Inside the walls
What to see at the Château de Vincennes
The keep and the chapel are the two reasons to come — here's what's actually in each.
Open the Viator listing ↗The donjon first
Start with the keep while your legs are fresh. Its spiral stairs climb from the ground floor with its wells to the council chamber, then Charles V's own bedroom with its gilded fleurs-de-lis, and on past plainer floors where graffiti left by later prisoners still marks the walls.
The Sainte-Chapelle
Cross to the chapel next. Its west front carries a rose window framed by three stacked gabled arches, and inside, the surviving stained glass around the apse, illustrating the Apocalypse, still colours the choir on a bright day. It rewards slower, quieter looking than the keep does; note that it closes briefly around midday.
The walls and the moat
Vincennes keeps much of its medieval enclosure: a deep moat you can walk alongside, and the Tour du Village, the one tower of the outer wall that keeps its full height. Walking the perimeter gives a better sense of the castle's scale than the two interiors alone.
The Bois de Vincennes next door
Step back out through the gate and the Bois de Vincennes, the largest public park in Paris, with lakes, paths and open lawns, starts almost immediately. It's free and turns a castle visit into a longer outing without any extra travel.