maryanntex

A friend and I (both women in our 60s--one very fit and active, one average for age) are planning a trip to Paris this summer for 10-12 days. We have both been to Paris previously, and would like to combine several days there with one or two other cities in France and/or several day trips out of Paris and/or several overnight trips out of Paris. We like art, food, scenery, history, music. Suggestions?

travelingnomad13

Amsterdam? 3.5 hours by Thalys train.

justineparis

London 2.5 hours by Eurostar

Loire Valley - perhaps Amboise or Tours, rent a car to tour area and Chateau, or even take bus tours if you don't want to drive.

Nice-5.5 hours by train, this is a long one, but if you can push trip to 12 days and fly home from Nice it would be worth it, Nice is a great base city for area, you can take city bus to Cannes, Eze, Antibes, Monaco for ONE euro,, nice fun daytrips.

Daytrips-Versailles( my fave)
Chantilly( great museum in the Chateau,never crowded)
Fontainbleu
Provins
Chartes
Eperneray( tour some Champane houses maybe)
Riems, ditto above plus see Cathederal
Monets Gardens in Giverny

justineparis

Oh forgot, Brugges,, not my cuppa ,, but many seem to love it.

nytraveler

Head for Alsace - easy with TGV to Strasbourg - and you get France with a distinct German flavor. Good for 3 or 4 days between Strasbourg, Colmar and the wine road with a host of cute villages.

The Loire is also chaming, and fascinating - but you really need to do it by car.

Amsterdam and Brugge are also good options doable by train and public transit.

Gretchen

I think 10-12 is your total time and you've been to Paris before. We have had that kind of time period and did a Normandy trip prior to coming back to Paris for the last 6 or so days.
Or, for our next trip which I hope is this year, we'll go to Provence for X days and back to Paris.
There are a LOT of day trips--I keep wanting to do the Auvers-sur-Oise (don't hold me to it!!--Van Gogh/Impressionism).
Lyon for a gastronomy "tour" for a couple of days.

MmePerdu

I would also suggest the Loire chateaux, likely best done on a tour or by car. Or Burgundy, Dijon and Beaune, easily visited by train.

The Loire is justifiably famous for it's castles and gardens and I don't believe any other part of France is as blessed with as many beautiful places in so small an area.

Dijon is a city with a delightful and ancient city center. Beaune is much smaller with a lovely walled town center and in the heart of the Burgundy wine region. Moderately priced small tours of local vineyards are available and can be booked at the tourist office.

MmePerdu

I should also mention that both Burgundy and the Loire Valley, as you may know, are quite close to Paris so little time would be spent getting there. I see no reason whatever to leave France with such interesting places so near to Paris.

maryanntex

Thanks so much for these suggestions! I may check back when I have more specific questions.

FrenchMystiqueTours

There are so many possibilities based on what you are looking for and all the suggestions you've been given are good ones. Keep in mind that if you want to go somewhere on a train that requires seat reservations (all TGV trains and many Intercités trains) you'll need to purchase your train tickets at least 3 months in advance to get the cheapest ticket prices. So this will be true for Loire, Burgundy, Amsterdam, Alsace etc.

There are loads of day trips you can make from Paris that won't require advanced train ticket purchase as they have fixed prices and the round trip train fares can be anywhere between 10€ and 30€ more or less.

Here is a list that summarizes many of the most popular day trips from Paris. Only Rouen and Reims would require advanced train ticket purchase for the cheapest fares. Most of these trips are between 30 minutes to 1+ hours by train from Paris. There are certainly many other day trips you could do but this list covers most of the biggies:

Provins (an authentic walled medieval town): http://www.provins.net/

Château of Chantilly (wonderful fairytale château, famous art collection): http://www.chateaudechantilly.com/fr/
http://www.chantilly-tourisme.com/

Senlis (small medieval town can be combined with a visit to Chantilly):
http://www.senlis-tourisme.fr/accueil-senlis.php

Reims (champagne tours, great historic cathedral, museums):
http://www.reims-tourisme.com/

Epernay (champagne tours): http://www.ot-epernay.fr/

Fontainebleau (former royal town with famous château):
http://www.musee-chateau-fontainebleau.fr/
http://www.fontainebleau-tourisme.com/
http://www.uk.fontainebleau-tourisme.com/

Versailles (obvious):
http://en.chateauversailles.fr/homepage
http://www.versailles-tourisme.com/en/accueil.html

Château of Vaux-le-Vicomte (the château after which Louis XIV based his garden renovations for Versailles and IMO one of the most elegant château in France):
http://www.vaux-le-vicomte.com/
http://www.vaux-le-vicomte.com/en/vi...aires_plan.php

Rouen (small city, lots to do, wonderful cathedral, medieval old center): http://www.rouentourisme.com/

Giverny (Monet's house and gardens):
http://www.fondation-monet.fr/fr/
http://giverny.org/giverny/giverny.htm
http://www.vernon-visite.org/rgb4/who_we_are.htm

Chartres (the famous cathedral and wonderful old medieval town):
http://www.chartres-tourisme.com/en

http://www.discover-chartres.com/

Malcolm Miller Cathedral Tours:

Daily tours of Chartres Cathedral from Easter until late October are at 12 noon and 2.45 p.m. Not on Sundays, and during the winter occasionally or on request.
E-mail address is [email protected].

Compiègne (château with museums, wonderful old town. Can be combined with a visit to the château of Pierrefonds): http://www.compiegne-tourisme.fr/

Château of Pierrefonds (Magnificent fairytale looking château. Reconstructed in the 19th century but magnificent nonetheless. Can be combined with a visit to Compiègne):
http://www.pierrefonds.monuments-nationaux.fr/
http://pierrefonds-tourisme.net/ot/Bienvenue.html
http://www.compiegne-tourisme.fr/Le-...errefonds.html

Troyes (lovely small medieval city):
http://www.tourisme-troyes.com/

Laon (medieval hilltop town with a spectacular cathedral): http://www.tourisme-paysdelaon.com/

Crécy-la-Chapelle (small charming renowned artists village):
http://www.cc-payscrecois.fr/Crecy-la-Chapelle,203.html

Moret-sur-Loing (charming walled medieval village/artists village):
http://www.ville-moret-sur-loing.fr/rubrique.php?id=189
http://www.msl-tourisme.fr/index.php/francais/accueil

Auvers-sur-Oise (Van Gogh and other impressionist art history):
http://www.auvers-sur-oise.com/heading/heading899.html

Malmaison (château of the Empress Josephine and a nice old downtown. On the RER A line and could be combined with a visit to Saint-Germain-en-Laye):
http://www.chateau-malmaison.fr/
http://www.rueil-tourisme.com/

Saint-Germain-en-Laye (former royal town with a wonderful château now home to the national museum of archaeology. On the RER A line and could be combined with a visit to Malmaison):
http://www.ot-saintgermainenlaye.fr/en/
http://www.saintgermainenlaye.fr/en/...ulture/musees/

Barbizon (famous artists village, can be combined with Fontainebleau):
http://www.barbizon-tourisme.fr/

These are the most popular day trips and all are worthwhile but there are many other less popular and equally worthy day trips. I could easily list a couple dozen more but only if what's on this list doesn't interest you. A good guide book for the Île-de-France region should give you more ideas.

You'll need to take a train from Paris to do these day trips. For info on trains in Paris and the nearby suburbs (métro and RER trains) use the website www.ratp.fr. Use the interactive map on this website to plan your trip: http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/carteidf.php?lang=uk. Parts of this website are in French so you can use an English language companion site www.vianavigo.com. For trains that go a bit further out in the Île-de-France region use the website www.transilien.com. For trains that go further beyond the Île-de-France use the website www.voyages-sncf.com (in French only) or www.tgv-europe.com. A great website to learn about trains in France (and Europe) is www.seat61.com if you have any train questions/problems.

Paris and many of the places nearby in Île-de-France are divided into zones, numbered 1 through 5. Paris is in zone 1 and areas outside Paris are in zones 2 through 5. Some of the destinations I mentioned are in zone 5. For these journeys it will be more cost effective to buy a one day Mobilis pass for 15.20€ for zones 1 through 5. This will be cheaper than the point to point tickets round trip. Plus, this pass is good for unlimited travel on all public trains and buses for one day in zones 1-5. Buy it first thing in the morning before your first métro ride and it gets you to your train station, your round trip tickets, any buses you need to use at your destination and any traveling you'll do in Paris when you return. Before you use the ticket make sure to write your name and the date on the ticket. Don't forget to stick your ticket in the composting machine (ticket validation machine) before getting on your train. You can buy these passes from the ticket machines in métro/RER stations. Sometimes these machines have an English language option. If so, look for the one day Mobilis pass option. When you get to the screen that lists your zones to choose from press zone 1 and then press zone 5. You can also buy them at any ticket counter or stores that sell RATP tickets. They are good for 60 days so you can buy it in advance if you want to be prepared. It's not valid until you write your name and date on it and validate the ticket on your first métro/RER trip or at the train station.

Some of the day trips I mentioned will require a bus transfer once you arrive at the train station. If you choose one of these I can help you with bus info.

FrenchMystiqueTours

Since the Loire was mentioned I'll just throw out a couple of tidbits about that. While it would be best to have a rental car to visit the châteaux here it is not absolutely necessary. If you based in Tours then the tourist office offers many day trip excursions in minivan to explore the châteaux and/or do wine tasting. If you base in Tours make sure you are located near the old downtown in Place Plumereau as outside of this area Tours is a fairly built-up and modern city. You could even just make this a day trip if you want.

The TGV will get you to Tours in an hour. You want to arrive in Tours Centre, not the train station Saint-Pierre-des-Corps. The tourist office is right across from the train station and that is where you'll pick-up your tour. Here is the weblink for the Tours tourist office. Click the tab on the left that says "Excursions" and you'll find all the info you need about their excursions.

http://www.tours-tourisme.fr/index_en.php

If you decide on this you'll need to use the TGV website to buy/reserve your tickets. For info on these trains use the website www.tgv-europe.com for schedules and prices. Don't forget to uncheck the box marked "Direct Trains" to see all possible options. If the TGV site redirects you to the RailEurope website then try again and enter "Antarctic" as your ticket collection country. Other countries may also work but just try to find a country that doesn't get you redirected to RailEurope. The RailEurope website often doesn't show all the trains and generally has higher prices but you can check just to compare.

For trains that require reservations you can buy tickets up to 3 months or more in advance and the earlier you buy them the cheaper they will be. The discounted tickets are known as PREM tickets but these are non-refundable and can't be exchanged.

Here is a website that will tell you how to navigate the TGV website:

http://www.nickbooth.id.au/Tips/FrenchTrain.htm

An excellent website to learn all about train travel in Europe is www.seat61.com.

tdk320n

TTT

yestravel

We just spent a week in Lyon and loved it. Click on my name to read our TR. we also spent four nights in Dijon and its a charming town.

Waldo

Once you leave Paris, everyplace else is Philadelphia. There just ain't no place like Paree! Stay there!