Biking sidetrip adventure out of Paris-Sept 2010
Aug 3rd, 2010, 12:24 PM
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Biking sidetrip adventure out of Paris-Sept 2010
We are looking for suggestions for a sidetrip outside of Paris. We hope to hop a train with rented bicycles and head out somewhere for an overnight. It is our first trip(10years) without kids and would like to do something that is somewhat active and adventuresome. We are in Paris for only 5 days. Normandy is a possiblity but if there are other suggestions of good cycling/scenic areas we welcome it.
Aug 3rd, 2010, 12:49 PM
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Just east of Paris there is sweet pedaling along the Marne River as it winds thru Champagne country - Champagneries dot the route and it is flat - go to Epernay to finish your trip and tour the most prestigious Champagne Houses around, if into that.
take a train to Meaux and head east on roads along the Marne - i have done this several times.
Or take a train to the Loire Valley - say Amboise and base there and pedal thru a forest to Chenonceau - the most famous and arguable finest one of the chateaux of the Loire. And instead of taking rented bikes on a train just rent them there - rentals abound
In France you can only take bikes basically on regional (slow) trains so check to see if you can take a bike on the train you pinpoint.
Normandy would be fine too - base in Bayeux - a lovely old town and about the only one not blitzed in WW2 and do a loop of D-Day and WW2 Invasion sites.
Or hop a train to Beaune and bike along the famous Burgundy Wine Road, which meanders thru cutesy wine villages whose names grace bottles of the best Burgundy wines - again lots of wine houses to tour - even if biking and imbibing is not encourage, i guess - but having done it...
take a train to Meaux and head east on roads along the Marne - i have done this several times.
Or take a train to the Loire Valley - say Amboise and base there and pedal thru a forest to Chenonceau - the most famous and arguable finest one of the chateaux of the Loire. And instead of taking rented bikes on a train just rent them there - rentals abound
In France you can only take bikes basically on regional (slow) trains so check to see if you can take a bike on the train you pinpoint.
Normandy would be fine too - base in Bayeux - a lovely old town and about the only one not blitzed in WW2 and do a loop of D-Day and WW2 Invasion sites.
Or hop a train to Beaune and bike along the famous Burgundy Wine Road, which meanders thru cutesy wine villages whose names grace bottles of the best Burgundy wines - again lots of wine houses to tour - even if biking and imbibing is not encourage, i guess - but having done it...
Aug 3rd, 2010, 02:35 PM
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I live just outside Paris and I ride my bike everywhere in and around Paris. I've written several trip reports (with lots of photos so you can see where you'll be going) that you may find helpful and I'm giving you the links.
1) This first one is about driving through the countryside near Giverny, where Monet's house and gardens are located. You can bike this area just as easily by taking the train from Paris to Vernon and renting bikes there. You could never cover as much ground on bike as I did by car but you could pick and choose. Maybe overnight in Gisors.
http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...ad=4138&page=1
In this area you could also bike the other way along the Seine from Vernon to Richard the Lionheart's castle ruin of Château Gaillard, perched on a cliff overlooking the Seine and offering panoramic views of the surrounding countryside. The medieval village of Le Petit Andelys sits below the castle on the banks of the Seine and is very charming.
2) This one's about biking through the countryside to the medieval walled city of Provins. You could put your bikes on a train from Paris to a town near where I started my ride in this one and overnight in Provins.
http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...ad=4282&page=1
3) This one's about exploring suburbs just to the west of Paris where the impressionist movement took off and where many royals had residences. You only need to take an RER train from Paris to do this if you feel like coming back to Paris the same day.
http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...5&page=1#79426
4) This one's about biking along the Marne river in my town and further east to Noisiel. You can start the ride in Paris and ride along the right bank of the Seine until it meets up with the Marne and then follow the Marne from there. Or you could take the RER with your bikes to the suburbs. This covers the portion of the Marne starting near Paris and west of Meaux, which PalenQ had mentioned. This is a day trip in which you would go back to Paris. By the way, PalenQ, that area you describe has been on my "to do" list for a while now.
http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...ad=3973&page=1
And just for fun, here's a link to a youtube video of me biking through the Latin Quarter in Paris, set to some very pretty French music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrEijRudpAk
The advantages of the places I mentioned is that they are all close to Paris by train and much cheaper in terms of train ticket cost. For example, a return train ticket from Provins to Paris is only 10.50 euros. You can not put your bike on a train between 6:30 and 9:00 in the morning and 4:30 to 7:00 in the evenings. Weekends are excepted from this rule. I don't know what rules may apply to TGV's in terms of bikes. You don't have to go far from Paris to find lovely countryside and great biking terrain.
A few other tips. I only ever need to rely on Michelin maps for all my bike trips since I am mostly riding on roads. I use a scale of 1/200,000 or 1/150,000. I stick to the small white roads and sometimes the yellow roads and generally try to avoid red roads. These roads receive increasing amounts of traffic in the order I listed. Red roads tend to connect regional destinations whereas white roads mostly connect villages. You can also get a sense of topography if you have color maps. Areas shaded white tend to be flat and gently rolling and areas shaded green generally means forest or hills/mountains. If the roads twist and turn a lot that usually means hilly. A directional arrow superimposed over a road indicates an uphill area. One arrow means gradient of 5% to 9%, 2 arrows means gradient of 9% to 13% and 3 arrows means gradient of greater than 13%. The roads highlighted in green on the Michelin map indicate scenic roads and I often use these to help plan my bike routes.
Other areas close to Paris where I haven't biked but that are on my list are Compiègne, Chantilly and the region between Soissons and Laon. All these areas are north of Paris and you can overnight in any of these towns and bike the regions near them.
If you do want to do coastal Normandy near Honfleur and Deauville I have a very specific road by road route through the area south of Honfleur and Deauville that I've done by car but it would be great by bike. Really lovely.
Of course, you can do the Loire or Burgundy, as PalenQ mentioned, or just about any other region in France for that matter. There are so many great regions for biking in France I really think you need to decide where you'd like to bike and do an overnight and then seek assistance for that region.
One last tip. Wherever you rent your bike, check to see what type of bike they are giving you and that it is suitable to the type of biking you will be doing. A lot of places rent sort of heavy, clunky bikes meant to get around Paris that are not really suitable for light touring.
1) This first one is about driving through the countryside near Giverny, where Monet's house and gardens are located. You can bike this area just as easily by taking the train from Paris to Vernon and renting bikes there. You could never cover as much ground on bike as I did by car but you could pick and choose. Maybe overnight in Gisors.
http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...ad=4138&page=1
In this area you could also bike the other way along the Seine from Vernon to Richard the Lionheart's castle ruin of Château Gaillard, perched on a cliff overlooking the Seine and offering panoramic views of the surrounding countryside. The medieval village of Le Petit Andelys sits below the castle on the banks of the Seine and is very charming.
2) This one's about biking through the countryside to the medieval walled city of Provins. You could put your bikes on a train from Paris to a town near where I started my ride in this one and overnight in Provins.
http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...ad=4282&page=1
3) This one's about exploring suburbs just to the west of Paris where the impressionist movement took off and where many royals had residences. You only need to take an RER train from Paris to do this if you feel like coming back to Paris the same day.
http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...5&page=1#79426
4) This one's about biking along the Marne river in my town and further east to Noisiel. You can start the ride in Paris and ride along the right bank of the Seine until it meets up with the Marne and then follow the Marne from there. Or you could take the RER with your bikes to the suburbs. This covers the portion of the Marne starting near Paris and west of Meaux, which PalenQ had mentioned. This is a day trip in which you would go back to Paris. By the way, PalenQ, that area you describe has been on my "to do" list for a while now.
http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...ad=3973&page=1
And just for fun, here's a link to a youtube video of me biking through the Latin Quarter in Paris, set to some very pretty French music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrEijRudpAk
The advantages of the places I mentioned is that they are all close to Paris by train and much cheaper in terms of train ticket cost. For example, a return train ticket from Provins to Paris is only 10.50 euros. You can not put your bike on a train between 6:30 and 9:00 in the morning and 4:30 to 7:00 in the evenings. Weekends are excepted from this rule. I don't know what rules may apply to TGV's in terms of bikes. You don't have to go far from Paris to find lovely countryside and great biking terrain.
A few other tips. I only ever need to rely on Michelin maps for all my bike trips since I am mostly riding on roads. I use a scale of 1/200,000 or 1/150,000. I stick to the small white roads and sometimes the yellow roads and generally try to avoid red roads. These roads receive increasing amounts of traffic in the order I listed. Red roads tend to connect regional destinations whereas white roads mostly connect villages. You can also get a sense of topography if you have color maps. Areas shaded white tend to be flat and gently rolling and areas shaded green generally means forest or hills/mountains. If the roads twist and turn a lot that usually means hilly. A directional arrow superimposed over a road indicates an uphill area. One arrow means gradient of 5% to 9%, 2 arrows means gradient of 9% to 13% and 3 arrows means gradient of greater than 13%. The roads highlighted in green on the Michelin map indicate scenic roads and I often use these to help plan my bike routes.
Other areas close to Paris where I haven't biked but that are on my list are Compiègne, Chantilly and the region between Soissons and Laon. All these areas are north of Paris and you can overnight in any of these towns and bike the regions near them.
If you do want to do coastal Normandy near Honfleur and Deauville I have a very specific road by road route through the area south of Honfleur and Deauville that I've done by car but it would be great by bike. Really lovely.
Of course, you can do the Loire or Burgundy, as PalenQ mentioned, or just about any other region in France for that matter. There are so many great regions for biking in France I really think you need to decide where you'd like to bike and do an overnight and then seek assistance for that region.
One last tip. Wherever you rent your bike, check to see what type of bike they are giving you and that it is suitable to the type of biking you will be doing. A lot of places rent sort of heavy, clunky bikes meant to get around Paris that are not really suitable for light touring.
Aug 5th, 2010, 06:48 AM
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One other tip is that bikes are not allowed on the Paris Metro (with one very minor exception), only RER and SNCF trains.
Haven't biked in Burgundy but it is a lovely area for biking. If you want some routes in Normandy I've got some tips.
Haven't biked in Burgundy but it is a lovely area for biking. If you want some routes in Normandy I've got some tips.
Aug 5th, 2010, 07:35 AM
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My memory of Sept is of the wet and it is hilly so remember the knees.>
I have biked in every region of the Hexagon and can attest that France for the most part is hilly - except for places like the flat as pancake Beauce you always seem to have hills - great going down! And often it seems a village punctuated by its village church crowning a hill in town is at the top of a longish climb!
I have biked in every region of the Hexagon and can attest that France for the most part is hilly - except for places like the flat as pancake Beauce you always seem to have hills - great going down! And often it seems a village punctuated by its village church crowning a hill in town is at the top of a longish climb!
