MSGMadison364

Hi all,

Heading to Paris in October with husband and son (who will be 11 months at the time) and previously received assistance with picking an apartment.

Now I'm finalizing our plans for the trip.

We want to do a day trip to somewhere that I haven't necessarily read about. When in Florence, we adored our trip to Lucca - read about basically three things to do and one restaurant to eat at, and had a great time. We'd like to find the same thing around Paris. We're hoping to avoid the mass crowds; I know that's a nearly impossible feat. But I was hoping that by posting here, you all would be able to tell us somewhere that's semi-off grid.

Since we're traveling with a baby, if it's a restaurant that's a must-do, it must be family friendly.. Ideally, it will be a beautiful town that we can enjoy just by walking around, grab a glass of wine/champagne somewhere, and just BE.

Our main requirement is that it's within an hour and a half from Paris.

Any suggestions??

Appreciate any help!

MmePerdu

There are 2 books you might look at.

'An Hour from Paris', by Annabel Simms

'Paris to the Past: Traveling through French History by Train', by Ina Caro

Either (or both) should give you some good ideas.

http://www.sncf.com/ for your train research in case you don't have it.

d_claude_bear

Consider Dijon or Rouen.

MmePerdu

Neither Dijon nor Rouen are what I'd call small. I thought about suggesting my favorite, Beaune, but it's 2 hours away, just past Dijon.

michelhuebeli

Rambouillet - a nice castle in a park 15 minutes on foot from the train station, with restaurants in the streets nearby. Trains from Paris-Montparnasse station take 34 minutes, and there is a bus stop and an Avis right next to the Rambouillet station if you want to be driven or drive yourselves through the lovely nearby nature park of the valley of Chevreuse - see www.parc-naturel-chevreuse.fr

denisea

Would Giverny interest you? Shouldn't be crowded at that time of year...could be nice. I know nothing about babies but I would think being outside for the day would be a plus.

If not, maybe Fountainebleu and Barbizon. Barbizon is just charming. Or, Reims is my favorite close by destination. Not even an hour by TGV...massive, majestic cathedral. Not sure if a Champagne tasting works for you with the tot, but we enjoyed a cafe and some French Fizz overlooking the cathedral. Maybe check to see if a tasting at Taittinger or Veuve Clicquot is possible, if you are interested.

kerouac

Reims is 45 minutes by TGV, Lille 55 minutes...

FrenchMystiqueTours

Here is a brief list that summarizes many of the most popular day trips from Paris (within an hour and a half by train). 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/
http://www.uk.fontainebleau-tourisme.com/

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

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://fondation-monet.com/en/
http://giverny.org/giverny/
http://giverny.org/gardens/index.htm
http://www.vernon-visite.org/index.shtml

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

http://www.discover-chartres.com/

Malcolm Miller Cathedral Tours:

Daily tours of Chartres Cathedral from Easter until late October are at 12 noon and 2.45 p.m. Not on Sundays, and during the winter occasionally or on request.
E-mail address is [email protected].

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://www.pierrefonds-tourisme.net/
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
http://www.msl-tourisme.fr/index.php/francais/accueil

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

Rueil-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. Use the interactive map on this website to plan your trip: http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/carteidf.php?lang=uk. 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 15.65€ 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.

FrenchMystiqueTours

As a follow up, I'd say if it's a charming small town you want that won't be crowded with tourists your best options are Crécy-la-Chapelle, Moret-sur-Loing and Senlis. Auvers-sur-Oise is nice too but there will be more tourists there than the other places. If you want to see photos of Moret, Crécy and Senlis you can look at some photo reports I wrote about visiting those places:

Crécy-la-Chapelle: http://tinyurl.com/7wnybgw

Senlis: http://tinyurl.com/bsnyjgr

Moret: http://tinyurl.com/buhknqs

Cathinjoetown

ttt

mamcalice

We love Chartres. The cathedral is amazing and the town is charming.

aliced

Sceaux is very quiet and lovely, and a short train away; lovely park there. Barbizon is also, a bit busier and of course more commonly visited by tourists. We found Sceaux on our second trip to Paris. Dijon, Beaune, Epernay, Giverny way too busy from what I think you're looking for. Yes, sometimes you just need to get out of the city.

TPAYT

Great choices. More reason to return to Paris.

Gretchen

I'd second Chartres. Easy to get to. Nice restaurants just around the cathedral.
How long are you in Paris

Christina

I've been to Moret-sur-Loing and it certainly is no Giverny or Chartres, but there were plenty of tourists there, it is known as a place people go for a day off or holiday. The main difference is they are all French, if that is the point, but there are tourists there, mostly if you go on the weekends, of course.

Dijon is a city, I don't understand that as a recommendation for getting out of the city. It's smaller than Paris, most cities in France are, but it's no small town.

Chartres never did much for me, I found the town pretty boring, but some other people seem to like it, so maybe you will, also.

JeffTWA

Take the train to Auvers and see Van Gogh's grave and sights. Very fun and interesting. Enjoy your trip.

baladeuse

Bookmarking.

FMT, I love your reports of your bike rides. Is it all easy riding? I'd love to try it some day.

MSGMadison364

Wow, thank you so much!

So much to look into!

I will probably ask more questions once I have a chance to go through all this. Thank you, thank you!

kerouac

Here is my very recent report about Moret if you haven't seen it:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-sur-loing.cfm

MmePerdu

I agree with Aliced on Sceaux if you love gardens. The main attraction is the garden (parc) at the Chateau. I don't mean flower garden, think Versailles because it's another version and designed by the same Le Notre. So, sculpted lines of trees and water features and lots of ways to walk. It's primarily a local place for families and largely free of tourists.
http://www.beyond-paris.com/parc-de-sceaux.html