Yvelines
Department of France in Île-de-France
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History
Yvelines was created from the western part of the former department of Seine-et-Oise on 1 January 1968 in accordance with a law passed on 10 January 1964 and a décret d'application (a decree specifying how a law should be enforced) from 26 February 1965. It inherited Seine-et-Oise's official number of 78 since it took up the largest portion of its territory. In addition to this, it inherited Seine-et-Oise's prefecture, Versailles.
Yvelines derives its name from the Forest of Yveline, next to Rambouillet.
It gained the communes of Châteaufort and Toussus-le-Noble from the adjacent department of Essonne in 1969.
The departmental capital, Versailles, which grew up around Louis XIV's château, was also the French capital for more than a century under the Ancien Régime and again between 1871 and 1879 during the early years of the Third Republic. Since then the château has continued to welcome the French Parliament when it is called upon to sit in a congressional sitting (with both houses sitting together) in order to enact constitutional changes or to listen to a formal declaration by the President.
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Geography
Situation
Yvelines is bordered by the departments of Val-d'Oise on the north, Hauts-de-Seine on the east, Essonne on the southeast, Eure-et-Loir on the southwest and Eure on the west.
The eastern part of the department, as well as its northern part along the Seine, is part of the Paris metropolitan area, but the rest of the department is rural, much of it covered by the Forest of Rambouillet (also known as the Forest of Yveline, from which the name of the department is derived).
Two regional parks can be found in Yvelines: Haute Vallée de Chevreuse Regional Natural Park and part of Vexin Français Park. Yvelines is home to one of France's best known golf courses, La Tuilerie-Bignon, in the village of Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche.
Principal towns
Besides Versailles (the prefecture and most populous commune) and the subprefectures of Mantes-la-Jolie, Rambouillet, and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, important cities include Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, Poissy, Les Mureaux, Houilles, Plaisir, Sartrouville, Chatou, Le Chesnay, and the new agglomeration community of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. As of 2023, there are 24 communes with more than 20,000 inhabitants. The 10 most populous communes are:
Demographics
In French, a man from the Yvelines is called Yvelinois (plural Yvelinois); a woman is Yvelinoise (plural Yvelinoises).
Population development since 1876
Population data refer to the department in its geography as of January 2025.
Place of birth of residents
Tourism
Palaces and châteaux
- Palace of Versailles
- Château de Breteuil
- Château du Haut-Buc
- Château de Dampierre
- Château de Jouy-en-Josas
- Château de Maisons
- Château de Rambouillet
- Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
- Château of Thoiry
- Château de Vaux-sur-Seine
- Château de Mauvières
- Château du Pont
- Château de Villette
- Château de Millemont
Museums
- Museum of National Antiques (Saint-Germain-en-Laye)
- Museum of River and Canal Craft (Conflans-Sainte-Honorine)
- Horse-drawn Coach Museum (Versailles)
- Toy Museum (Poissy)
- Sheep Museum (Rambouillet)
- Cloth Museum of Jouy (Jouy-en-Josas)
- National Barn Museum of Port-Royal (Magny-les-Hameaux)
- International Museum of Naive Art
- Musée Lambinet (Versailles)
- Musée de la Grenouillère (Croissy-sur-Seine)
- Musée Fournaise (Chatou)
Artists' and writers' houses
- Maurice Denis's house, the Musée départemental Maurice Denis (Saint-Germain-en-Laye)
- André Derain's house (Chambourcy)
- Alexandre Dumas père's Château de Monte-Cristo (Port-Marly)
- Maurice Ravel's house/museum (Montfort-l'Amaury)
- Jean-Claude Richard's family estate (Saint-Nom-la-Bretèche)
- Elsa Triolet-Aragon's house (Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines)
- Ivan Turgenev House (Bougival)
- Émile Zola's house (Médan)
Parks and gardens
- Chèvreloup Arboretum (Rocquencourt)
- Marly Estate (Marly-le-Roi)
- Vaux-sur-Seine Castle Garden (Vaux-sur-Seine)
- The King's Vegetable Garden (Versailles)
- Outdoor and entertainment base of Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (Trappes)
Politics
In both local and national elections, the department generally supports centre-right political candidates. The president of the Departmental Council of Yvelines is Pierre Bédier of The Republicans (LR), first elected in 2014.
Michel Rocard, who served as Prime Minister of France from 1988 to 1991 under President François Mitterrand, was a deputy for the department for the Socialist Party. As of 2026 both the President of the National Assembly (Yaël Braun-Pivet) and President of the Senate (Gérard Larcher) represent Yvelines in Parliament.
Presidential elections (2nd round) results since 1995
Representation
National Assembly
Yvelines is represented by the following deputies in the National Assembly:
Senate
In the Senate, Yvelines is represented by: