I'm staying in an apartment near the Opera Garnier. Can someone be so kind as to tell me exactly how to get to Chartres on my own using public transportation? Thank you so much for your help.

Is the closest metro station "Opera" or is it something else. You need to provide your starting point for exact directions.

Metro to Montparnasse train station, local train to Chartres, walk from station to cathedral and around the town.
Montparnasse is a huge metro/train complex so allow lots of time to get from Metro to trian ticket booth and then to the correct platform.

Let's assume you're leaving from the Opera metro station.

Take line 8 in the direction of Balard

Change at La Motte Picquet for Line 4, direction Porte D'Orleans

Exit metro at Montparnasse train station and take the train to Chartres.

Thank you all so much for your quick responses. Yes, I will be leaving from the Opera Metro. I appreciate your help.

If you walk 5 minutes toward Gare Saint Lazare, you can take line 13 direct to Montparnasse (direction "Chatillon-Montrouge")

Thanks, all, for your very clear suggestions. Can't wait to get there.

The scary part for me is what to do once inside Gare Montparnasse.

Suzanne - I'm hoping you're kidding???

If you're not kidding then I would advise you to not be afraid to buy a train ticket and get on a train. After all, if you took the metro to Gare Montparnasse then you have already bought a train ticket and have already boarded a train.

Walking into a big station like that can be overwhelming. You need to find the right ticket windows. Buy the right ticket. Figure out how to get to the right platform and onto the right train. It made me very nervous so we ended up not going to Chartres after all.

We have since taken two trips from London to Paris via the Eurostar. Enjoyed both very much. We also went from CDG to Angers and back to Montparnasse. Our next trip will be from CDG to Avignon and back to Gare Lyon.

It is my goal to become familier with and comfortable with the European train travel.

There is a website called Paris by train that really helped me alot.