Honeymooning in Paris for 8 days in a couple weeks. Both of us have seen the city and all the major attractions/sites. This time, we are looking for something a little different.

We'd like to take a day trip or two to a small town outside the city. We are going to hit Versailles, but we are looking for something a little further. Maybe a 2 hour train ride or so. We'd also like to be back the same day, so take the early train out and the late train back into Paris.

I have had some vague recommendations of the Champagne region, but nothing specific. Any good ideas? TIA

i'd recommend taking one of the fat tire bike tours. did one over spring break, and had a great time.

i think we are going to versailles on the fat tire tour. i think they have a normandy tour as well. might be an option for us.

i went on a fat tire tour in berlin and loved it. i have many friends who are currently working and have formerly worked for them.

awesome. we did the versailles tour as well.

you stop to pick up lunch at this amazing outdoor market. i recommend the sausage and the shish kabobs.

mmmmmm...bacon wrapped figs....mmmmmm

if you don't mind...what's the timing like on the tour once you get there? do you have any/much time to yourself or is it pretty much with the group the entire time? can you give me a brief play-by-play?

sure thing...we met up at the fat tire place...got on the bikes for about a 10-15 minute ride through the city to get on the train.

the train ride out there is about maybe half an hour or so...then you ride to the market, pick up lunch, then ride out to versailles. start out at one castle, go to another...picnic at the big lake out there...then off to the big palace (the one versailles is famous for. our tour guide left us there, and we were free to explore by ourselves and met back at a certain time.

lots of time with the tour guide, but also a decent amount of time to ourselves. it's definetly a full day's event.

the Normandy tour is just a van tour, not a bike tour

I haven't gotten to the Champagne region on my trip report. It is cool to see (we were there to see a WWI battlefield) but the Loire might be a better day trip. I think the TGV goes to Tours making it a day trip

Also, if you tour the Champagne region I think it would be better to rent a car

[This message has been edited by Mrs. 96CH53 (edited 5/28/2009 7:10p).]

Chartres is a good day trip from Paris. Takes less than an hour by train, but gets you clear of the urban sprawl and into a nice small town. Famous cathedral is worth a trip, and the town seemed pretty nice--I didn't have quite as much time as would have like to explore.

Normandy for sure.

Not sure I understand a trip to Paris when you don't want to stay in paris, but to each their own.

It's not that we don't want to stay in Paris. We both love the city but have spent several days there before. We'll be in Paris for most of the time, but we also want to experience something different outside the city.

If it is going to be just a day trip, and not an overnight, you should definitely be looking for something like Chartres. I don't think you can do the Normandy beaches justice with a daytrip from Paris. Maybe a daytrip to Rouen or Giverny, but to try to go to Caen or Bayeux and see the sites you want to see in one day is too much.

If you're looking as someplace that has TGV connections with Paris, like Strasbourg or Dijon, and possibly Tours, you can go a little bit further, but if you're on a slow train, and especially if you are talking about connections, you will eat up too much time on the train (and the train journeys out of Paris are not, to my knowledge and limited experience, all that scenic in and of thesmelves).

I understand the desire to get out of the city briefly. I did the very same thing on a one week trip to Paris.

[This message has been edited by twk (edited 5/29/2009 9:39a).]

I have made a day trip to Strasbourg and it was definitely doable

Mont Saint Michel

for something different you could explore the Sceaux area (suburb south of Paris).

Take the B-line to the Antony or Robinson stop.
Pack a lunch and picnic in the Parc de Sceaux and just enjoy being away from the hectic city.

There is a graveyard somewhere close to there that has Marie Curie's family plot.

quote:

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Mont Saint Michel

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Is this in Normandy? I have only seen photos. Can you expound...?

better than anything I could quickly type up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_saint_michel

I don't know if Mont Saint Michel is a day trip from Paris. But it is truly awesome. I have been to the Normandy beaches twice--every Ag should stand on that cliff at Pointe du Hoc and ask themselves if they could have done what Rudder and the 2nd Ranger Battalion did. But, again, this would be a really, really long day trip and you would want a car. Haven't done the fat tire trip but it sounds great.

Mont St. Michel would be crazier than the Normandy beaches as a daytrip. Stick to your plan and pick a smaller town, IMO.

I agree it's crazy to do a day trip to D-Day Beaches or Mont St Michel, but it's a great trip. I would leave Paris a couple days and rent a car. I spent 10 days in London area, 3 days in Normandy, and 1 day in paris and the 3 days I spent in Normandy were incredible.

what is there to do in Chartres other than see the cathedral?

Here's the link to their tourism page:

http://www.chartres-tourisme.com/pages/en/index.php

Besides the cathedral, it's just an attractive smaller town. They have a Saturday food market that might make it more interesting. You can rent an audio guide that will guide you throught the sites in the town.

this might sound crazy but...what about Brugges?

i was looking up train ticket prices on rail europe today and found a roundtrip for around $160.

we'd leave early (7am) and get back late (10pm). would it be worth spending around 8-10 hours in this city? i always hear people raving about it.

[This message has been edited by S.S.Aggie (edited 6/1/2009 5:05p).]

personally, I wouldn't do it.

I think a trip to the champagne region would be time much better spent. However, I haven't been there so I can't recommend anything specific.

Check out a Rick Steves France book and see what looks reasonable.

Having been to both, I think it would be better than spending time in the Champagne region(given the transportation in the area) as long as there isn't a strike that day

I have read on here that some people get much better train prices when they buy the tickets in Europe (unless, of course, you are buying a rail pass, which is what I used when I made the trip about five years ago)

I would just maybe do this as a daytrip in the middle of your vacation

i love bruge. i don't think it's a good day trip from paris, though. it's a LONG haul.

definetly recommend rick steves book as part of the planning process.