Fountainebleau chateau

I'd say at least 1/2 a day but it is worth a full day.

Wow,we have a hot air balloon ride at 5:30 so we should probably get there fairly early in the morning then.
Thank you for your help!

I'd say a minimum of 1/2 day. We spent about 4-5 hours getting back and forth from Paris, touring the lovely chateau (less crowded than Versailles) and strolling through the gardens. I highly recommend this chateau and Chantilly as easy 1/2+ day trips from Paris.

We spent about 1/2 a day there then had a nice lunch just outside the chateau across from the bus stop that takes you back to the train station .

Spend as close to a full day if possible, especially if you want to see the Napoleon Exhibit and the gardens.

Catch the 08:30 - 08:45 train out of Gare de Lyon to Fontainebleau- Avon station, then Bus #1 to the Chateau, be there when it opens. If you have the Navigo Decourvente, the train & bus are covered by it & the Museum Pass covers the Chateau. There are direct trains back to Paris around 13:30 & 15:30. Enjoy

How late do the trains run back to Paris? We have a hot air balloon rides at Fontainebleau at 17:30.

Looking at the 5th of August it shows trains from Fontainebleau to Gare de Lyon leaving at:
15:31, 17:31 & 19:31 as Direct Trains, 40 minutes.

20:30 through Sens and ending at Bercy, roughly 2 hours

You can plug in your departure & arrival stations on the SNCF link & it will display the times: http://www.sncf.com/en/horaires-info-trafic/trajet/resultats

Fontainebleau has an odd wrinkle in that some of the trains to Paris are suburban services that are not shown on the main SNCF website, although they use the same tickets and are just as fast. You can check at www.transilien.com but they leave at around xx00 and xx30 on weekdays.

I'm sorry but I'm pretty green at all this but what does xx30 Mean?

xx00 , xx30 - on the hour and the half hour

Thank you all for the help.

Allow plenty of time to find the actual door/entrance to the chateau. We looked and even circled the chateau and finally had to ask how to get in after giving up on finding it ourselves.

Hi,

The bus to the chateau you catch just out side the train station at Fontainebleau. It stops in front of the tourist office, opposite from the chateau. If you walk the distance, it takes ca. 40 mins or so. There is also a Napoleon Museum (of Art and Military History) on rue Saint Honaire, a few blocks from the chateau, ca 30 mins walk. But due to your schedule that does not fit.

Thank you, that is helpful to know. Then hopefully it will also be easy to get from there to the site of our balloon ride.

Also, if you have carnet tickets for Paris transport, you can use them for the bus between Fontainebleau station and the town centre or chateau.