kperez8789

My daughter and I are staying in Paris for 5 days in early July. Please suggest someone to use for day tour trips. I am looking for a semi-private guide.

Thank you.

StCirq

I don't understand the concept of "semi-private guide," but that said there are dozens and dozens of day trips you can make from Paris. Just plug that into the search engine here and you'll see innumerable threads about the possibilities. With only 5 days in Paris, though, unless you've been there many times before, I wouldn't advise more than one trip out of the city.

Michel_Paris

Semi-private means...?

What are your interests?

What is the layout of your trip? Are you in Paris for 5 full days, or arriving Day 1, leaving Day 5?

Not to dissuade you, but if this is a first trip, I might kindly suggest that there is lots to see in Paris, you will not have nay trouble flling 5+ days.

There are a couple of things you could do. Versailles is do-able as a combo solo/guided visit. Take train to Versailles, then join guided visit of chateau, then tour grounds on your own.

Similarly, Chartres is a train ride away, followed by a 'famous' tour given by local eccentric.

Or..

http://fattirebiketours.com/paris

They have outside Paris tours.

Christina

I suppose it means a small group. Do you know French pretty well? Because I often take the tours led by French guides listed in the entertainment weekly guides (eg, Pariscope) under "conferences", and those tours never have more than about 6-10 people on them. They have a lot of good itineraries, such as Latin Qtr, St Germain, Ile St Louis, and more unusual things, also.

I know the usual day tour companies are Parisvision and Cityrama. YOu can check their websites to see if they have small groups tours, they might. I would look at their tours in "minivan" as they would have to be a fairly small group (vs. bus).
http://en.parisvision.com/33-excursions-minivan.htm

http://www.pariscityrama.com/
I took a cityrama tour to Vaux le Vicomte as it isn't as easy to get to as some other places, and it was fantastic. The guide was excellent and there weren't that many people on it. I wouldn't call it "semi-private", but not sure what difference it makes if there are 5 or 15 (it was more like the latter).

FrenchMystiqueTours

There are loads and loads of great day trips you can do from Paris on your own that won't require a guide. If you're more comfortable with a guide that's fine. With only 5 days in Paris I would probably only choose one. But let me give you something to consider.

Here is a brief list that summarizes many of the most popular day trips from Paris. There are certainly many others you could also 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, can be combined with Reims): http://www.ot-epernay.fr/

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

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

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/

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/

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

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


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. Parts of this website are in French so you can use an English language companion site www.parisbytrain.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 14 euros 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.

lainie2285

Wow,that is alot of valuable information.We are going to Paris for trip 8 in June,and I am always looking for different things to do.We have never ventured outside of Paris,except for a trip to Versailles and to Reims for champagne.I would like to take a train and visit one of these great castles,thanks for the help..

jent103

FrenchMystiqueTours, I just wanted to say a huge thank you for compiling that list! I'm likely to be in Paris for a week or so next month and have been searching for day trip ideas, but it's so nice to have so many in one list to look at. Thank you!

excited_confused

Yes, and thanks for the bus/train pass tips too!

FrenchMystiqueTours

Much obliged folks.

lantana

Whoa - thank you FrenchMystiqueTours!!

MmePerdu

Just got a lovely book from the library called 'An Hour from Paris', by Annabel Simms. If one from the list above is the one for you don't bother. This book is for those of you, like me, who want a trip out of the city that you're likely to be sharing with relatively few other people. More low key, less splashy and touristy (at least for the moment). If we hurry we still might have a nice quiet day from the great selection provided.

tuscanlifeedit

FMT: how wonderful; thank you.

2010

I also would like to thank FrenchMystiqueTours for a great list of day trips & links - most informative! We are planning a 10-night stay in Paris and hope to take a day (or maybe two days!) to go outside of the city.

FrenchMystiqueTours

Thanks folks. That list was just a warm up and I could have made it about 4 times as long. Even though I don't have the One Hour from Paris book I'm familiar with most of the places in it and I could probably create my own list of less visited and quieter places if anyone wants to hear a few. Honestly though, the list I gave is pretty good if you haven't been to a lot of those places.

But just for fun one of my favorite little towns outside of Paris is called Crépy-en-Valois and it's on a direct train from Gare du Nord and only takes 35-40 minutes to reach. I can assure you I was the first non-French tourist to visit that town and if you go you'll be the second. Here is the tourist office website:

http://www.valois-tourisme.fr/

And I made a report about biking in that area starting in Crépy so if you want to see some photos of it and learn about its history and what to see and do there have a look:

http://tinyurl.com/6snrf3q

Gretchen

With only 5 days, a day trip is certainly a matter of taste--but as St. Cirq said, if you've never been before, there is more than enough to do IN Paris.
Giverney and Chartres would be my choices for ease of access and if an organized tour is desired, it's available to arrange from Paris.

nwtraveler

Bookmarking for the wonderful list provided by FMT.

plafield

Thanks so much for all that wonderful information! We were planning to check out St. Germaine en Laye next visit and now I think we'll combine it with a trip to Malmaison.

TPAYT

bookmarking

FrenchMystiqueTours

plafield - I would go first to whichever of those towns interests you most and then see how much time you have left to visit the other. The RER stop in Rueil-Malmaison is a bit over 1km to the old downtown and then to walk to the château is about 1.5km. Bus 27 goes from the RER stop to the downtown and to the château. Here's a link to the bus website but it's in French. Let me know if you need help with it.

http://www.idf.veolia-transport.fr/h...traverciel_213

If you go to Rueil first I believe the Malmaison château website suggests you go to La Défense and then take a bus from there to the château. If you want to see what the towns of Saint-Germain and Rueil-Malmaison look like you can check out my report (lots of photos) which covers those towns and some others nearby:

http://tinyurl.com/2fa3qsf

Christina

I think combining St Germain-en-Laye and Malmaison in one day may be a bit much but I guess that depends on whether you don't want to do much in St Germain-en-Laye. If you don't want to go to any of the museums, or only one briefly, that would work. I did only go to the chateau in Rueil-Malmaison, spent a couple hours there, I suppose. They used to have a little tourist train that went around Rueil-Malmaison in the spring/summer months which I think was free.

If you are going to Malmaison first, I think it's a tossup as to whether going to La Defense and then the bus is better than the RER and then whatever you want to do from that point (bus or taxi).