www.beaune.com my fav town from Grenoble to Paris

makes a nice stop best Reds in the known multiverse

if you are a foodie/wino. Pretty town.

booking.com

eurocheapo.com/paris

for cute hotels around north Paris/CDG area

Recently booked the Marriott bid priceline.com

up there $59/nt

Central paris far prettier cuter www.hotel-collegedefrance.com

one of my favs for price great location/value.

Happy Hunting!

North of Grenoble you might consider Annecy, which is a lovely town with ancient buildings, windy cobbled streets, canals and a castle and sits on the edge of the Lac d'Annecy and the scenery is beautiful. It's about a 5-1/2 drive from Tourtour including a couple of stops. Here's their tourist office website if you want to check for accommodation:

http://www.lac-annecy.com/

If you want a small village and a better chance of getting a hotel room with gorgeous views you can try the lovely village of Talloires, located on the eastern side of the lake not far from Annecy. Here's their tourist office website.

http://www.talloires-lac-annecy.com/

I wrote a trip report about visiting that area that is ful of photos if you want to see what that area looks like.

http://tinyurl.com/3awectn

From Annecy you would be about a 2-1/2 hour drive from Beaune in the Burgundy region, which was mentioned above. It's a really beautiful town that is large enough to have restaurants and things to do and see without any of the traffic bother DH hates. Here is their tourist office website to look for accommodation:

http://www.beaune-tourisme.fr/

At this time of year you'll be lucky if the weather cooperates for any strolling around outdoors you might have been hoping for but that's just not predictable.

Here are links to a few threads where myself and other posters discuss day trip ideas near Beaune:

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/daytrips-from-beaune.cfm

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g187070-i12-k4916067-A_spare_night_driving_from_Burgundy_where_do_you_suggest-France.html#36736307

As for north of Paris the métro doesn't run outside of Paris. The RER does run outside the city to the suburbs but beyond that you'll need to use the suburban/regional trains. Three places that come to mind north of Paris are Compiègne, Laon and the completely unheard of town of Crépy-en-Valois. These are all served by the suburban/regional trains. Compiègne is 45 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes by train from Paris (depends on the train), Laon is about 1 hour 40 minutes and Crépy is about a 1/2 hour by train from Paris. Compiègne is a former royal town with an impressive château and some ancient streets and buildings. Plenty to see and do there. Laon is a spectacular medieval hill town with an incredible gothic cathedral. It is quite charming and atmospheric and there are sites to visit in the town. Crépy-en-Valois is a small but incredibly charming medieval town that would be a great place if you wanted to unwind and relax. You could use it as a base to visit Laon or Compiègne or nearby Pierrefonds, Senlis or Chantilly. Here are the tourist office websites for the 3 places I just mentioned:

http://www.compiegne-tourisme.fr/

http://www.tourisme-paysdelaon.com/

http://www.valois-tourisme.com/

I've written trip reports about these places if you want to see some photos to know what they look like and what you can see and do n these places. Here are the links:

Crépy, Pierrefonds, Compiègne: http://tinyurl.com/6snrf3q

Laon: http://tinyurl.com/298tppr

Qwovadis & FrenchMystiqueTours, thankyou both for the info and links, I've had a look at the Beaune and Lac Annecy sites and they both look great maybe I can break the trip up a little more and visit both. Also checked the trip report, lovely and very helpful, thanks.
have taken a quick peak at the Paris accom links and there are some good ideas will get to that a little more once tomorrow nights is sorted!! Thanks both, JT

If tired of driving, why not drop off car at Lyon, for example, then TGV direct to COG? Could spend 2/3 days there, day trips.