When Josephine, Napoleon's first wife, bought the place (without her new husband's approval and while he was in Egypt), the estate covered 148 acres. When she died (in 1814), she owned 1794 acres (but the land was then sold to create small properties again and nowadays the property covers only 16 acres, not even 10% of what it used to be). But there is still a lot to be seen!

Malmaison can be translated as "bad house" but that's only because of the bad reputation the area had centuries ago. There's nothing bad about this chateau (far better than a "house") where Napoleon and Josephine spent their early (and best) years as a couple. Inside we'll discover a lot of memorabilia about Josephine, her children (from a first marriage, both adopted by Napoleon) and Napoleon himself before he became emperor.

Malmaison is quite famous for the French but, like Vaux-le-Vicomte, it's not well known abroad. That's a shame but my little finger tells me that, after you have seen some of my pictures below, some of you will put it on their list for their next visit!

Malmaison is the perfect place to tell you ALL about Napoleon & Josephine and about the Bonaparte clan and its descendants. It can be visited in 4/5 hours round-trip. This tour can easily be combined with the palace of Versailles to make it a full day.