Every design for Saint-Germain-En-Laye

Saint-Germain-en-Laye stands on the edge of a limestone plateau some sixty metres above the Seine, at the top of a great loop of the river that its royal forest almost entirely fills. Thanks to that forest, it is the largest commune in the Yvelines, and the view from its heights stretches across much of western Paris.

The Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye explains why the town grew here. For centuries it was a regular residence of the kings of France, until Louis XIV left for Versailles; today the Musée d’archéologie nationale is one of the town's great draws. Next to it runs the Terrasse, the long promenade along the edge of the plateau, once served by a lift whose remains survive as the Ancien ascenseur de la terrasse de Saint-Germain. Around the town centre you find the Musée Claude Debussy, the Musée départemental Maurice Denis and the Château d'Hennemont on its hill to the south.

That château, with the forest behind it and the river below, is the reason to wear Saint-Germain: a royal town that still feels like a place to live.