WMegs55

Since I've seen a lot of helpful advice on this board, what are your suggestions for day trips from Paris? My husband and I are staying 3 days in London and 6 days in Paris. We have been to both before so we are looking to venture outside the city one of our days in France. We have both been to Versailles already. I've looked at some tour companies, but we are reluctant to be part of a big group tour bus.

Bruge is one option. Provence, Giverny, Mont St. Michel (too far?), Loire Valley (i.e. Amboise, Chenonceau, Cheverny..)? Thoughts?

Thanks!

StCirq

Suggest you start by searching here on Fodors. There are hundreds of threads about daytrips from Paris, and Fodorites can get tired of reinventing the wheel.

WMegs55

Thanks for the feedback StCirq. I did that earlier but the responses I saw didn't provide much info beyond what I know already. Any advice is really appreciated.

As for the time of year, we leave on May 18th.

FrenchMystiqueTours

Since I've answered this question so many times I now have a word document I can just copy and paste from so here is what I usually say:

Here is a brief list that summarizes many of the most popular day trips from Paris. There are certainly many others you could also do but this list covers most of the biggies:

Provins (an authentic walled medieval town): http://www.provins.net/

Château of Chantilly (wonderful fairytale château, famous art collection): http://www.chateaudechantilly.com/fr/
http://www.chantilly-tourisme.com/

Senlis (small medieval town can be combined with a visit to Chantilly):
http://www.senlis-tourisme.fr/accueil-senlis.php

Reims (champagne tours, great historic cathedral, museums):
http://www.reims-tourisme.com/

Epernay (champagne tours): http://www.ot-epernay.fr/

Fontainebleau (former royal town with famous château):
http://www.musee-chateau-fontainebleau.fr/
http://www.fontainebleau-tourisme.com/

Versailles (obvious):
http://www.chateauversailles.fr/homepage
http://www.versailles-tourisme.com/

Château of Vaux-le-Vicomte (the château after which Louis XIV based his garden renovations for Versailles and IMO one of the most elegant château in France):
http://www.vaux-le-vicomte.com/
http://www.vaux-le-vicomte.com/en/vi...aires_plan.php

Rouen (small city, lots to do, wonderful cathedral, medieval old center): http://www.rouentourisme.com/

Giverny (Monet's house and gardens):
http://www.fondation-monet.fr/fr/
http://giverny.org/giverny/giverny.htm
http://www.vernon-visite.org/rgb4/who_we_are.htm

Chartres (the famous cathedral and wonderful old medieval town):
http://www.chartres-tourisme.com/


Compiègne (château with museums, wonderful old town. Can be combined with a visit to the château of Pierrefonds): http://www.compiegne-tourisme.fr/

Château of Pierrefonds (Magnificent fairytale looking château. Reconstructed in the 19th century but magnificent nonetheless. Can be combined with a visit to Compiègne):
http://www.pierrefonds.monuments-nationaux.fr/
http://pierrefonds-tourisme.net/ot/Bienvenue.html
http://www.compiegne-tourisme.fr/Le-...errefonds.html

Troyes (lovely small medieval city):
http://www.tourisme-troyes.com/

Laon (medieval hilltop town with a spectacular cathedral): http://www.tourisme-paysdelaon.com/

Crécy-la-Chapelle (small charming renowned artists village):
http://www.cc-payscrecois.fr/Crecy-la-Chapelle,203.html

Moret-sur-Loing (charming walled medieval village/artists village):
http://www.ville-moret-sur-loing.fr/rubrique.php?id=189

Auvers-sur-Oise (Van Gogh and other impressionist art history):
http://www.auvers-sur-oise.com/heading/heading899.html

Malmaison (château of the Empress Josephine and a nice old downtown. On the RER A line and could be combined with a visit to Saint-Germain-en-Laye):
http://www.chateau-malmaison.fr/
http://www.rueil-tourisme.com/

Saint-Germain-en-Laye (former royal town with a wonderful château now home to the national museum of archaeology. On the RER A line and could be combined with a visit to Malmaison):
http://www.ot-saintgermainenlaye.fr/en/
http://www.saintgermainenlaye.fr/en/...ulture/musees/

Barbizon (famous artists village, can be combined with Fontainebleau):
http://www.barbizon-tourisme.fr/

These are the most popular day trips and all are worthwhile but there are many other less popular and equally worthy day trips. I could easily list a couple dozen more but only if what's on this list doesn't interest you. A good guide book for the Île-de-France region should give you more ideas.

You'll need to take a train from Paris to do these day trips. For info on trains in Paris and the nearby suburbs (métro and RER trains) use the website www.ratp.fr. Parts of this website are in French so you can use an English language companion site www.vianavigo.com. For trains that go a bit further out in the Île-de-France region use the website www.transilien.com. For trains that go further beyond the Île-de-France use the website www.voyages-sncf.com (in French only) or www.tgv-europe.com. A great website to learn about trains in France (and Europe) is www.seat61.com if you have any train questions/problems.

Paris and many of the places nearby in Île-de-France are divided into zones, numbered 1 through 5. Paris is in zone 1 and areas outside Paris are in zones 2 through 5. Some of the destinations I mentioned are in zone 5. For these journeys it will be more cost effective to buy a one day Mobilis pass for just over 14 euros for zones 1 through 5. This will be cheaper than the point to point tickets round trip. Plus, this pass is good for unlimited travel on all public trains and buses for one day in zones 1-5. Buy it first thing in the morning before your first métro ride and it gets you to your train station, your round trip tickets, any buses you need to use at your destination and any traveling you'll do in Paris when you return. Before you use the ticket make sure to write your name and the date on the ticket. Don't forget to stick your ticket in the composting machine (ticket validation machine) before getting on your train. You can buy these passes from the ticket machines in métro/RER stations. Sometimes these machines have an English language option. If so, look for the one day Mobilis pass option. When you get to the screen that lists your zones to choose from press zone 1 and then press zone 5. You can also buy them at any ticket counter or stores that sell RATP tickets. They are good for 60 days so you can buy it in advance if you want to be prepared. It's not valid until you write your name and date on it and validate the ticket on your first métro/RER trip or at the train station.

Some of the day trips I mentioned will require a bus transfer once you arrive at the train station. If you choose one of these I can help you with bus info.

You could also go to the Loire region and do châteaux and/or wine tasting tours. The TGV will get you to Tours in an hour. You want to arrive in Tours Centre, not the train station Saint-Pierre-des-Corps. The tourist office is right across from the train station and that is where you'll pick-up your tour. Here is the weblink for the Tours tourist office. Click the tab on the left that says "Excursions" and you'll find all the info you need.

http://www.tours-tourisme.fr/index_en.php

If you decide on this you'll need to use the TGV website to buy/reserve your tickets. For info on these trains use the website www.tgv-europe.com for schedules and prices. Don't forget to uncheck the box marked "Direct Trains" to see all possible options. If the TGV site redirects you to the RailEurope website then try again and enter "Antarctic" as your ticket collection country. Other countries may also work but just try to find a country that doesn't get you redirected to RailEurope. The RailEurope website often doesn't show all the trains and generally has higher prices but you can check just to compare. You can buy tickets up to 3 months or more in advance and the earlier you buy them the cheaper they will be. The discounted tickets are known as PREM tickets but these are non-refundable and can't be exchanged.

Here is a website that will tell you how to navigate the TGV website:

http://www.nickbooth.id.au/Tips/FrenchTrain.htm

socialworker

How timely for me, FMT. Thank you so much for saving all this great info! We just reserved a trip for October and we were thinking of staying in one of the outlying areas but maybe a better plan is mini-day trips.

greg

Provence and Loire are not good day trip destinations. They are multi-attraction destinations best explored from a base in each area. Mont St. Michel is a long day trip.

So the natural question is since you have both been to Paris and are looking for somewhere outside, why not stay in Provence or Loire? You certainly have enough days for either destinations. Same for Bruges.

PalenQ

Chartres is a great an easy day trip - just over an hour by train - world-famous Gothic cathedral and nice regional French town - tours of the cathedral by Malcolm Miller are legendary and go daily sans pre-reservations in season.

Chartres has other old churches and is just a pleasant ordinary French regional town, quite unlike multi-cultural Paris.

WMegs55

Thanks FMT. I actually saw your list on an earlier post! That was a really helpful starting point. I think I may have to study the train maps (only looked at TGV thus far) to figure out what works best from that list.

To Greg, we already booked our B&B in Paris for the full 6 days. We are flying into London (cheaper), staying two days, traveling to Paris for 6, going back to London for a day, then flying out. With so much back and forth, we wanted to stay in one place for a period of time.

Trophywife007

I was going to suggest Barbizon/Fountainebleau. Lovely small village and of course the palace. Very close to Paris.

nyse

We spent a lovely day in Luxembourg City as a day trip from Paris.
Brussels was also delightful.
Both had the excitement of leaving France for a new country.
Good luck planning!

sunny101

I have used the Daytrips Series by Earl Steinbicker for many trips to Europe. Look for Daytrips France. The book includes how to get to the destination by car or train, a map of the important area(s), and a suggested walking tour starting at the train station. It also includes times the museums, etc., on the suggested route are open, which days of the week to avoid, and other practical information.

Margo

I was in Paris last year in May and made a special effort to get to Malmaison to go through the chateau/large house where Napoleon Bonapart and his wife, Josephine lived. It was really interesting as was the town of Rueil where it is located. We took the RER there. I think that there are a couple ways to get there. Eat lunch in the town square in front of the old church. Not very touristy and very French.
Nice day out. Google it for further information.
Margo

FrenchMystiqueTours

socialworker - Happy to help. I think either option of day trips from Paris or a few days outside of it is fine. If you want to see and explore the countryside then spend a few days outside of Paris. If you're just interested in specific destinations then do day trips. It really is up to you based on what your objectives are. If you want to see what you could do if you explored the countryside outside of Paris (i.e. spend a few days outside of Paris) I've posted some links to my trip reports about doing just this in another thread:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...s-of-paris.cfm

WMegs55 - There are certainly many other options for day trips than what I mentioned. I didn't even get into the places the TGV could get you in less than 2 hours from Paris because that's a whole other can of worms.

As for studying train maps, what you really need to do is look at train schedules since the train time between two places can vary depending on what train you take and at what time of day. The TGV is a long distance train so for places closer to Paris you'll be using one of the local trains. However, the www.tgv-europe.com website may still be the easiest train website for you to use since it's in English. Just heed my earlier advice and make sure it doesn't redirect you to the RailEurope website. If you're comfortable reading French use www.voyages-sncf.com. For trains in the Île-de-France region (many places on my list are) you can use www.transilien.com, which has an English language option.

javafan1

bookmarking

Shanti

If the weather is good, Giverny would be beautiful in May. I went in May a few years ago and it was stunning.

If you do go to Giverny, get there when it opens - before it gets crowded.

Apres_Londee

I really enjoyed Fontainebleau, Chartres, and Saint Denis with the Basilica (Saint Denis is on a Paris metro line so it's more like a 1/2 day, since it only takes about 30 minutes to get there)

hpeabody

Another vote for Giverny and if you can work it out, perhaps, Honfluer (very charming)

nytraveler

I wold head for Strasbourg - still in France but much more of a Germanic atmosphere. Now that it is served by the TGV is provides a doable option for a day trip - and has a wealth of things to see and do - as well as a complete different atmosphere.

tdk320n

Thank you for such a great detailed list. I will certainly make use of your suggestions.