★★★☆☆ Average
Very busy route : Yes

Hello,
Although we're using the GPS route, we've noticed that this little circuit is very well signposted.
We chose it this Sunday for its many shady lines.
Puisaye is a very wet region and the soil is "greasy". The thunderstorms at the start of the week left large puddles in critical places, but as the path is quite busy, the deviations on the wood are very marked.
Many thanks to you all.

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POULIN Gérard
POULIN Gérard ★

Hello FGN and thank you for your compliments on the waymarking. It's true that Visorando doesn't ask for any assessment of the signposting, but in Puisaye-Forterre, a number of routes are signposted in this way and I hope, like you and many hikers, that this work will continue in the future.
I hope to see you soon in this region.

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FGN
FGN

Overall rating : 4.7 / 5

Date of your route : Sep 25, 2021
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★☆ Good
Very busy route : No

A pleasant route, often in woodland. I think that after rainy weather some areas are less passable, with deep ruts. Even though we're asked not to mention the signposting, it's perfect, with signposts at every junction. A perfect job has been done. I hope it will be maintained.

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Maya.B
Maya.B

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Jul 19, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

A lovely walk, very well signposted. Passes through some very pretty and quiet forest paths.
We really recommend it.
And of course we recommend a visit to the château at Guédelon; a site in its own right where you lose all sense of time. Far from any motorised vehicles and with little network, people enjoy each other's company. It's a great place to discover new things and to get to know other people!

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jmgaeng
jmgaeng

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : Apr 01, 2019
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

Very well signposted and pleasant tour. Guedelon is well worth a visit. This route can easily be combined with the "Water and Woods" route, as much of the section is shared.

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Jean-Baptiste PROTAIS
Jean-Baptiste PROTAIS

Overall rating : 5 / 5

Date of your route : May 05, 2018
Reliability of the description : ★★★★★ Very good
Ease of following the route : ★★★★★ Very good
Route interest : ★★★★★ Very good

What a pleasure it is to visit the Château de Guédelon halfway along the route and to get there on foot.
Getting there and back was no problem at all.
At the beginning of May, I didn't meet a single person on the route, but there were plenty of people at Guédelon, so it was great to have a picnic and visit.

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