Travel from Paris to other areas of France
 

Hi! I have been to Paris before and fell in love with the city. My boyfriend and I are planning a trip to France and we had planned to go to Paris since I love it and he has never seen it. I have been thinking that it would be really neat to see some of the French countryside, castles, chateaus, ect. I was wondering if it is possible and at all practical to take a few day trips to places like Lyon, and Loire Valley. I was thinking about taking the TGV there and back for the day. Is this just trying to do to much or would it be possible just to get a taste of other French areas? I am also curious what the expenses would be and if anyone has any other suggestions! <BR>This is my graduation present to myself so I want to make it the best trip ever!<BR><BR>By the way we have about 8 nights total in France.<BR><BR>Thank you so much!

You could spend 4-5 days in Paris and then take a tgv to Tours (1 hr) and, using Tours as a base, rent a car and see several castles (2 per day, plus one leisurely meal is a nice pace).

Hi Emily,<BR><BR> Francesca has a good suggestion. <BR><BR> You can also visit Versaille (take a picnic lunch and eat in the gardens) and Chartres for day trips.<BR><BR> I don't think that Paris will pall in only eight nights.

We visited Paris and also took a whirlwind tour of the countryside in 10 days. We had a great time. I had done a lot of planning ahead of time, so our time was efficient (but still very relaxing once we got into the lovely French pace). We took the TGV to the Loire Valley (Tours) and also to Provence (Avignon) and rented cars locally. Car rental wasn't cheap, esp. by the time you add insurance. (We didn't want to be driving around without collision ins.) I'd recommend only one destination besides Paris. Loire Vally is close and you may not need a car. You definitely don't need a car for Versailles. You could get around Avignon without a car, but may need one if you want to go to the beautiful villages of the Luberon.<BR><BR>The TGV is very efficient and also a relaxing way to get to your destination.<BR>Have fun!

Emily, my boyfriend and I are doing a similar 8 night stay in France this upcoming January. We opted to rent an apartment in Paris for the length of the stay because we are city dwellers and felt most comfortable there. Originally, we intended on trying to visit the Loire in one day but have scratched it because we would rather take more time &amp; don't think it will fit in with our more urban trek. Instead, we are definitely visiting Amiens [Picardie] for a day (weakness for gothic cathedral architecture) and possibly Rouen [Normandie] &amp; Troyes [Burgogne/Champagne]. The cities are generally 1 - 1.5 hours in transit &amp; generall ran 25E/person roundtrip. <BR><BR>When researching the trip to the Loire, it appears there are a couple of companies (do a search here for some recommendations or see something like accodispo-tours.com) that ran upwards of 40E/person for a guided day tour usually leaving from Tours &amp; the TGV ran ~45E/person for roundtrip train fare using the couple rate. You can check expedia.fr (the SNCF vendor) for current rates &amp; availability. If trying to get the TGV cost to Tours, use the station St. Pierre des Corps as your destination.

Hi<BR><BR>Think of Provence / Languedoc.<BR><BR>TGV to Avignon in 2.5 hrs.<BR><BR>And it has better weather !<BR><BR>Peter<BR>http://tlp.netfirms.com<BR><BR>

I absolutely love Lyon. Especially if you're going to be there in good weather. All my favorite things to do in Lyon are outside things. Be sure to eat in Vieux Lyon. It's 2 hours by TGV from Paris.

It's perfectly possible to do day trips from Paris to Lyon and Tours. I think Lyon is actually easier because you can easily tour the city itself and that's what you probably want to do there (as well as seeing the countryside on the way). From Tours, you probably want to see chateaux and that's a little more time-consuming by public transportation. You can just limit yourself, though, to one town, which is what I'd suggest, where the chateau is in the city and then you could do that by day trip -- e.g., Blois or Amboise.<BR><BR>The TGV RT to Lyon is a lot more than some prices above, as I recall. I think it could be around 100-125 euro, but you can check that out easily enough on a rail website.

We did Normandy (American Cemetary-very moving) Villadieux (a very quaint town that's known for copper products - Hotel St Pierre), Mont St Michele, Chenonceau and Chartes in three days. It was great! Saw the Mont, two castles, a couple of great churches and of course