Kate

Hello all, I'm planning a last minute break, taking the Eurostar from London to Paris for a few days. I've been to Paris many times, so quite fancy splitting my time between a few 'city' days and then a couple of nights in the countryside, possibly at a vineyard with wine tasting/lovely dinners.

I would be taking the train – don't want to hire a car for such a short trip - so can anyone recommend a 'trainable' location within 1-1.5hrs of Paris with a nice hotel or village with local restaurants? If this question was about London it would be easy, with the villages of Kent, Sussex, Oxfordshire and so on within easy striking distance, so I'm looking for similar within reach of Paris. Anyone done anything similar?

Even just some town/village suggestions to get me started would be a great help.

Judy

Reims is about an hour from Paris. You could do some champagne tastings.

Kate

Oooh... now, there's a thought

sassy_cat

Search for a trip report by jamikins and bikerscott.
I think they went to Epernay and Reims in the spring.

Michel_Paris

A shack to stay at...

www.lescrayeres.com

I've only done a day trop to Reims, it was a nice place to visit and would have been worth more time.

Judy

I had one of the best meals of my life at Les Crayeres!

Kate

oh my word, Michel, just might be worth remortgaging my house for...

Judy

I'm just lucky I went 8 years ago.....sure couldn't afford it today!

iris1745

Reims as suggested is a good idea. Another thought is Auxerre in Burgundy. Probably 1 1/2 hours from Paris. Good train system from Auxerre to visit lovely towns nearby. www.burgundyeye.com

StuDudley

>>then a couple of nights in the countryside, possibly at a vineyard with wine tasting/lovely dinners..... nice hotel or village with local restaurants?<<

I would not consider Reims a "village" or in the "countryside" with "vineyards".

I much prefer Dijon over Reims for a city, and Beaune for a village/smaller city. If you want to be surrounded by vineyards, head to Alsace and stay in Obernai (several Michelin starred restaurants). Or Colmar in Alsace if you want a larger village - but there are not any vineyards that you can walk to. Rent a bike in Alsace to tour the vineyards. It will take you 3 1/4 hrs to get to Obernai by train (1 train change)

Stu Dudley

Christina

Reims is a huge city, I don't think there have been any village suggestions. Auxerre is better but it isn't any village, either, it's a small city of about 45K population.

Best villages I can think of are Giverny or Auvers-sur-Oise or Moret-sur-Loing. http://www.auvers-sur-oise.com/
http://www.ville-moret-sur-loing.fr/

There are probably some others where commuters live, but I don't know them. I really liked Moret-sur-Loing.

StCirq

You could get to Chantilly and Senlis easily from Paris. Or Compiègne. Or Provins. None of them as far as I know is known for wine, but there's wine everywhere you look in France, and they're all small towns or villages where you'd have plenty of choices for sightseeing and good eating and drinking.

iris1745

I missed the comment about a village. However, Auxerre's old city is so walkable, within the 1 1/2 half hour from Paris and the wine might be OK. Another place well worth visiting that is even closer in Burgundy is Sens, perhaps 25000 peopls. Very walkable. Plus a very easy to reach from Paris, Provins. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/auxerre http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/sens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/provins

Michael

Sens has a nice Saturday market, but from what I can tell, a limited choice in accommodations--the only hotel we found was across the street from the hotel de ville, and around the corner from the market and cathedral.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mksfca/...57622755059630

georgiegirl

I heard so much about Chantilly and Senlis. Tentatively, we would like to come back to France next year. I need to do more readings in the above villages. Kate, please get back to us with your reports.

ira

Hi K,

1:30 hr to Nancy
1:40 hr to Dijon
2 hr to Lyon.
2:15 hr to Strasbourg