Day trip outside Paris
 

I am going to paris for ten days and want to spend a day somewhere outside Paris. Maybe Luxembourg? Any suggestions?

Chartres.

I took the train once for the day to lunch in Brussels.

There are many possibilities: Versaille, Chartres (yes!), the Loire Valley, Rouen, Chantilly...what are your interests?

Hi blue,

Giverny, Vaux le Vicomte, Brugge, Beaune, Dijon, Normandy, Mont St. Michele.

Thanks! I won't have transportation, so I want someplace that is pretty accessible by train. I love history and architecture.

For a piece of French history, visit Fontainebleau. It is an easy freelance from Gare de Lyon to Fontainebleau.
The city bus is there to meet the train.
The route leads directly to the chateaux gates.
You can rent an audio guide and take a tour of the buildings and then of the grounds.
Good shopping along the main street.
The bus runs along this street back to the train station.

I would second the Fontainebleau suggestion - lovely town and lovely palace. The nice thing is it is not as touristy as Versailles and you can actually wander the grounds in relative solitude. It is accessible by train to Fontainebleau, then bus out to the palace. A definite must-see! Rouen was a great city full of Joan of Arc lore and its wonderful Gothic cathedrale and architecture.

Great suggestions all,

I would second the recommendation of Normandy and Mt. St. Michel. If you have an overnight and car you may want to add Monet's gardens on the way.

Brian

I also enjoyed a visit to Vaux-le-Vicomte. Quite a bit has been written on this forum about Vaux in years past. This glorious chateau, commissioned by Nicolas Forquet,was designed, landscaped, artistically decorated, and engineered by the 3 men who later brought Versailles into being - le Notre, le Vau, and le Brun.

As an architectural masterpiece, I enjoyed it far more than Versailles because it is a homogenous, artistic accomplishment that is in harmony with itself. Versailles, by contrast, has always been to me an exercise in sheer excess. While Versailles is opulent to the point of vulgarity and lavish to the point of excessive tase, Vaux le Vicomte stands as a beautifully conceived and executed integrated whole where architect and builder, artist and landscaper were able to work their art to the fullest extent.

Vaux served as a haven for artists of the day; Versailles was created with one purpose: to display the wealth and power of the Sun King of France.

The drawback to visiting Vaux is that it is difficult to reach without a car or without taking a guided tour from Paris.

The first time, I took a tour. The second time I tried freelancing it. The tour was well conceived and well executed. The free lance effort caused me to exercise a good bit of freelance ingenuity, but the taxi ride proved relatively costly.

A visit to Vaux as a freelance involves taking commuter train from Gare de Lyon to Melun and taking a taxi from the station to the chateaux because there is no public transportation out there.

An escorted tour is only marginally more expensive and you see other sights and have the narration services of a well informed guide.

It is a beautiful place to visit in the late spring, summer and early fall months, and an escorted tour to it is well worth the money.

A couple of other places for day trips from Paris are Reims and Rouen. We've done them both and found them both doable and rewarding.

I am going to Malmaison next time I'm in Paris. Evidently, its VERY easy to get there on the train. I read its only about 20 minutes away.
(Josephine & Napoleon's home)
You say you enjoy History?

I'm trying to figure out a Paris daytrip for my week-long stay in July.

Would any of these suggested daytrip locations be likely to have a church concert in the middle of the day?

Any specific suggestions for guided day tours of any of these locations?

Thanks SuzieC!..... mostly ancient history but especially anything gothic, and old cemetaries. (i know sounds kinda creepy)lol

I should amend that to say any classical concert during the daytime, rather than just a church concert.

SuzieC: I am a Napoleon scholar and went to Malmaison last month. The best way to reach it from Paris is to take the RER A out to L'Arche de la Defense. Stay in the Metro/RER terminal and walk towards the bus depot. The great thing about the busses there is that the stops are INSIDE the warm building, not outside on a bench. Take the #158 bus to the "Chateau" stop (the stop is on your R side, Malmaison will be across the street on your L side). You have to walk up the long street, then turn R into the chateau. There aren't many tourists there, so it's great. Be sure to walk in the gardens behind the house. While they are sparse, it provides a peaceful solitude.

This question is asked a lot so there have been a lot of threads on them if you want to read them. I think Rouen is a good idea as they have good specimens of Medieval and Renaissance architecture. Luxembourg is an interesting idea (I'm thinking of new day trips myself), but I don't think you can get there for a day trip, it's too far, I imagine. Lyon would be do-able, though, and they have a great relatively new opera house by Nouvel, as well as wonderful architecture from other periods and a good Renaissance-style old quarter, great fountain by Bartholdi, etc I think that would be a great idea.

Willtravel, it is rare to find concerts in the middle of the day, in my experience. They are usually from 4 pm onwards.

Thanks Christina. How about places with later concerts then? So long as they end in time for me to get a train back to Paris, that would work well for me.

How does one get to Normandy and see the beaches using public transportion only?

mdtravel: From Paris, take trains to Bayeux (usually they stop/change in Caen). In Bayeux there are several local tour companies/busses that go out to the DDay coast. We went with 'Bus Fly' tours that took 8 of us in a VW bus for only ~25 euros -- we saw Omaha, Juno and the other landing beaches in the DDay assault, as well as the American Cemetery; and the British War Museum. It was a fascinating trip and terrific going with local Normandy people.