Chartres & Versailles
 

Not sure if I spelled those right, but my questions is if anyone knows if it would be possible to visit both of these sights in one day, I know there is a train that heads to both from Paris, but I am not sure if there is one you can take between the two or if we would even have enough time?

We will be going in mid May and we will only be in France for 4 days and are not the greatest Art enthousiasts, so we will be spending most of our time seeing the major Monuments and would really like to take a day to visit the Palace and Cathedral.

Thanks for any help.

Yes- they are on the same train line. Scenario: Go via RER line C to Versailles - station a few blocks from Veersailles Palace - then walk, bus or cab the about one mile to Veresailles-Chantiers mainline rail station (trains from Montparnasse station in Paris and trains to Chartres) - go to Chartres - cathedral is within eyeshot of train station and then return to Paris Montparnasse station (about 70 minutes from Chartres). Get an early start as lines at Versailles can be long and do Versailles first - Chartres cathedral is open later than palace. Easily doable day trip.

You can find more train info on their web site, but personally I wouldn't try to make both in a day from Paris. Certainly (to me) Versailles is worth a day by itself. It would be possible, though, to breeze through them both in a day if all you want to do is to brush the surface so you can feel you've been there. Even if you have to round-trip back and forth to Paris for each one, you could do it in a rush. Good luck.

I would opt for one or the other, and I would easily choose Chartres. I prefer divine inspiration to regal excess. After touring the extraordinary cathedral, you could take in the nearby Musee Beaux Arts. Also adjacent to the cathedral is La Galerie du Vitrail where you can browse its lovely stained-glass works and perhaps even splurge on one. Your day will be complete if you lunch a block away at La Vielle Maison. The food is amazing, the ambience a delight. All of this is in a vey concentrated area, within walking distance of the train station.

I have visited both in one day by train and it was certainly doable. Yes, you won't be able to linger a long time at either place, but I felt I had enough time to enjoy both. I would try to get to Versailles early as an above poster suggested. Hopefully the lines won't be too long mid-May. Enjoy!

possible if you leave your hotel in the morning at 7:30 , be sure to be in Versailles by 8:45.
You don't like to visit old stuff?
Buy postcards , visit the gardens(by little tchoo-tchoo train) plus Marie-Antoinette's farmhouse...and don't be sorry:you can't visit AND enjoy the whole thing within a single day!
Be out of Versailles by noon , pick up a train back to Paris , count an hour at least be in Montparnasse(train stops everywhere from Versailles chantier to the city , change at St Michel to Montparnasse , jump on the train to Chartres , visit the Cathedral and come back!
You'll sleep well , grab a sandwich for lunch and hurry , make sure you get the chartres schedule right on www.sncf.fr because it's not a suburb train, so you won't have as much as the Versailles-Chantiers train.
For suburb trains , go to www.ratp.fr , and try the itinerary with either Versailles Chantiers or Versaille Rive Gauche , because I know they have 2 stations there(I know nothing of these , I take my car and it's 20minutes away from home!!
But if you want to do it all in a day , you'll probably make it !

Thank you all very much for all the info. It will be very helpful, a first time trip to Europe can be quite stressful to plan.

Thanks Again,

Joe