Day trips from Paris
 

We will be in Paris for 10 days the week after Easter in April this year. We are 2 couples in our early 70’s that love to travel. Everyone in our group has been to Paris at least 2 times. We are planning a slow & enjoyable trip seeing the sites, eating & drinking. We would like to plan a day trip or possibly 2 and would like some recommendations for 1-2 hour train rides. We have been to Versailles, Giverny, and Bayeax. Would love to hear your suggestions!

Chartres!

Did the day trip to Bayeux include a tour of the Normandy beaches and other important aspects of the battles? If not, I would suggest spending the day on an Overlord tour.

Chantilly
Canal boat ride on the Canal St Martin

Nancy, Metz, Strasbourg

Chartres, famous for its 13th century cathedral, a World Heritage site, but it has many other medieval buildings, and a nice park.

You can visit several Loire castles without a car, by taking the train to Blois. There you can catch a bus that will take you to one of several castles, including Chambord. When we did it, you could use it as a hop-on, hop-off bus, and if you got to Blois early enough, you could visit three castles. We managed only two. I don't know if it still has this possibility.

https://www.remi-centrevaldeloire.fr...u-de-chambord/

Consider day trips to Reims (Champagne region) or Rouen (historic Normandy city)—both are around an hour by train and offer great food, history, and charm.

If there is any interest in World War 1 history the Musee de la Grande Guerre Musee de Meaux is worth a trip. It's the largest in Europe. It has a focus of everyday military life during the war. Lots of film clips, weapons, uniforms from many countries and more. It's in Meaux and an easy trip from Paris, train and then a bus.

Attractive suburbs and closer in day trip options: Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Rambouillet. Chantilly. Beauvais (the Beauvais cathedral celebrates its 800th anniversary this year)

Longer option: Angers

My favorite daytrips from Paris have been to Auvers-sur-Oise for Van Gogh sites, Chartres for the stunning cathedral, Nancy for the impressive Place Stanislas and Art Nouveau sites and museums, and Provins for its medieval architecture and ramparts.
Rail travel to Provins and Auvers-sur-Oise is included with a Navigo pass. The Navigo pass also includes Meaux, site of the excellent Musée de la Grande Guerre recommended in a previous post.

Thanks for all the day trip suggestions! K-Marie, yes, we did tour Normandy when we were in Bayeaux & enjoyed it very much. I’m going to do some research on Reims, Rouen,Strasbourg, & other suggested towns. Looking forward to seeing what they each offer.

If you go to Meaux, I recommend looking at the Tourism Office Calendar of events, as well as you could consider other activities:

https://www.meaux-marne-ourcq.com/en...ties/calendar/

I would agree on either Chartres as well as Rouen. Haven't been to Reims but hope to get there.Chartres Cathedral is pretty amazing. Rouen has quite a lot to offer, is very walkable although we drove there en route to Normandy so don't have any reference regarding the train. Rouen is also well known for it's dining.

Fontainebleau


Provins


Vux-le-Vicomte

I second Rouen. Dijon is 90 minutes away, could add Beaune as well that day. Lyon is 2 hours.

Paris to the Past by Ina Caro describes day trips by train from Paris as travels back in time with the historic contexts. Also included are locations within Paris.

Really enjoyed our day trip to Provins......the eagle show was pretty amazing....!

Michael, thanks for sharing your photos. I enjoyed seeing them! So many great suggestions from fellow Fodorites!

K Marie, I purchased the book Paris to the Past on Amazon. Looking forward to reading it soon. Thanks for recommending it!

I'd visited Versailles and Fontainebleu last year, and preferred Fontainebleu. Here was a list of day trips I'd bookmarked last year: https://www.timeout.com/paris/en/thi...ips-from-paris
Have fun planning!

You’re running short on time now, but I would recommend you try to get a hold of Annabel Simms’ An Hour From Paris and the more recent companion piece Half Hour From Paris, which, combined, describe 35 different day trips you could take from Paris centre ville. Each includes how to get to the trip destination and what you might do when you get there, and more.

These two books are indeed excellent - I have done most of her trips.

Thanks for the book recommendation, Bill and Cindy. I ordered it from Amazon & will get it tomorrow. It looks like it will be very helpful! We leave in just 4 weeks!

Day trip to Champagne. Train to Reims is 2 hours and the scenery (and champagne!) is well worth it.

We are now home after a wonderful 10 days in Paris! We kept busy everyday & ended up having just 1 day to leave the city. We decided to go to Reims, a short train ride. We found it to be just the right town to get out of the crazy crowds of Paris. We enjoyed wandering the town & visiting the basilica & cathedral, both were lovely. We’re not champagne lovers, but decided to go to a champagne vineyard. It was a perfect day to sit & drink champagne & wander around. Enjoyed some very good gelato before hoping the train back to the city. Next time we’ll plan to visit more of the towns recommended. Thanks for all your suggestions!

Thanks for returning to tell us how the trip went! I wish everyone would do that.

So good to hear!

This trip was a little different for us. We rented an air b&b in the Marias district for 10 days. Normally we train from town to town. Last year we were in Spain & Portugal for 25 days. 4 locations in Spain & 2 in Portugal; mostly 3 & 4 nts in each location with exception of 2 nts in Codoba. By the time we got to our last location of Lisbon, we were beat. So, staying 10 days in 1 location was wonderful. Now we’re looking at possibly going to Germany next year. We’ll need to do lots of research on that. It would be nice if we could select 1 or 2 locations to use as a home base & do day trips to small towns from there. Does anyone have any experience traveling Germany?

fluff224,

I've enjoyed reading your post and all your plans! I loved getting ideas for day-trips for my next trip to Paris, so thanks!

I live in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and travel a lot by train around Bavaria, the rest of Germany, and Switzerland. I'm happy to help you plan. But of course, it will be best if you start a new thread, as there are many knowledgeable folks who may not be reading this!

Have fun as you plan!

s

You need a new thread for useful responses about Germany. A Paris thread won't do well.