My husband and I will be in Paris for 10 days in early June. We would like to leave the city over the weekend to tour the French countryside. Any suggestions of a location and the best way to get there would be appreciated!

Are you wanting to rent a car and drive around? Or do you prefer to go somewhere by train?

Both...I was think we could take a train to get out of Paris and then rent a car for the final destination.

I have a few suggestions, all in different directions.

1) The Loire Valley is fairly close by and you can just rent the car straight from Paris (which is what my husband and I did a few years ago). There are lovely towns and chateaux to visit throughout this region.

2) Alsace borders Germany and also has some lovely towns. It's a bit further from Paris, but still doable by car.

3) Provence is furthest away. I have to admit that I just love this area and there is so much to see, but it's probably too far for a weekend thing even if you take the train first. DH and I drove from Paris, but we stopped overnight half-way down.

All of these regions have lots of wineries to visit.

Thanks, LizQ. I am leaning towards the Loire Valley as I have been in the Alsace region before. I would love to go to Provence - but a weekend would not do it justice.

Any thoughts about going north to Calais or even into Belgium?

Belgium would be a nice destination for a weekend also.

Antwerp, Ghent, and Bruges are good choices.

I've never been to Calais, but do agree that Belgium is also very nice. Bruges is such a lovely and romantic town. I've heard that Ghent is also nice (but I've never been there). I'm not all that fond of Antwerp however. If you do go to Belgium, you may not need a car at all. Given a choice, I would pick Loire Valley over Belgium - but that's just a personal choice.

I would (and have) rented a car right in Paris and headed to the Loire for the weekend. It's easy close and a very pleasant weekend getaway.

We just got back from 14 days in Paris last month. Rented a car via National Citer near La Defence(much cheaper than thru US based carriers - know people also rent from Rouen) and took off west - Giverny (just wonderful - get there early) ..then to Rouen for cathedral and lunch ..then onto Mont St Michel (stayed up on the mont - brought wine - drank to the sunset and tides on the ramparts - spectacular). Morning tour of the abbey - opens at 10 ...then off to the American Cemetary at Omaha Beach - very moving. Lunch in Bayeux. Back to Paris by 4:00 PM. Highlight of our trip...stars were aligned.