I was just about to sign up for our apt.. and thought.. will seven days be enough? we could do ten..can you take trips by tour etc somewhere ..where would that be...or should we leave and go somewhere else for three days? not too far away.. and then fly back..thanks..

Hi C,

When are you going to Paris?

May I suggest that you focus your thoughts on your visit to Paris and not on where else you might go?

It will make your planning much easier.

we are going next may/June....

Ira you and I chatted many times,I blieve ,on my trip to Italy a few years ago.. I see you are still traveling!!

Our plan at the moment was juts the one week ..then fly home.. that is why the question.. if we should stay longer..

Hi C,

>we are going next may/June.

A very good time to go.

If you can extend your visit to 10 days, there are a number of places you could visit as daytrips from Paris.

Versailles, Chartres, Giverny, Fontainbleau, Malmaison, Dijon (overnight), Auxerre.....

cb: For me, time in Paris flies by and I can never have enough. Yes, I believe that there are many tours: D Day sites, Fontainbleu, and probably a zillion I can't think of.

We have done Versailles and Chartres on our own. Both are very easy, with so many sets of instructions in various guide books.

I've heard the search engine here on Fodors isn't working that great, but if you put day trips from Paris in the search box, you might find many.

There's a book called, I believe, An Hour from Paris, that talks about many excursions from Paris.

Since you have extra time, if I were in your shoes, I might think about a week in Paris and 3 days in Normandy.

If you have the time & money to stay longer, why wouldn't you do that?

Stay in Paris 10 days, then take the TGV to Avignon & visit Provence for a week. Then take the TGV back towards Paris, stopping in Dijon for 1 day & night before departing from CDG.

Rent a Gite (house) in Provence so you can shop at the local farmer's market & prepare dinner/lunch for yourself, dip in your private pool to cool off if it's too hot, visit the lovely villages & countryside in Provence, etc.

Perfect trip.

Stu Dudley

May/June's a good time (usually) to be in Paris. My wife and I were there for a week late this May and although the weather for the first 3-days of a week was more April-like than what one expects in May, we hadn't any shortage of things to do. There wasn't exactly a feeling of 'we-didn't-do-X-Y-Z' however I think that extending things out to 10-days if circumstances allow would lend an additional appreciation for Paris that 7 days might not.

You can always make note of the things you wished you'd had time to do so that you can do them on your next trip to Paris. God knows, Mrs. Knickerbocker's got a raft of notes all made up.
The value of spending time wandering aimlessly can't be understated either. We wandered from the Eiffel Tower to St. Germaine with no particular plan and I'd say that was one of the most enjoyable afternoons of the trip

HTH
k

I took the train to Brussels for a day trip one year.

For us, a week is not quite long enough, two weeks is a bit too long, 10-12 days is just right. We typically take two or three day trips during each visit, but not on consecutive days.

There are plenty day-trips you can do from Paris. I felt I saw most of the city itself in 5 days. I scheduled close-by day-trips to Versailles, Fountainbleau, and Chartres.

We also went to Rouen (2 hours away) and Mt. St. Michel (about 2.5 hours away by train and bus). We got back to Paris later at night and had to leave early in the morning but it was still worthwhile.

One week is enough. Happy Travels!

I vote for a week in Paris and 3 days in the Loire. A great time of year to be there - the chateaux are fantastic - and you can even stay in a privately owned chateau (our was a 15th century fortress with walls 5 feet thick).