Paris Day Trips
 

Now that we have our apartment and time frame of being in Paris , I am trying to narrow down a few day trips. We will be in Paris , arriving early morning 10/24/18 and flying back on 11/14/18. This will be our ninth time in Paris, so a few day trips are in order.
I am interested in these three cities so far:
Lille
Rouen
Colmar

Interested in history and food. Prefer no longer than an 2.5 hour train ride. We have already been to Strasbourg twice so that is not on the list.
Pros/Cons of the cities above .. Any suggestions on other cities to visit instead.

Additionally, any suggestions on unique experience in Paris. We plan a market/cooking class so far. I think we will be booking with Le Foodist. - They appear to have the best reviews.

Thanks

If you're limiting it to cities, I'd add:

Bordeaux, Rennes, Dijon, and Poitiers

Well all those cities are long train trips but under 2.5 hours except perhaps Colmar - be sure to book far in advance to get discounted tickets at www.oui.sncf - other cities would include Reims for Champagne tours and cathedral and neat city and Nancy - to me a completely unherladed city with one of Europe's largest and most amazing town squares in Place Stanislaus. www.seat61.com has loads of info on booking own discounted train tickets - general info where to go by trains also www.ricksteves.com and BETS-European Rail Experts. Chartres would be another great city- sweet regional town but world-famous cathedral.

Colmar for a day would not be that great IMO - oh nice old smaller town but real attraction is going to the little wine towns nearby on the Alsace Wine Road.

I've been to all the cities mentioned here - and I prefer St Cirq's list over your choices - except for Rouen (one of my favorites). Colmar is nice - but a quick visit and similar to Strasbourg. I was disappointed with Lille. Another choice would be Nancy if you like Art Nouveau. Go early and have breakfast at the Excelsor next to the train station and lunch or coffee at Place Stanislaus.

Stu Dudley

Lyon too, of course. A day trip won't be enough time to visit the sites most people want to visit. Perhaps just visit Old Lyon and the Traboules there.
https://www.francetoday.com/learn/hi...n_s_traboules/

Stu Dudley

London is just a few hours away too!

We enjoyed Reims. We spent the night but on one of our Champagne tours we had day trippers from Paris.

Chartres is about 1.5 hours. Leave from Montparnasse train station. Sweet town, gorgeous Cathedral. You can check about tours and timing.

Have a great time.

Chartes Cathedral has the opportunity to take one of Malcom Miller's legendary tours of the cathedral - worth the trip alone.

Another vote for Chartres. Also for Nancy - see: https://www.fodors.com/community/8666981-post27/ and https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...-hot-in-nancy/

Also photos, not edited: https://kwilhelm.smugmug.com/Travel/France-2009/Nancy/

As a fellow foodie I just wanted to mention two of my favorite Paris blogs if you aren't already reading them. Both have great restaurant suggestions:

https://www.davidlebovitz.com/ (ex-Chez Panisse pastry chef)

https://www.alexanderlobrano.com (ex Gourmet restaurant writer and food critic)

I was going to post my day trip list but the baffling array of options Fodors has now included to post a reply, which I am sure are wonderful for many folks, has rendered me unable to post my day trip list. Alas, all I can do is post a link to a thread where you can see my list of over a dozen easy to reach day trips near to Paris. With few exceptions these places all have fixed fare train tickets so you can wait until the best weather day for your trip. The 3 places you want to visit and all the other suggestions you've been given, with the exception of Chartres, will require that you buy your train tickets 3 months in advance to get the cheapest fares, which are non-exchangeable and non-refundable.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi....html#87947453

Have you looked at the book An Hour from Paris by Annabel Simms? Our edition was old -- last updated in 2010 -- but had great suggested places to go. We used it in 2015 and 2016 to guide us to Senlis and Crecy-la-Chapelle, and both day trips were wonderful. There is a 2017 edition available that was updated in June 2016 and a Kindle version as well.

For anyone who has been to Paris a bunch of times, this is a great book to introduce you to the many nearby towns that are worth visiting.

ssander

There is also Ina Caro's "Paris to the Past"

I will second (or third?) Rouen. Lovely town, interesting architecture, we loved the food. DW and I went in 2015 on a lark from Paris and loved it so much that we incorporated two days on our 2016 trip.

Day four here in Paris and we were just saying how glad we were that we ditched the day trip plan. We are plenty busy. There is so much to see and do here so don't overthink it. My husband did the French resistance walking tour today. He is going to take us back and show us a few things we would find interesting as we explore the Marais area. Concert Saturday night. We leave Tuesday and we are running out of time. Our third time here but it is never enough.

Hi macros,
Can you give me or recommend a 7-day itinerary of PARIS? what to do where to go etc. food/restaurant. what hotel did you book?
thanks.

Honestly, gemini, Maross is ON VACATION and makes it plain she's busy in Paris, and you think she is going to take time off to be your travel agent? Hit the books and do your own research.

Sorry Gemini, some posters here have no sense of common decency, and throw crap bombs as a reference to their ego. If you stay on Fodor’s, you quickly identify those folks that don’t think that Fodor’s is a place to get advice. Once you do, simply scroll past their posts when you see their names.

As for 7 day itineraries, it can be all over the map, depending upon your interests. My suggestion would be to make sure you select no more than one “major” site per day or half day (depending upon your stamina and likelihood of returning to Paris) and set that as your starting point.

From there, you can then identify sites you would find interesting that are near the main point, and play it by ear. If it’s your first visit, I’d start with a Seine Tour on a boat like Vedettes de Pont Neuf. It will give you a short overview of the city, describing points along the Seine.

large sites like the Louvre will or can take several days to completely tour, but a 5-6 hours will allow you to see all the major areas and highlights. While the Orangerie and Orsay are both close to the Louvre, I’d not recommend either on the same day as the Louvre.

An an example for me would be say Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle back to back. While both churches, they are so distinctly different that the contrasts are the highlight. They’re both on the islands, and very close. If you’re incredibly energetic, adding the Conciergerie at the end of the day would fit the local theme.

Id also bunch the Sacre Cour and Montmartre - Place du Tertre at the same day/ Times.

Another grouping might be the Eiffel Tower and either the Musee de l’Armee or maybe Musee Rodin on the same day. I would also recommend Cafe Constant bear the Tower for lunch.

The Pompidou center is an interesting museum in the Marais district. The marais is rather large, and loaded with interesting places.

StCirq has a point. Plus, the seven day itinerary I would plan for myself might bore the OP to tears. S/he needs to spend some time with guidebooks and identify what s/he wants to see and how long they might take. I would never spend six hours in the Louvre, although I might come close in the Museum of Decorative Arts - YMMV. Then s/he might ask for some help with grouping and public transport.