My husband and I will be in Paris in 2 weeks. Although this is our 3rd trip, we have never gone to the French countryside. This year we will and I am looking for suggestions.

I know there is Chantilly and Versailles, but we want a less touristy town. A “best kept secret” that you don’t mind sharing here. We would like to spend a day there – eating, walking around, etc… We prefer to leave by train in the morning and return at night. I want to avoid renting a car. If gas prices in the States are bad…..

Any suggestions where and what to do?

Thanks!!!!

Hi ali,

Another poster has suggested Joinville.

Veteran Parisian travelers looking for an off-the-beaten tourist path part of Paris can hop RER A to the Joinville-le-Pont station (about 20 min from Gare de Lyon) and do a lovely walk from there along the tranquil and barge-ful Marne River. Walking paths go pretty much on both sides of the river but from the station go along the north/west side of the river and soon you'll be in an area of old quaint stone houses - some of the most unique houses I've seen in Paris, in a kind of gingerbread style - fanciful, whimsical dating from the turn of the centry when this part of the Marne was a favorite with artists who flocked here to eat in its guinguettes, few of which exist today. But you can walk along the Marne for about two miles until you come to another RER station, line E station at Nogent, to return to Paris. Joinville itself is known for its canal tunnel where barges avoid a large loop in the Marne and use a lengthy tunnel to cut over towards the junction with the Seine. Joinville is a pleasant suburb with the usual coterie of cafes, etc. Sunday market sprawls over many streets.
Guignettes (Café’s w/music and dancing)
Chez Gegene (Guinguette Dancing) 162bis quai de Polangis - Allée des Guinguettes 01.48.83.29.43 Saturday 21-02:30 dinner and dancing 38E Sundays from 12-19:00 45E lunch and dancing (drinks included)
Le Petit Robinson 164, quai de Polangis 01.48.89.04.39 Closed Tuesdays. Welcome until 11 pm. ..tea-dancing, Fri, Sat, Sun afternoons and dinner-dancing with orchestra Fridays and Saturdays. The-dansant from 11-16 euro and diner-dansant from 33 to 37.5 euro."
La Goulue 17 Quai Gabriel Peri 01.48.83.21.77 Fax : 01 48 83 08 44
Very nice fin-de-siecle restaurant Dancing on weekends.

Thanks so much for the info!!!! Sounds like it's just what we are looking for!

Joinville is interesting, but it is just a suburb - I don't think you'd want to spend three days there, given you said you wanted to go to the "countryside."

I would go somewhere a bit farther away, like Rouen or Compiègne or Reims or Troyes and then use public transportation once there to get out to smaller villages, or just to ride through the countryside.

How about Fontainbleu? The town is very charming and you can easily spend a day on the grounds of the chateau. There are many places to buy a takeout lunch and a bottle of wine.

I really appreciate all the suggestions. While I have been toying with the idea going to Rouen, Reims, or Fontainbleu, I do like the idea of going to a central location then hopping on a bus. We are also open to a longer train trip (2-3hrs), as long as it leaves Paris early in the morning and departs for Paris late.

It seems that we always return to Paris (very lucky) with a side trip to England or Belgium, but have been neglecting the rest of France. While Paris is amazing, I want to start to discover other parts of France.

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

Sometimes wandering around a small town that has no tourist interest for a day isn't as interesting as it sounds. A lot of small French towns close up around noon for a few hours, for one thing.

I liked ROuen a lot but it's not that small (over 100K population) and isn't anything like the countryside. I don't think you'd feel it's in the countryside by spending a day trip in Rouen. Reims is also a very large city.

I can suggest a town that has some tourist sites and would be worth walking around a day, but is not that touristy and not many Americans go there although French people do for day trips. That is Moret-sur-Loing which is on the rail line and not far from Fontainebleau. This is their web site for a view:

http://www.moret-sur-loing.fr/index.php

I think that would be a good idea. I have been to another small town that was of interest to me because the composer Maurice Ravel lived there a long time (and died). It's very small but I wouldn't want to spend all day walking around that square. There is a church, a couple cafes and shops, that's about it, plus usual residential stuff. There is also Maurice Ravel's home which is open at some times to visitors -- I got a private tour and it was wonderful as I got to play his piano, the proprietor let me. That is about 3 km from the train station in La Mere and I walked to and from the town as there is no bus or anything. I was walking to it on my second visit, as it's a nice walk along a road with plane trees but some French guy came along and picked me up and gave me a lift. He was really nice and took me to meet his friend who ran the cafe and told me that some famous people had weekend homes around there. That is in rural Normandy in a village named Montfort l'Amaury. This is their web site
http://www.ville-montfort-l-amaury.fr/

sorry, I don't think Monfort is in Normandy, although that direction -- it's in Yvelines which I believe is in the Ile de France.

Ali,
We loved Chartres... it was an easy train ride from Gare Montparnasse, about an hour, as I recall. We met friends there and had plenty of time for a cup of coffee before boarding the little train that took us around town. Then, we took Malcolm Miller's tour... really more of a lecture than a tour. It was fascinating! He gives two a day.. the one we went to was at noon, and there's one later in the afternoon. You can check in the bookstore.

Sandy

It's hard to get directly from Paris to "the countryside" on a train ride, which is why I think some of you are missing the point. What I am suggesting is that they go to someplace within a 2-hour or slightly more train ride from Paris and then use public transportation to get around the countryside surrounding the train destination - for example, Rouen, which of course isn't the countryside, but it's well worth a day or more of exploration, and then you can use local transportation to get into the "countryside."
Fontainebleau is a nice town, but it's just a single day trip from Paris with no real opportunities to get out into the countryside.
From Chartres it might be possible to get out to smaller villages and the country - I'm not sure about public transportation from there. It's not that big a town, but surely there are buses for local people to come into and get out of town.

Thank you all for the info. I keep researching each suggestion and one thing I come up with is --- another trip so I can see all these places

We want to get as much out of this as possible without overwhelming ourselves. Really see French life outside Paris.