In the fall, I will be visiting most of the major cities in Europe. Although I love museums, architecutre, etc... I'm thinking I'll probably need a break from the touristy things every so often. <BR>I'm wondering what your favorite daytrips or small towns (reached by train) between major cities are.

One of our very pleasant day trips out of London was to Oxford, by train. Another is to Grenich (sp?) village, up the river by boat..a great day trip. Out of Madrid, be sure to see El Escorial, and "The valley of the Fallen"(can do all in same day)

You might get more responses if your posting listed specific cities; if you truly are visiting most of the "majors" I envy you! <BR> <BR>From Florence, I can recommend Fiosole, Lucca, Orvieto, and Siena. All have the quiet charm and beauty of smaller Tuscan towns, with enough to see to warrant at least a daytrip, or better yet, an overnight stay. <BR> <BR>From Paris, Chartres is my top pick. The stained glass in the cathedral is truly magnificent, and the town is also lovely. <BR> <BR>All of these towns can be easily reached via bus or train; no need for a car.

Mel, <BR> <BR>If you enjoy wine and champaign I have 2 day trip suggestions from Paris. Champaign north of Paris is a pretty town with a nice cathedral and you can tour a few of the major champaing cellars there. PiperHeidsick(sp?) has a ride, Disney style, tacky but fun and informative. <BR> <BR>My favorite is Beaune, south east of Paris. It is a long (about 2hrs) TGV ride from Paris but it is a beautiful town. There are several caves that you can go to in the town center. You pay a small fee and are allowed to taste 10-15 different wines. Make sure you eat before you go, we almost purchased a case of very expensive wine to ship home, which was not in the budget. The town also had a Hospital which was built just after the plague which is now a small and very interesting museum covering the time period and hospitals. The town square is a great place to order bread and cheese and enjoy France. I have heard that this is a great location to do an over night trip. I hope to go back some day. <BR> <BR>Have fun! <BR>

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'm going to spend a lot of time in/around Paris. Sounds like there are many wonderful places to visit in the area. <BR>amg, Lesli, do you think it's unreasonable/silly to try to visit more than one town a day? eg: Chartres and Amiens. I don't want to be rushed or feel that I have to see everything in one trip. On the other hand, I don't want to miss anything fabulous!!! <BR>julie, do you know what the "valley of the Fallen" is called in spanish?

I am not Julie, but is called 'Valle de Los Caidos'. It is located on the road to El Escorial. You can't miss it as it is a huge cross in the top of a mountain. It is also where Francisco Franco was buried.

Mel, <BR> <BR>If you are using public transportation it can be challenging to do more then one trip out of town a day unless they are on the same train or bus line. Have you checked out www.raileurope.com? <BR>In order to maximize time we have taken early trains to towns (6-7AM). The only problem with that is most shops don't open until 9-10AM. <BR> <BR>You can also check into bus trips from the major cities. I know that you can do trips from Madrid to El Escorial and the Valley of the Fallen and some include a stop in Segovia which is a beautiful town (Castle and a fully intact Roman aquiduct which I think is one of the modern wonders of the world) <BR>We ended up renting a car so I did not follow up on the tours. But I have heard that they are good. <BR> <BR>Hope this helps. <BR>Aileen <BR>

don't know if your going to be in Nice on your trip but there are several really neat hilltowns around there. my favorite was St Paul de Vence but it seems like i hear more about Ez in the travel books. Ez was also nice.

guy- of course I'm going to Nice!!! I've been told it's a beautiful city. I think I will also have go to St-Paul-de-Vence. <BR>Thanks for the suggestions everyone.