Chartres: Main Attractions

Begin your day at the UNESCO-listed Chartres Cathedral, where 176 medieval stained glass windows filter morning light across the vast nave. Step next door to the Museum of Fine Arts in the former Episcopal Palace, home to works by Zurbarán and Chardin alongside rare Renaissance enamels by Léonard Limosin. Continue downhill to the Collégiale Saint-André, a Romanesque church built over a Gallo-Roman amphitheater that now hosts contemporary art exhibitions, then visit the Renaissance-era Church of Saint-Aignan with its vivid polychrome murals and close-range stained glass. The Church of Saint-Pierre, founded on a 7th-century abbey site, holds exceptional 13th and 14th-century windows that rival the Cathedral's own collection. Unwind along the Eure River in the riverside park, where footbridges frame views of the Cathedral spires above medieval washhouses, before ending at the Maison Picassiette — a house covered in millions of ceramic fragments by a self-taught street sweeper. Avoid Mondays, when the museum and Maison Picassiette are closed; the Collégiale Saint-André is only open Wednesday to Sunday afternoons during exhibitions.