stefanieaz

What is an inexpensive day trip from paris that we could take for around $100 apiece.

StCirq

There are literally dozens: Fontainebleau, Vaux-le-Vicomte, Senlis, Chantilly, Versailles, Rouen, Auvers-sur-Oise, Giverny, Barbizon, Chartres, Rouen.........

What are your interests?

Patrick

Maybe I'm misinterpreting, but something in your post suggests to me you're talking about booking some package tour day trip? If so, then don't. If money is a concern, those packages are a lot more money than doing things on your own. St. Cirq has given a good start to selections.
I might also add Reims for champagne tastings and a visit to that interesting city.

brookwood

Fontainebleau and Giverny (train to Vernon) can be done as non tour freelance trips with little difficulty. So can Chartres.

For Fontainebleau, take the train from Gare de Lyon to Fontainebleau Avon station. The schedule is frequent, and sosme of the trains are commuter trains which means you buy your ticket at the station.

Once at the Avon station, you may ride a city bus that runs a regular route from the station along the main street of the town right to the gates of the chateau.

To travel to Vernon, take the train from Gare St. Lazaar, direction Rouen. The express train schedule going out is a little funky, so check it first. (at the moment, 7:29, 8:16, and 12:04. In between, local trains only that are much slower.)

Coming back, the schedule is seemingly ok with a train at 18:04. There are later trains, e.g. 20:42, if you want to have dinner in Vernon.

To travel from the station at Vernon to Giverny, we took a cab because the bus was full and we could share the cost of the cab with another couple.

Fontainebleau is rewarding if you have an interest in history because it was the residence of Napoleon when he was not off battling. It was also a "hunting" lodge for several kings of France.

If you want to see Vaux-le-Vicomte, then I suggest a day tour because Vaux is a little hard to reach with public transportation. The closest rail stop is in the town of Melun, which is on the line to Fontainebleau.

With no bus available, we found that a taxi from the train station to the chateau is an expensive ride. By the time you pay the taxi driver to take you both ways, pay to get in, etc. an organized tour is only a little more.

The first time I visited Vaux, I took a day tour from Paris that enabled us to visit Vaux and Fontainebleau in one day. The services of an expert guide made it worthwhile.

My only objection to the bus tour was that we did not have enough time to wander the grounds of Vaux or the woods at Fontainebleau.

Giverny is good if you are a Monet fan.
If not, then I suggest finding another destination. The gardens get a great deal of publicity, but I am not convinced that they are the best gardens in the world.

As you will read here, there are many options. The two I describe are easily doable for little more than metro fares, train tickets, entry fees, and lunch.

Grandma

I was checking for a visit to Vaux le Vicomte last week and the site indicated that there is now a shuttle from the station to the chateau..."Chateaubus" from June 18 to Oct. 2. Fare 6 Euros RT. Web site is:
www.vaux-le-vicomte.com

Patrick

Good news, Grandma. For some reason it tells me that I can't download or open the schedule. I don't need it now, but mind telling me how often it runs?

nancy

My best day trip from Paris was to Rouen. The train trip was about 45 minutes one way but I don't remember the cost, altho' it was very cheap. Get Steinbicker's Day Trips Paris as it has a very good walking tour. Rouen has 3 great cathedrals, old town, museums, walk along the river, etc. I can send you my day in Rouen diary if you're interested. [email protected]

brookwood

Well, the shuttle from Melun to Vaux does exist. It runs from the train station to the chateau, but ONLY on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays -- July 14 and August 15. The bus operates until October 2, the first Sunday of the month.

The fare is 6€ round trip. Compared with a 25€ taxi ride one way, that is dirt cheap.

Here is the schedule:
Departures from the train station at the Cafe de la Gare.

10:25 AM 11:25 AM 2:20 PM 3:20 PM 4:20 PM 5:20 PM

From Melun dowtown (St Jean place) 10:35 AM 11:35 AM 2:30 PM 3:30 PM 4:30 PM 5:30 PM

Arrive at
Castle of Vaux le Vicomte
10:45 AM 11:45 AM 2:40 PM 3:40 PM 4:40 PM 5:40 PM

OUTBOUND
Leave Castle of Vaux le Vicomte

10:55 AM 2:50 PM 3:50 PM 4:50 PM 5:50 PM

arrive Melun dowtown (Mail Gaillardon) 11:05 AM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM 5:00 PM 6:00 PM

arrive Melun train station

11:15 AM 3:10 PM 4:10 PM 5:10 PM 6:10 PM

This means that a double dip is possible: Fontainebleau and Vaux le Vicompte in one day. Get to Fontainebleau by the early train from Gare de Lyon and see that chataux first. Then go to Melun and visit Vaux le Vicomte on the way back to Paris. There is a rail line between the two.

I really enjoyed Vaux more than Versailles because it is a harmonious blend of the work of le Notre, le Vau, and le Brun, landscapeer, engineer, and artist respectively.

Foquet let them work their magic and Vaux to me is tasteful and beautiful.
Versailles is just too much opulence.

Sure Louis was jealous as H--- because of Vaux, but rather than have the same 3 masters design something of classic beauty, he did the only thing he knew to do: feed his own ego.

By the way, to read the shuttle schedule you must have Excel on your computer. The text is in that form, which makes it a little difficult to read if you don't have Excel.

I was able to save it in Word form, but I had to open it with Excel first.

brookwood

Well, the shuttle from Melun to Vaux does exist. It runs from the train station to the chateau, but ONLY on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays -- July 14 and August 15. The bus operates until October 2, the first Sunday of the month.

The fare is 6€ round trip. Compared with a 25€ taxi ride one way, that is dirt cheap.

Here is the schedule:
Departures from the train station at the Cafe de la Gare.

10:25 AM 11:25 AM 2:20 PM 3:20 PM 4:20 PM 5:20 PM

From Melun dowtown (St Jean place) 10:35 AM 11:35 AM 2:30 PM 3:30 PM 4:30 PM 5:30 PM

Arrive at
Castle of Vaux le Vicomte
10:45 AM 11:45 AM 2:40 PM 3:40 PM 4:40 PM 5:40 PM

OUTBOUND
Leave Castle of Vaux le Vicomte

10:55 AM 2:50 PM 3:50 PM 4:50 PM 5:50 PM

arrive Melun dowtown (Mail Gaillardon) 11:05 AM 3:00 PM 4:00 PM 5:00 PM 6:00 PM

arrive Melun train station

11:15 AM 3:10 PM 4:10 PM 5:10 PM 6:10 PM

This means that a double dip is possible: Fontainebleau and Vaux le Vicomte in one day. Get to Fontainebleau by the early train from Gare de Lyon and see that chataux first. Then go to Melun and visit Vaux le Vicomte on the way back to Paris. There is a rail line between the two.

I really enjoyed Vaux more than Versailles because it is a harmonious blend of the work of le Notre, le Vau, and le Brun, landscapeer, engineer, and artist respectively.

Foquet let them work their magic and Vaux to me is tasteful and beautiful.
Versailles is just too much opulence.

Sure Louis was jealous as H--- because of Vaux, but rather than have the same 3 masters design something of classic beauty, he did the only thing he knew to do: feed his own ego.

By the way, to read the shuttle schedule you must have Excel on your computer. The text is in that form, which makes it a little difficult to read if you don't have Excel.

I was able to read the schedule file with Word, but I had save it to my disk first and then open the downloaded file with Word. Worked fine. I now have it in both forms, Excel and Word. Don't ask me why the author did not save it in Word form first!!

But if you have either one, you can read the file.

bob_brown

The shuttle is good news. I read the file with Excel as well and saved a copy. If you cannot read it, I can send you a Word file or an Excel file or even a text file.

Let me suggest that at the Melun train station, you should get your ticket before you leave or return with change for the ticket machine.

When I was there last, the machines took only euro coins rather than bills, and my Visa card was useless because it an American style one that does NOT contain the right stuff for France.

I presume the French Visa cards have a microchip in them, which mine of course did not.

I do not know if one can purchase tickets from the conductor on a French train or not. I never tried. Trying to ride a TGV without an advanced reservation is risky and in all other cases I bought my ticket before I got on the train.

But the freelance of Fontainebleau and Vaux is possible and, if you do it, I bet you will not forget it.

Patrick

Thanks for the information. That was kind of the last thing holding me up for a trip to Vaux-le-Vicomte. The shuttle will work nicely (assuming it's still running this time NEXT year.

And that explains it. I can't do Excel on this computer. I only recently discovered that when someone tried to send me an excel document.

bob_brown

I could send you a txt file if you need it, or Word. The txt file will look funny, but it is readable. I edited it some to make it better, but it is sort of a lopsided format. Still readable.

Dave_in_Paris

You can purchase a ticket on the train from the conductor, but don't do it in anything but extreme necessity. It costs a lot more.

LarryJ

I found a new day trip destination from Paris. Last Saturday I took the train from Gare Lyon to the little town of Moret-Sur-Loing. It is the town where the French Impressionist Alfred Siseley spent his last years, painted many scenes of the town and died there in 1899. You can see his house in the center of town. The town sits on the River Loing and is very medieval with beautiful town arch gates at the entrance, beautiful cathedral, some old mill wheels in the river, water falls, beautful old bridges etc etc. Every Saturday night through the summer they have light shows on the river. You see people walking around town in ancient clothing and just makes a very nice day trip. The cost is about 8 euros each way from Paris and you can get a direct train. It is two stops past Fontainebleau. You could do both in a day. My friends and I found a very nice picnic area by the water falls and bridge in the center of town and had a nice lunch on the water. Nice as it was there were not a lot of tourists there.

Larry J

jody

LarryJ...

Thank you so much for pointing out Moret sur Loing. I just googled it and it does look truly lovely. I've added it to our October intinerary

LarryJ

Jody,

You're going to love it. Trust me. Forgot to say in first message that the time from Gare Lyon to Moret sur Loing is only about 45 minutes if you take the direct train.

Larry J

Grandma

Thank you, Brookwood, for all that information. Since I read thru the site quickly I didn't pay close attention to the schedule. You saved me from setting off on M, Tu, Wed. Thu or Fri and great disappoinment !!

bob_brown

Your quickest connection is with a Train de banlieue from Gare de Lyon. This train takes about 25 minutes, but the schedule is infrequent. Slower trains, some taking about an hour, are RER D trains which stop frequently.

There is a departure at 9:06 and you arrive about 9:35. That is about 50 minutes before you need to get on the shuttle.

Another train, an RER D, takes 48 minutes and leaves at 9:29 and arrives at 10:17. I don't know how close that cuts it for getting on the bus. The station is small and the shopping street is not far away from the station itself.

I am not sure what the 11:25 bus is timed to do. I cannot find a train from Paris that arrives about that time and it seems to me that 11:25 is too early for people who might have visited Fontainebleau that morning.

You either cut it close or cut it very thick. I suppose you could wander around Melun for a while, possibly sampling the wares at a local bakery or a cafe.

The same problem exists returning. You either arrive too late for the banlieu train or you cut the RER slow train close.

I suppose you just take what you can get. If you want timeliness, you can pay for a taxi, at about 20€ per trip one way.
I somehow don't think the Vaux schedulers looked at the arrival times from Paris. But I don't know all of their constraints.

Neopolitan

A little update as we did the Vaux le Vicompte day trip from Paris yesterday. The shuttle does run this year from the gare in Melun only on weekends, but at fewer times than noted above. We, of course had to take a taxi both ways (calling one from the station as there weren't any there and the gift shop calling us one to pick us up). Both taxis were just over 15 euro, so with tips it cost us 34 round trip ( considerably less than the 25 each way suggested above). The two RER tickets were nearly 30 euro, and admission to the Chateau was 19.80 for the two of us, so it was about 84 euro total. One end of the chateau is in scaffolding at the present time, but the gardens and the interiors are splendid. We also were delighted with our lunch salads and later desserts from their cafeteria. You can rent golf carts to visit the far reaches of the gardens and for 2 euro you can climb to the top of the center dome of the chateau for splendid views -- which we also passed on. But it was a splendid day. The green bedroom stands out as perhaps the most exquisite room I've ever seen. And it seemed we had the entire place almost to ourselves, so different from visiting Versailles.