day trips from Paris
 

Let me try this again-I made an error when typing my email address. We are interested in exploring France a bit. Does anyone have suggestions on day trips from Paris? I'm also interested in finding out more about the TGV. Thanks.

Good morning, Karen <BR>French RR can be found on: <BR>www.sncf.fr <BR>www.raileurope.com/ <BR>One place not to miss s a day trip out of Paris is Chartres, I feel worth the <BR>trip.. Richard of Hickory Hills, Il...

How about Barbizon? Painters went there to escape the smog of industrial Paris and founded "The Barbizon School" in art. It is nestled in the forrest of Fountainbleu. The homes there are interesting to strool past; there are restaurants and on weekends there are street fairs from time to time. We stayed at a hotel where the Duke & Duchess of Windsor stayed and had a delightful, though mystery, meal called "The Daubigny". I have no idea what I ate because it wasn't long deceased. The next day I ordered salmon like to locals at a nearby table. The chef is famous, we're told. There is a wonderful art glass & antique shop there. Its a nice weekend spot.

Day trips from Paris Hmmmmm <BR>Versailles, Giverny, Reims & Epernay, Chartres, Normandy (long day),Brugges (believe it or not you can do it through Paris Vision but another long day), Chateaux in the Loire Valley. As for the TGV, I took it from Bruxelles to CDG and it was great. What exactly do you want to know?

The book "Day Trips - France" is very helpful, with many day trips from Paris, transportation (train) directions, maps of the suggested towns, even dining suggestions.

For those who cannot get enough of "Le Raton"...Eurodisneyland. Be sure to have on hand bokoo bucks, though.

<BR>I would suggest Chartres, Versailles or Vaux-le-Vicomte, and Giverny. If you do a search on any of those on this forum you will find recent information, transportation,strategies, <BR>pros and cons. <BR>Here are a couple of web sites <BR>www.giverny.org/ <BR>www.chateauversailles.fr/ <BR>You can also do daytrips to cities such as Rouen (cathedral), Rheims (cathedral and champagne makers),Dijon and Lyon, but those will be longer days. <BR>

when i studied in paris for a month 10 years ago, i took a train to eparney and reims in the champagne region of france. eparney is a small town where they make dom perignon/moet et chandon wine. you can tour the caves, which run all throughout the town, and get to sip champagne at the end of the tour and buy souvenirs. in reims, there is a nice cathedral. it's about an hour or so by train, i recall. i suspect you take the gare de l'est, but not sure. i also have taken the day trips to chartres (beautiful cathedral, known for its incredible blue stained glass windows--an hour by train) and versailles, which is only 1/2 hour on the train.

Tours is an easy day trip from Paris on the TGV and is a great base from which to explore the castles of the Loire Valley, which are gorgeous. Don't know much about the TGV except I think it stands for "Train a Grand Vitesse" which translates to High Speed Train -- very fast, smooth ride.