1 week in Paris
 

Couple in early 60's wanting to visit France in mid May for a weeks stay. Would like to spend 3-4 days in Paris and take an escorted tour or guided trip to the French countryside. Need to know if there are 2-3 day trips and how is best way to find them.
Also, what areas would you suggest to see in the country.

Recs for day trips from Paris:

-Giverny (Monet's house and gardens)
You can take a RER train from central Paris (I believe it's the Gare du Lyon). It's about a 45 minute train ride and once in the village of Giverny, you can either take a taxi to the house.

-Chartes (home to the famous cathedral)

-Loire Valley (home to a number of stunning chateaux). I think you can take a train from Paris to Amboise, and then rent a car there to explore the region in greater depth.

Bonne chance!

traveltalesfromtheredheadedtraveler.blogspot.com/
(My travel writing blog!)

On one trip to Paris I had terrible insomnia and felt really muddle-headed in the day. I was walking by the American Express office in the 1st arr., stopped in and reviewed the day escorted tours, and chose one to Auvers sur Oise (sp) and Giverny. A long day, but the bus was very comfortable, this particular tour was half-full, and the guide was personable and knowledgeable. I'd never done a guided day tour before; I really enjoyed this one.

Stay in Paris and do the day trips IF you feel the need. Paris is such a wealth. You may just hang out.

I'm always pleased when somebody on Fodor's wants to see what's out there beyond Paris. It's pretty much a gorgeous country throughout, but you really don't need to go far from Paris to see some of the beauty of the French countryside.

When we plan a trip, we look for Most Beautiful Villages (there are about 150 recognized Plus Beaux Villages), flowery villages, panoramas, Michelin green routes, and good places to eat.

In this vein, may I suggest you look at a few of the trip reports of a regular poster on this board, French Mystique Tours. He recently did one on a weekend in Burgundy.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...blue-skies.cfm

One of my older faves is their day trip near Giverny.
http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...now-i-know.cfm

All his trip reports are worth checking out. We followed in some of his footsteps in Brittany last fall and liked what we saw. Hopefully FMT will see this and weigh in.

I'll give this some thought and maybe make some suggestions of places we've seen and loved off the beaten path.

Don't know how far out of Paris counts as countryside, but the suburb of Rueil-Malmaison might be an interesting day trip. The Château Malmaison (home to Josephine and now the site of a Napoleonic museum) is there, as is the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul (where Josephine is buried). The Seine also flows through the town, and several Impressionist artists painted it there.

Thanks to all who have commented and given me such wonderful ideas thus far. This is my first time as actually being part of the forum so hope I am going about this correctly. Again, Thanks and will keep checking back as well as looking at other comments.

DH and I took day trips to: Bruges, French Chateau, and Paris by night using Cityrama (http://www.pariscityrama.com/)-it wasn't terribly cheap but we enjoyed being driven and having some meals taken care of. Our guides were excellent and multi-lingual. I'm pretty sure they have Versailles and others. AE is a great resource also if you don't feel like doing it yourself-we booked two entire trips with them and were very satisfied with the hotels and flight arrangements.

Good luck!

Auvers-sur-Oise was mentioned.

There is a terrific impressionist show at the Auvers Chateau. They have a web site.

The Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte, the inspiration for Versailles has been our favorite day trip.

Like you, I may be going to Paris in the spring or fall and would love to see some of the countryside and smaller towns close to Paris. Usually, I don’t take tours, but my eye was caught by FrenchMystiqueTours, http://frenchmystiquetours.com/

Given that I know Paris relatively well, I wrote to FMT and they are also amenable to giving single day tours or 2-3 day overnight tours. This is valuable if you are only there for a short time. I like to base myself in Paris so, these shorter trips totally appeal to me!

His photo essays give an excellent sense of what they offer. I was intrigued by these three threads,
You’ve seen Giverny, now what?
http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...ad=4138&page=1

Burgandy,
http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...ay&thread=4774

Paris Royal/Impressionist era,
http://anyportinastorm.proboards.com...ay&thread=4095

Enjoy your trip.