jack

While in Paris I am intending to visit St Chapelle and Notre Dame Cathedrals. I was also thinking of visiting Chartres, and would appreciate any views as to whether it would be worth the trip, or wheher it would be a bit of a let-down after having been to the Paris Cathedrals.<BR>Jack

Ken

By all means go to Chartres - it is a delightful hour train ride from Gare Montparnasse. While the Notre Dame and Sante-Chapelle are beautiful churches, the very mind of the Middle Ages is visible in Chartes. Another church in Paris that you should visit is the Basilique St. Denis.

Gretchen

Go to Chartres and be sure to take the Malcolm Miller tour of the cathedral. I think he gives them at 10AM and 2:45PM.<BR>

David

I'm in the minority on this one, but I didn't care for Chartres all that much. I'd been through the Loire Valley for two weeks in Spring '01 and had seen many churches from simple, Spartan chapels to spectacular cathedrals. Several of my friends had told me how fabulous Chartres was and I just had to go there because it was the best. I made my way over from Chateaudun, walked around in it for 30 minutes and left. I thought it was dark, dank and cold. Compared to other churches it was so dark I felt like I was in a cave. All the stained glass was dark blue and looked the same to me. After what I had previously seen, it just didn't do it for me.<BR><BR>Unfortunately I was not there at a time to take a Malcolm Miller tour. Maybe that would have helped. I'll make it back some day for the Malcolm tour and with lower expectations.

Graziella

I agree with Ken, visiting St Denis is a most rewarding experience both from the architectural point of view, it is the consider the cradel of gothic architecture, and from the historic point of view. Most Kings and Queens of France are buried there.<BR>Regarding Chartes the answer is yes, for me frankly it is not relevant to consider not to visit Chartes because you will be visiting Notre DAME OR THE Sainte Chapelle, the three are beautiful, and very different...now if you are short of time, I would leave one of them for a later trip.

Alice

I really liked the Basilique de St Denis, and it is easy to reach by Metro. Also, we enjoyed walking in the immediate area, windowshopping, etc. The crypts are very interesting at St Denis, and also to note that it is older than Paris' Notre Dame.<BR>We also took the train once to Chartre, and enjoyed one of Malcolm Miller's sessions, which focused on the some of the history of the building, but mostly on the stained glass windows, of which the blue color is supposed to be very unique (at its time). Chartres has a charming inner city to walk in, follow the river to see some of the old laundry houses. I think it takes about an hour one-way to reach on the SNCF line. I regret to say I missed noticing the labyrinth because the area was covered with folding chairs, and I just forgot to look for it.

Mel

I'm probably in the minority, but I've been to the Notre Dame twice and both times found it dark and cold. The poor lighting makes it difficult to admire the interior architecture. <BR><BR>St. Chapelle, however, I found completely charming and almost mystical in its beauty. <BR><BR>You don't mention the Sacre Couer, however, which is my favorite, and the view of the city from its location on the hill is a bonus.

Susan

I agree completely with Mel. Ste. Chappelle is beautiful, Notre Dame is impressive from the outside but very dark inside, and Sacre Coeur is great. Beautiful mosaics and the design in the dome is amazing!

Christina

I've been to all of them, as well as St-Denis (which I think actually has more history and I believe was the first example of a stained glass rose window, before Chartres). St-Denis is 12th Cen and Chartres and Ste-Chapelle are 13th Cen. I found St-Denis more interesting for a variety of reasons. Of course they are all worth seeing and enjoyable, but unless cathedrals are your particular hobby, I would not visit Chartres if time was tight and there were other things you wanted to see with more variety because of the time that trip will consume. I don't think Chartres will be a let-down, if that's your main concern, unless you are just getting tired of cathedrals and stained glass and want to do something different.

Amy

I too have been to all three. I was underwhelmed by Chartres. After having been mystified by the beauty of Ste. Chappelle's stained glass, Chartres was very dark and extremely cold temperature-wise. However, we were there on a sunless March day. There were absolutely no other people at Chartres and no Malcolm Miller. Had we taken a tour with him, I'm sure it would've been better. For &quot;wow&quot; factor of a cathedral, I would opt for Notre Dame or St. Denis over Chartres. For the train ride and walk from the station to Chartres, it wasn't as good as I hoped.

Kathy

Do visit Chartres in the summer when you can walk the labyrinth inside. Avoid Aug. 15 and other feast days, when they set up extra chairs and cover the labyrinth. And somewhere in the city, there's a self-guided tour that takes you behind the church into the streets and parks to get more history. Most enjoyable.

Ira

Hi Jack,<BR> Do go to Chartres. The stained glass is some of the most beautiful in the world.<BR> Visit the town after seeing the Cathedral.<BR> Take a look at http://www.chartres.com/

nancy

For visiting Chartres, to me the big difference was taking Malcolm Miller's tour and using binoculars to get a close-up of the stories he describes),otherwise, you're just squinting at the glass. Write in the text search Malcolm Miller and you will find a phone number; I called while in Paris to be sure he was there. Otherwise, for great cathedrals and a great day trip, you might consider Rouen (I particularly like St. Ouen). It's only 45 minutes via train. I have a trip report on Rouen if you're interested and will e-mail me directly.<BR><BR>Notre Dame's exterior is terrific and, yes, the interior is very dark but interesting. St. Chapelle, tho' highly praised herein, has beautiful stained glass windows (as does Chartres) but otherwise is not interesting.

jack

Thank you all for your advice. After reading the various comments, I am still not sure whether to make the trip to Chartres, but I will certainly check out Basilique St Denis and Sacre Coeur.<BR>Jack