What can you do in Fontainebleau when it rains?

Our cheat sheet to save the day.

In the collective imagination, Fontainebleau is a town of sunlight filtering through the oak trees, of cyclists on the D116 and of climbers stretched out in the Trois Pignons.

That’s very true.

Except for about 60 days a year.

The forest in the rain obviously has its charm. For three hundred metres. Beyond that, one begins to understand why the English spent two centuries perfecting the raincoat.

And the instinctive reaction at that moment is often to cancel the weekend. Which is a pity, because The town has everything you need.

This article is a quick reference guide. It is not an exhaustive list, nor is it a tourist guide: just a dozen places, listed not by category, but by desire.

Because at 2 pm on a rainy Saturday, we're not looking for a «cultural activity». We are looking to either unwind, or play, or give your hands a workout, or do nothing but watch a film.

Here's the list.

A chance to let off steam despite the rain

There are days when you just need to move. My body is crying out for it, the weather says no, and the idea of going home to slump in front of Netflix suddenly becomes unbearable.

Good news: Fontainebleau has everything it takes to turn a dreary Saturday into a decent day out.

Karma: the indoor gateway to the forest

If you were to name a single location, it would probably be Karma. Route Militaire, right on the edge of the forest, is the climbing centre set up by the FFME a stone's throw from the world's largest bouldering site. Not by chance.

The idea is crystal clear. When the Trois Pignons sandstone is soaked, you cross the road and you’ll find the same thing, indoors, with heating, and a café nearby. 430 m² of bouldering, a 12-metre difficulty wall, around a hundred problems for all levels and 80 routes ranging from 4a to 8c. It’s also a training venue for the French national bouldering team.

It is also, and that is more unexpected, a place where four-year-olds learn to climb in a baby area specially designed for them. These two worlds coexist without drama, and this is undoubtedly the venue’s greatest achievement.

If you don’t know how to insure something, that’s not a problem. A weekly taster session is held on Tuesday evening, at the price of a standard introductory session, with equipment included. In just one hour, you’ll have learnt the basics of top-roping from the next session.

CITÉSPORTS: the Olympic pool hidden in the CNSD

Five hundred metres from Karma, on the same road to the Archives, you will find a sports complex that many people in Bellifont are unaware of. CITÉSPORTS is located within the grounds of the National Defence Sports Centre.

It takes a bit of effort to get in. We parked in the rue des Archives and rang the pedestrian gate, you hand in a form of identification at reception. It’s not really the atmosphere at the local swimming pool on a Sunday.

But what lies beyond the gate is well worth a visit. A 50-metre Olympic pool, a cardio and weight-training area with over fifty machines, a dojo, a boxing hall, a climbing wall to complement Karma, an indoor athletics track, and even a sauna. The facility is run by Récréa, a private operator specialising in luxury aquatic facilities.

The first weight training session is free, the first water activity costs 5 euros. It’s designed to let you test before you think a 12-entry pass or a membership. It’s a good option for a rainy day unbeatable in terms of water volume and variety of activities.

Piscine de la Faisanderie: swimming in the middle of the forest

If you prefer a swimming pool more traditional, more family-friendly, with no need to leave your ID at reception, the La Faisanderie swimming pool is the second option. And not the least.

It is nestled within the Faisanderie sports complex on Route de l’Ermitage, on a one-hectare wooded site in the heart of the forest. This is rare enough to be worth mentioning: few towns can boast of having their municipal swimming pool surrounded by centuries-old oak trees.

Equipment, the sports pool is 25 metres long and has six lanes, the shallow pool is 90 cm deep and features a waterfall and a water cannon for children. There is also a saunaa hammam and a cardio area reserved for adults. In summer, the outdoor area opens up: lawns, sun loungers, a volleyball court, high wire acrobatic course.

Timetables are fragmented in freestyle, classes, clubs and activities. The daily schedule is on the pool website, and it's best to check before you leave Changes are frequent, and finding yourself in a club slot with two lines open to the public is less pleasant than expected.

Want to play, alone, in pairs or in a group?

There are the rain that tires you, and there's the one that just makes you roll your eyes in a «right, what are we going to do?» sort of way». The second is easier to turn into a good memory. Especially if you like games.

Bomb Squad: when escape games meet action games

In an annexe of La Prophétie des Horloges, at 10 avenue du Maréchal de Villars, Bomb Squad offers a rather unique kind of immersive experience. It isn’t not quite an escape game, it’s not not quite a laser game. It is a series of five challenges, to be completed in teams of two to six players, centred around a single mission: defuse a bomb in an hour.

The format is intelligent. You pass through five very different modules in succession. Lasers to dodge around a room, sound sequences to memorise, grid of illuminated tiles to activate without running into the reds, char 3D to be piloted by several people, screens to be coordinated. With each module, you change logic and muscle, which keeps the pace up and the game moving. avoids the «stuck puzzle» effect» narrative escape games.

That’s also why works well with mixed groups. Your in-laws, who’d never heard of escape games, your 12-year-old niece, your open-plan office colleague who thinks he’s Ethan Hunt: everyone finds a module in which they shine. No one is left waiting around for 45 minutes whilst the others work out the solution.

In practical terms, it’s open every day from 10am to midnight. Prices vary depending on the time of day and the number of players. Private hire for groups of up to 25 people is also available, with a rotation every 10 minutes and a cocktail option: a serious option for a birthday party or team building event in the rain.

Bulle de Jeux: the shop that knows how to advise

Rue de la Corne, two numbers (12-14), a discreet storefront and three square metres of silent bliss for fans of board games. Bulle de Jeux It is neither an escape room, nor a games café, nor a games library. It is a specialised shop, and that is precisely what makes it so valuable on a rainy day.

Because at 3 pm on a grey Saturday, you’ve got not necessarily in the mood for an organised activity lasting exactly an hour on the other side of town. You want to wander around, touch the boxes, read the backs of the boxes, and see what's on them. ask questions of someone who knows what they’re talking about. And that’s exactly what you’ll find here.

The range includes the classics, The latest releases, cooperative games, games for two, games for children aged three and over, trading cards and figurines. The seller advises, and advises well, which is by no means straightforward in a world where around twenty new titles are released every month.

And then there's the rebound effect. You go in to buy a Carcassonne for your nephew, you come out with a cooperative game for four, a booklet of scenarios for Sherlock Holmes Detective Advice and a booklet of scenarios for Sherlock Holmes. the urge to invite three friends next Sunday. The rain is already much less of a nuisance.

Want to put your hands to work?

It’s a feeling that often comes over me when it’s raining. We spent the week in front of a screen, the weekend was supposed to be in the forest, but the weather decided otherwise, and there's still this nagging idea: do something with your fingers. Not looking. Not listening. To do.

Good news: Fontainebleau is home to an ecosystem of workshops and courses for adults which has little to be envied by cities twice its size.

The FLC network: when a whole town learns new things

La Maison des Associations Salvador Allende home Fontainebleau Loisirs Culture, the famous FLC, which on its own over one hundred workshops and courses for adults: painting, calligraphy, photography, sewing, modelling, drama, writing, languages. An extensive catalogue, And you need ten minutes to explore the site before you realise just how much.

But if we had to point out a nugget, would be the refurbishment of armchairs hosted by Sonia Schryve. For seven years, Bellifontaine and Bellifontaine disembark with their own chairs under their arms. A toad found at Grandma’s, a Voltaire picked up at Emmaüs, sometimes an heirloom we no longer dared to touch. Sonia teaches them to stripping, strapping, foaming, covering. At the end of the cycle, you come home with a chair that you've redone. It’s rarely a workshop on a rainy day that changes your life. But this one comes quite close.

The FLC also programmes more one-off work placements in partnership with other local organisations. Which brings us to the next point.

Fontaineblow! the gallery that becomes a workshop

Sabine Petit founded Fontaineblow! in 2020, in a pretty courtyard paved with 93 rue Grande. First of all, a contemporary art gallery that champions street art and emerging artists. But it also takes place several times a year, a workshop open to the public, in partnership with the FLC.

Short courses stencilling, lettering and mixed media, designed for beginners and those who just want to give it a go. The format is clever: You might not come away with a masterpiece, but you’ll come away with a real understanding of the techniques, and often with a little piece of art that you get to keep. For a rainy Saturday, it’s unbeatable satisfaction/time invested ratio.

La Maison des Artisans d’Art: the former petrol station given a new lease of life

Open in September 2025, the House of Artisans of the Fontainebleau Region is undoubtedly the best recent urban redevelopment. A former service station from the 50s, a stone's throw from the Château, transformed into a showcase and collective workshop for around fifteen craftspeople of the region.

What you might come across whilst strolling around on a rainy Saturday: intaglio engraving, Lunéville lace, floral art, ceramics, gilding, stained glass. Several workshops offer discovery sessions, sometimes over the course of a day, sometimes over a cycle. The craftspeople are there in person, and this is probably the most direct way to understand what «arts and crafts» means in Fontainebleau, without going to the salon.

It’s also a place where you can just push open the door to look, ask, learn. If you want to to give someone a workshop as a present, this is the place to book. And if you want to treat yourself, all the better.

The PointCréa Workshop: a gathering place for hands that love fabric and thread

If your fingers itch on the side of the sewing, embroidery or scrapbooking, the PointCréa Workshop offers a regular range of themed courses and sessions. Less «fine art», more «manual technique», with a short format and a team that knows how to welcome beginners. For those setting off on a rainy Saturday with something useful in the bag, that’s exactly what’s needed.

Want to get your gourmet hands dirty?

There's a special case in the «working with your hands» category: when what you make with your hands ends up on a plate. At this point, it’s no longer just an activity, it’s a source of pride. And a snack.

The A Pâtisserie KG MasterClass: a glimpse inside a Michelin-starred kitchen

At 93 rue Grande, in the same cobbled courtyard as Fontaineblow!, Kévin Garcia installs the L’A Pâtisserie KG. Garcia is the starred chef of The Axel, the restaurant that's been stalling for years a Michelin star in Fontainebleau, and his patisserie is a sweet variation on the classic. of the same standard.

Several times a month, The lab is transformed into a masterclass room. You arrive in small group, you put on an apron, and while the two to three hours you make next to the chef a specific recipe. Chocolate tart, Paris-Brest, seasonal desserts. At the exit, you leave with your work in a box.

It isn’t not a pastry class «for curious beginners».» in a rented kitchen. It’s the other way round: a real lab, a real chef, real raw materials, A very limited number of places so that everyone can get their hands in the ganache. You have to pay for it, of course. But as a present, or on a rainy Saturday that you want to remember long after the weekend is over, it’s probably one of the best quality-souvenir ratios in Fontainebleau.

Cook’Odile: the home delivery option

For a format more intimate, more flexible, more focused on savoury everyday cooking, Cook’Odile offers lessons in Fontainebleau and the surrounding area. Either at the host’s home, at your own home, or in a small group of friends who pay for the session.

It’s not quite as spectacular as a masterclass in a Michelin-starred restaurant’s kitchen, but it’s a great option for anyone who wants to learn to cook for real, take a technique home and do it again the next day. A good format for a group of friends who, whilst watching the rain on a Saturday morning, decide to…, that they’re going to spend the afternoon cooking together rather than waiting for it to blow over.

Setting the pace

Finally, there is the option that is often overlooked when looking for «an activity»: do nothing. To be more precise, do nothing but watch a film. Or sit down with a cup of tea and a chocolate éclair. These are two of the oldest ways to spend a rainy Saturday, and they have lost none of their effectiveness.

CinéParadis: the independent cinema with a great programme

At 10 avenue du Maréchal de Villars, right next to Bomb Squadthe CinéParadis acts as a local cinema since 2014. Six rooms, a mixed programme of films for the general public and art et essai, an official arthouse classification, and the belief that’a city-centre cinema can do better than just make do with Marvel releases.

In concrete terms, what it looks like on a rainy Saturday: you find the blockbuster release of the moment AND the documentary that was recommended to you AND the French arthouse film you’d read a review of. Sometimes all three, one after the other, which opens up the delightful possibility of the «improvised double feature.

The rates are milder than those of Parisian chains, 4 or 7-seater cards pay for themselves quickly if you go there regularly, and Admission to sessions before midday is at a reduced rate A rainy morning becomes an economical option.

The French-style afternoon tea at the Hôtel & Spa Napoléon

And then there's the the simplest, the most tender, the most comforting : to sit somewhere out of the rain in the town centre, with a hot drink and something good on the table. For this desire, we have a calibrated recommendation.

Just a stone’s throw from the Château, the’Hôtel & Spa Napoléon Fontainebleau serves every day from 3pm to 5pm, which he calls his « French-style snack ». Home-made pastries, Viennese pastries and selected teas, served in the hotel bar. It’s peaceful, it’s opulent, it’s beautifully done. Let the rain fall: behind the windows of a well-heated 17th-century building, it loses much of its insistence.

It’s also the sort of place …which you don’t automatically think to look for when you’re a local, because we (wrongly) think that it is «for the hotel’s guests». The experiment is open to everyone, and the price of an afternoon tea is obviously not comparable to that of a room.

It might be the least imaginative option of this article. But ask anyone who has spent an hour sitting in the rain with someone opposite them: it’s also one of the best.

The tried-and-tested values we tend to forget

Before we wrap up, a final reminder. When you're looking for something to do on a rainy Saturday, you often go looking for the original idea, the new venue, the activity we’d never tried before. And we completely forget the three cultural behemoths that have been there, in front of our eyes, for as long as we can remember.

That’s a shame. Because…’a rainy Saturday is exactly the right time to go there.

Le Château

Le Château de Fontainebleau is open almost all year round. Bellifontains have an old tendency to consider him as a «for tourists», which is both fake and a bit lazy. The François I gallery, Napoleon's flats, the Trinité chapel richly deserve a visit every two or three years, and the rain is precisely the reason why taking a detour makes perfect sense.

The cloakroom is free during the visit, This elegantly solves the problem of wet coats. And if you arrive with half a day ahead of you, There's plenty of time to fill.

The Media Library

La Fontainebleau municipal multimedia library (rue Royale) and the Les Sources Vives multimedia library (in Avon) are two places which it would be wrong to reserve solely for students revising for exams. Comfortable, well heated, They have extensive collections of comics, novels, films and magazines, and also regularly offer free entertainment for adults and children : readings, film screenings, digital workshops, meetings with authors.

Access is free of charge., the registration fee for borrowing is ridiculously cheap, and no one will ask you what you're doing here.

The Municipal Theatre

Le Théâtre municipal de Fontainebleau, rue Dénecourt, offers a rich season of theatre, dance, classical music and shows for young audiences. The calendar can be viewed online, and a rainy Sunday afternoon often finds a matinee show which makes the end of the weekend that much sweeter.

In conclusion

This article twelve or thirteen entries depending on how you count it. You will have noticed that…’none of them involves taking a risk. That was the idea. Everything you’ll find here is in Fontainebleau, or a ten-minute walk from Fontainebleau-Avon. The forest begins at the end of every street, so there’s little point in looking any further afield.

The idea behind the article is that rain has long been the worst enemy of the Bellifont weekend. With a bit of organisation, it’s just become another variable like any other. You look at what you fancy, you look at the opening hours, you go. The forest, will be waiting for you.

And If you come across a gem we’ve missed, please do get in touch. We update it the next time.