My daughter and I will be in Paris and Barcelona each for 5 days. I would love some ideas on a nice day trip that we can take by train from each of those cities.

Thanks.

It would help us to recommend something if you mentioned your interests.

Some ideas:

Chantilly
Fountainbleu
Versaille

It makes for a very long day from Paris, but Mont St Michel is amazing. My husband and I took a trip from Paris when we were there last winter. It wasn't too crowded at that time of year, but I can see how it might be packed during tourist season.

An answer to jamikins post, we are open to any really charming town but would also like to go to a chateau for winetasting.

If you type "paris and day trip" into the text box at the top of this page, you will pull up dozens of threads on this topic; fewer for Barcelona, but you should get something.

My favorite daytrip from Paris is Chartres.

I'm a Chartres type of gal myself, but 2 others on my list "to do" are Provins and Rouen.

I've done Angers at a "day trip" on the TGV -- but I had someone showing me around at the other end.

Rouen is amazing, i LOVED the city, Versailles, if ur in Paris u have to visit Versaille, Fontainbleu is supposed to be nice, never been there myself, and chartres. althoug by train anything is a day trip so i recommend Mont St. Michel, St. Malo, Rennes, Lille, some of the Loire valley chateaux are nice too.

Most of the well known wine châteaux are in the Bordeaux and Burgundy regions, too long for just a day trip. You might, however, check out the Champagne region. I'm sure someone here can provide additional information for you.

Rouen is great - has a bit of everything except a castle - 3 great cathedrals, clock tower, half-timbered buildings, museums, etc. Plus a great mint chocolate sundae in the outdoor cafe next to the Notre Dame Cathedral. If you'd like my day-trip report to Rouen, please e-mail me at [email protected]

Hi
From Paris, we took the train to Dijon. It was a very ice daytrip, a lot to see and savor.
From Barcelona, a trip to mount Montesserat was pretty amazing.
good luck

Lille is the European cultural capital 2004. There are a lot of exhibitions and special things to see. By TGV or Thalys it's less than an hour from Paris.

But, if you prefere the real French scenery, I'd suggest to see a castle in the Loire region.
Blois or Amboise. These are 2 castles situated in the center of the city. There are a lot of other even more beautiful castles, like Chambord and Chenonceaux, but difficult to reach without a car.

I just did a little research -- Blois does seem to be easily accessible by rail, but Amboise is described as 15km away from Tours ...