Nottingham

Just picked up the guide book --"An Hour From Paris".
Looking to do something different when visiting Paris.
Anyone visited book's suggestions...if so, which one?
and did you enjoy it??

Challiman

Um, what routes?

StCirq

Some of us have been to a zillion places outside Paris without being familiar with that particular book, so it might be helpful to explain what routes you're talking about. The subset of people who've read the book, taken some of the routes, and are ready to respond here has to be pretty meager.

flygirl

I have that book. Annabel Simms.

Chapter Titles:
Champs Sur Marne
Chantilly
Conflans Ste Honorine
Crecy la Chappelle
The islands of Creteil
Ecouen
La Ferte Milon
Ile du Martin Pecheur
Luzarches
Montfort l'Amaury
Montmorency
Moret sur Loing
Poissy
Provins
Rambouillet
Royaumont
St Germain en Laye
Sceaux
Senlis
Villenueve Triage
Versailles/Giverny/Fontainebleau/Auvers sur Oise/Malmaison

And a few others.

Fantastic book. Haven't used it yet.

DeborahAnn

I'd like to know which of those destinations can be reached directly by public transportation and which are better by car? Thanks for providing the list flygirl. Deborah

valtor

We visited the following sites listed in the book (I have not it, did not read it and did not hear about it till now):


Chantilly
Rambouillet
St Germain en Laye
Versailles
Fontainebleau
Malmaison

All of them by public transportation (train). Very easy to reach them. Very interesting and beautiful places to be visited.
So, as I liked so much these, I'll keep the other shown in Flygirl list, for the next visits to Paris.


There are more than these places (palaces, cathedrals, towns) to be visited near Paris by train or bus, I would like to add some:

Bois de Boulogne
Vincennes
Vaux-le-Vicomte
Sevres
Compiègne

avalon

You can visit all those places by public transport

jamikins

We spent a lovely day in Conflans Ste Honorine a few years ago. It was market day and we had a lovely lunch.

jamikins

You can rach it by RER I believe...

SemiMike

We followed her guidance for a trip to Provins last year, and enjoyed it very much. Lots of pictures of the town in our phototravelogue (near the end) at http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/...hotos-_-Sharer

DeborahAnn

I was wondering why Troyes wasn't on the list and thought it might be its distance from Paris. We spent a wonderful day by train. I'd highly recommend Troyes as a day trip. Thanks for including your comments about public transportation. We are in the midst of planning a stay in Paris and looking for new places to visit as well as revisits to some favorites. Deborah

TPAYT

Bookmarking

zoecat

I have used the book for many years. It is a wonderful guidebook and easy to use. The food recommendations, travel info and itineraries are all excellent. The best part is the walking routes she outlines for each destination. I have found it to be one of the best guidebooks I have ever used.

Favorites (although, I have not visited all the destinations in the book)-

Provins
Crecy-La Chapelle
Moret-sur-Loing
Senlis
Sceaux
Montfort-l'Amaury

Here is a link to here website, which includes updates to the book-

http://www.annabelsimms.com/

Nottingham

Thank you all for your insight......reading the book now and will highlight your info.
Troyes....been reading about that as a day trip & that sounds like an interesting
town.....DeborahAnn--tell me more what you did there.
zoecat--tell me about Provins also.

zoecat

Nottingham-

<<zoecat--tell me about Provins also.>>

Provins-

A beautiful small town, with 2 levels. I especially enjoyed the walk around the ramparts she outlines in the book. The countryside and farms surrounding the town are lovely. I have visited twice, both times in March, when it was not crowded. It was a nice, peaceful escape from busy Paris.

I think her book provides a good description of the town and what to do while there. What other information are you looking for?

DeborahAnn

Nottingham, we spent about 6 hours there and never made it into any of the museums!!

It was a beautiful day in May so we did the two walking tours provided in the brochure we picked up at the tourist information office near the train station. We paid one euro for the brochure.

Troyes is called the 10 Churches town and the brochure pointed out what was not to be missed in each church. We also enjoyed our walk through the medieval sections of Troyes and would certainly return to Troyes to visit the museums next time. We took time to relax on some of the "green areas" noted on the tour route.

We had a very leisurely lunch at La Clef de Voute, 33-35 rue General Saussier that we found while we were walking around and liked the menu choices and prices. I thought Troyes dining was a little pricey. My menu Montagnard was 19 euros, my husbands meal was 18.50 and a half carafe of rose was 6.50.

Troyes has so much to see by walking I would want to be there on a fair weather day and for that reason we waited to purchase our tickets the day before. There was also a SNCF strike off and on at that time so we had to wait to see what trains would be running Deborah

kerouac

Moret-sur-Loing is lovely, but I think that my colleague who lives there can attest to the fact that she has more than one hour of travel time to and from work -- but I'm sure that it's less than one hour if you just count Gare de Lyon as the starting point.

zoecat

Moret-sur-Loing was indeed lovely. I am pretty sure that I was the only tourist there (in April, a few years ago) and really enjoyed my visit. The walk through the towns outlined in the book and the info/history provided very much enhanced my visit. I look forward to returning.

Some of the suggested destinations in the book are slightly more than an hour from Paris, which the author acknowledges.

FrenchMystiqueTours

I've written at least a dozen trip reports about daytrips into the countryside around Paris and many places on that list are covered in my reports plus loads of other places that aren't on that list, or probably any list. If you search my profile you'll find all my reports, which are full of photos are historical tid-bits if that might help you narrow down your list.

Nottingham

Thanks to all...GREAT input for the "non-touristy" side of areas just beyond Paris!