Hi, I need some day trip suggestions for my Paris trip in May.

Between Lyon and Dijon, which one is better?

Loire Valley is another option. But withour a car, will that be a problem?

Any other suggestions? Thank you.

How about Champagne? Take the TGV to Reims, taste champagne, visit the Surrender Museum (the room where Germany surrendered to the Allies in WWII), stop by the cathedral (with interesting stained glass windows by Chagall) and do an Art Deco walking tour. You might want to grab a taxi (or public transit) to cover some distances in the city, but a lot of things you'd want to see are walkable.

I vote for Lille -- ha ha -- completely different direction in 55 minutes by TGV.

Or Reims, 45 minutes.

We did two day trips by train, one to Chartres and one to Giverny. Chartres Cathedral is gorgeous, but I particularly liked our day at Giverny. We also went in May, and the wisteria was breathtaking.

We did a day trip to Reims on our recent visit to France. It really is very easy. An enjoyable TGV ride and we pretty much walked everywhere. As it was late November we got a little preoccupied with the Christmas Markets that were on so missed out on the Surrender Museum. However, we did do a winery tour and visited the cathedral etc. We actually had a fantastic time in Reims and our day trip turned out to be much better than expected.

Our original plan was to take an organised day tour up to Reims but after reading posts on this site it seemed easy enough to do it ourselves. I believe we probably saved at least 50 euros each by doing it this way.

We did catch a cab from the winery back to the town centre but we actually could have walked it in the time it took for the cab to arrive.

My top day trips have been :

Reims (loved the Veuve Cliqot tour)

Chartres (great cathedral)

Strasbourg (fast train is great - lots to do)

I wanted to do Malmaisson (country home of Nap. & Jo. last year, but the Nov. strike prevented it)

It's all about how much "energy" you have. Reims and Strasbourg are a full day. Cartres is about a 3/4 casual day and from what I understand malmaisson is a half day. Giverney has been on my list for years but alas the seasons I travel have not wrked out....yet!