In late April my husband and I are flying to to France to ultimately stay in the Bordeaux area for a week. We plan to land at DeGaulle and rest up for three days before flying on to Bordeaux. We have one entire day and would like to visit the Cathedral at Chartres. Rather than spend 100 plus Euros to stay in Paris (we have been there several times) we are considering staying between Versailles and Chartres or thereabouts. We would take a cab to one of the chateaux in the area, perhaps rent a car for a day to explore Chartres and the countryside. The hotels in Chartres don't look very interesting so we have ruled that out.
Would love to hear from anyone who can advise us. We really love the French countryside.

I'm not getting the part about taking a cab to "one of the châteaux in the area." What area? Why wouldn't you just take a train from Paris to Chartres or Versailles and rent a car there?

I don't really understand your plans, either. It sounds like you have only one day to visit Chartres, and yet you plan to stay somewhere in-between Chartres and Versailles, and then go back to an airport in Paris to fly to Bordeaux? And from the place you stay, you plan to rent a car and visit both Chartres and some chateau in that one day? I don't really understand, but I can't see how you can save enough money in one night's hotel that would make it worthwhile given the transportation costs, not to mention the time. You may not even find a hotel that much cheaper than in Paris. Versailles isn't a cheap place, for example.

When I was most recently in Chartres, the windows in the cathedral were being successively cleaned, something they badly needed. However, to do this, each window was removed in turn in its entirety from its position, and replaced temporarily with a clear panel. This panel let in a huge amount of natural light, which dramatically changed the usual ambience inside the cathedral, and it was quite inferior to what I had experienced on previous visits. I realize that the cleaning has to be done, and that it is being done correctly and carefully, but I would postpone any visit to Chartres Cathedral until all window cleaning is conpleted.

Thanks for your responses. To clarify, we would go directly to the Chartres/Versailles/Eure et Loir area from the airport where we would spend our three days instead of going into the city and commuting. Then we would return to the airport and fly to Bordeaux. I am interested in seeing the first labyrinth at the cathedral. In short, tell me about Chartres and the surrounding area. Haven't talked to anyone who has been there...

The other "problem" may be that chairs may be covering the labyrinth as happened when we were there.
Why not just rent a car at CDG and ultimately drive to Bordeaux after exploring whatever countryside you want. By the time you do all you are describing and returning to CDG, you could just drive.

Hi SM,

I agree with Gretchen.

I am not sure this helps, but we are arriving at gare du Nord instead of the airport & going straight to Chartres where we are renting a car & driving to a B&B in the area. We also found the hotels in Chartres to be lacking. The B&B is called Chateau De Jonvilliers: http://www.chateaudejonvilliers.com/
Your only problem is that you will need a car to get to the B&B & also to see any of the chateaux. We rented from Kemwell & got a better deal than with any of the others.

Gretchen is absolutely correct. Tours in the Loire is halfway between Paris and Bordeaux already.

The labyrinth in the Chartres is covered by chairs in the nave. You can still figure out the pattern, but there's no way you can walk it.

You may want to come down to Houston to see and walk an outdoor Chartres labyrinth. My picture of it taken last weekend:

rkkwan.zenfolio.com/p973223998/?photo=1059439578

We stayed at Le Grand Monarque for one night last year, and it was just fine. They have a very good restaurant as well. annieladd