My partner and I (50ish) are planning our first trip to France and Italy for Nov 1-11(days in country). Paris is our main priority. Would love ideas on day trips from Pris by train.
Then off to Italy for 5 nights.
our main interest are in art, food, and culture. Hit me up with your best tips and itinerary.

Are your days from Nov 1 - 11th include your flights to/from home? How are you flying? Are you flying roundtrip from Paris or are you flying home from Italy?

How many nights do you have on the ground?

Honestly, with only 5 nights for Paris, that gives you 4 full days and barely enough time to do any day trips outside of Paris. Versailles is a popular option. Chateux Vaux le Vicomte or Fontainbleau are also options if you like castles. I'd peruse some good guidebooks for day trip options that cater more, assuming you have enough time in your current itinerary.

Where in Italy? How are you getting there? Again, with only 4 days (you will be losing a day to transit to Italy), you will need to be selective here too.

Personally, if it were me, with such a short stint, be it 10 days on the ground or even 8 (if your flights are inside your noted travel window), I'd choose just one: either Paris and France or a couple of towns in Italy (i.e. Rome and Florence), but not both France and Italy.

Rule of thumb: To have 4 full days in a place, you need to be spending 5 nights there, 4 nights would give you 3 full days, and so on.

Do not underestimate how much time logistics (getting to/from hotel, transit time, eating) take in your travel budget. Also, although a flight between two countries might only be 90 minutes, remember how early you should be at the airport along with transit to/from the airport and suddenly that 90 minute flight is 5-6 hours into your sightseeing.

IMO, Travel_Nerd has given you some great advice! I agree that with the time you have (which isn't yet clear), and a focus on Paris, you won't have much time elsewhere. If you're able to book a multi-city flight (into one city, out of another, aka "open jaw"), you might be able to see a bit of another city. If you are committed to adding Itally, I would stick to the city from which you will depart, just to avoid any further loss of time.

I'll also second her recommendation to consult some guidebooks. You should be able to do so at your local library.

FWIW, my favorite day trip from Paris is Chartres.

There are so many easy and interesting day-trips from Paris. And sooo much to see IN Paris. I'd leave Italy for another trip.

Some day trips by train to consider: Versailles (15 minutes), Reims Champagne (40-50 minutes), Fontainebleau (45 minutes), Chartres (60 minutes), Rouen (75 minutes).

I would not consider a day trip under your circumstances. I don't even like most of the popular ones.

I suggest picking up a few guidebooks (you can likely even check them out from the library) to help you figure out your priorities. Once you have some ideas in mind, posters here can give you suggestions to help tweak your trip. You can read some trip reports here to also inspire you.

Are you arriving in Paris on November 1 or October 31? Departing November 11 or 12th? Are you flying into Paris and out of Rome or do you need to backtrack to Paris?
Do your 5 days in Italy include the day you travel from Paris and the day you depart?

My first multi city trip was Paris (5 nights), Venice (2 nights), Florence (3 nights) and Amsterdam (3 nights). Everything was flights except Venice to Florence which was by train. This completely changed my travel outlook as all trips since then, to Europe, have been multiple cities except 1 (5 night Paris trip right after pandemic).

It was my wife's first time to Europe and I had been only to Paris before then (a couple times). Did it this way because I found flights under $500 CAD each for all legs except Venice to Florence. My point is multiple cities in 11 days is doable. It's just a trade off between how much you want to see vs. amount of time you want to spend travelling. Inter city travel takes 4-6 hours. I personally prefer travelling super early to get me to my destination hotel by noon which leaves me a decent amount of day time.

Paris for a first time is easily 5 nights, not including day trips. Personally, Versaille is the only day trip that's worth it for a first visit on limited time. Then you can spend the other 5 nights in Rome or 2 nights in Venice and 3 in Florence. I personally would switch duration for Venice and Florence as I prefer Venice.

You can also do 4 Paris, 4 Rome and 2 Venice/Florence but I would keep it at 2 major cities.

If Paris remains the OP's "main priority," I don't see the appeal of lots of short stays elsewhere that involve hours lost in transit, airport security lines and the potential for flight delays.

We still don't know exactly how many days they have or where they fly home from....

TBelland, Nov. 1st is a national holiday in France. Some shops may be closed, but the holiday shouldn't impact you if that's your arrival day. If you're sticking to only the first 5 days in Paris, you'll need to plan your sightseeing carefully. Some major sights are closed on Mondays, some on Tuesdays.

https://parisjetaime.com/eng/article...-in-Paris-a975

Every day trip is a day less in the place you already travelled to. Why travel somewhere only to leave it?

To see more than one big city? She said 11 days in country so i would presume it is at least 5 days in Paris. I always do at least one day trip in that time if I'm in a big city like that. There are just so many possibilities, it's hard to name them all. Several chateaux, Giverny, Rouen, Auvers-sur-Oise, Chartres, Reims, to name a few. It really depends on interests. Tourists are batty about Versailles, also.

November is straying into the period when the weather begins to plan your days for you. On the other hand tourists stop travelling so flexible hotel rooms become a thing. I think I'd look at more days and possibly two bases within Paris for this trip and then choose day trips as the weather changes, so sunny days catch a train to Reims and wet days go to the local museum.