Rueil-Malmaison is a wealthy commune in the western suburbs of Paris, on the banks of the Seine about 12 km from the city centre. For most visitors it is a day trip destination from Paris rather than a base, and the main reason to come is the Château de Malmaison — the home of Napoleon Bonaparte and Joséphine during the Consulate period, and the place where Joséphine lived until her death in 1814.
The château is excellently preserved and presented as a museum of Napoleonic life. The furnishings, portraits, and personal objects give a vivid sense of the period, and the grounds contain a famous rose garden that Joséphine cultivated with obsessive care (she employed the painter Redouté to document her collection). The nearby Bois-Préau château, also part of the Malmaison museum complex, holds Napoleonic memorabilia from Saint Helena. For anyone with an interest in the First Empire, this is one of the best-preserved Napoleonic sites in France.