Hi. My boyfriend and I will be taking a trip to Paris in November (his second time, my first). We will be there 8 full days and are planning a day trip for one of the days. I was thinking Normandy as I’ve been told how beautiful it is.
Do you have other suggestions on day trips that are a must?
Thanks in advance.
My husband and I will be going in November as well. This will be our second trip and we will try to get to Versailles or Giverny this time. There really is so much to see and do in Paris, you may find that you do not get a day trip in. We went for 8 days the 1st time and did not.
Not knowing anything about what you’re interested in, I can only make suggestions.
Do you like to explore bookshops? In that case, La-Charite-Sur-Loire might be a good place to go. If you’re interested in medieval history, it is also a stop on one of the French routes of the Way of Saint James (Chemin de Saint-Jacques, Camino de Santiago). There are train connections from Paris
I would still really love to see Versailles myself, but I suppose it’d depend on what kind of day trip you are thinking of. Nature, castle, museum, a small town…
The only day trip I managed to make over the 12 or so days I was in Paris was to Versailles. It’s quite lovely.
Versaille or Giverny were both amazing. We also went to the Loire valley.
I’ve never been to France (yet! I’m hoping to study there next year, so I’ve been doing research for awhile and have learned about places through French courses I’ve taken), but how about somewhere in the Loire Valley?
Normandy is too big, and too far for one day. Versaille and the palace.
If you just wanted to see, say, Bayeux or the D-Day Beaches, you could do it (I did), BUT you’d need a car or something. Taking the train would take too long and you’d need to leave too early / get back too late.
Giverny! I’ve been to Versailles twice and it’s been…okay, but even if you’re not a huge Monet fan, Giverny is still an absolutely lovely place to visit.
When I backpacked through Paris, I spent a day seeing the Bayeux Tapestry in Bayeux. It’s a really old needlepoint depiction of the Norman Invasion, and it’s in a really cute, tiny town on the coast that is accessible by train from Paris.
I’m just into random history though, so I don’t know if you’d be interested in it. I would have seen Versailles instead, but it was closed on the day I had set aside for a day trip (Tuesday, I think).
+1 Versailles
I thought Mont Saint Michel was pretty cool, though definitely super touristy. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Saint_Michel
I’m heading to Paris in November and was hoping to check out Mont Saint Michel, how do you reach it and how long does it take to get there from Paris?
Unfortunately I’m not sure of the best way to get there.. I was part of a school group at the time. Your best bet is checking a guidebook.
Taking the train (from Paris Montparnasse to Rennes and then the bus from Rennes to Mont St. Michel) will take you between three and a half hours and three hours and forty-five minutes, or so the SNCF website tells me. If you purchase your ticket now, they’re about 32.80 each way (but keep in mind those tickets can’t be exchanged or reimbursed if you change your dates of travel). I don’t know how close the train station is to the actual Mont, though – I don’t recall having seen it on my visit, but then again, I wasn’t really looking for it.
Here’s some more info : ot-montsaintmichel.com/accueil_gb.htm
Over six hours of travel is a LOT for one day, so you may want to plan to stay nearby – St. Malo isn’t that far away and it’s a nice little town. Unless, of course, you plan to drive, which would allow you more freedom.
With only eight days and one day trip planned, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend going very far out of Ile-de-France. Versailles is accessible by RER, so you don’t need to take the national rail. Fontainebleu isn’t far away, either. Chartres is very do-able as a day trip – it’s a nice little medievalish town with a lovely cathedral. As for Normandy, Rouen is only an hour away. Giverny is also 45 minutes by train as well, although the train station is in Vernon, so you’d either have to take a taxi or a bus from there to Giverny a few kilometres away. With the new (well, as of 2007, anyway) TGV Est, Reims, the capital of Champagne and the site of the cathedral where France’s kings were crowned, is a mere 45 minutes away.
Unfortunately, some of more interesting sites in Normandy that others are suggesting, such as Bayeux and Mont Saint-Michel, are a bit too far away (or, rather, require transfers and long layovers) if you’re going to taking the train. If you’re driving or plan to spend a night away, I would highly recommend those two. I really adored both. But I also REALLY adore Paris and think that an overnight day-trip on an eight-day trip is too much. But that’s just me.
Someone else suggested some place in the Loire valley. Given a choice between Normandy (with the exception of Bayeux and Mont St-Michel) and the Loire, I’d actually take the latter. Tours is an hour away by TGV, but doesn’t boast any castles of its own. Orleans is only an hour away as well (but, again, no castles). Blois, which does have a castle, is between an hour and a half and two hours away. As with the case of Normandy, some of the other castles that I really loved (Chinon, Azay-le-Rideau) require too much time to visit in just one day by train.
IF you decide to go to Versailles, DO visit the town and not just the palace
When I went to Paris for about a week the two day trips I made were Fontainebleau and Versailles. Both are easily accessible, but it depends on whether you want to see castles/palaces or not.