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3-4 days outside of Paris please

Posted by on

Hello all, I'm new to this forum, so patience please. Hope I don't give too many details and vague direction, sorry.

Anyway, my wife and I are in our 60's and are travelling to Paris for a "destination wedding" in middle of May. We will arrive in Paris (from Florida) 11:15 a.m. May 13 and must return to Paris late afternoon May 17. So assuming we will spend much of Monday travelling and Friday travelling, we have maybe 3 nights outside of Paris. Some might suggest we stay in Paris and take day trips, but my wife doesn't like big cities much so we have identified both the Burgundy/Dijon regions and Loire VAlley regions as finalists. We prefer not to rent a car.

To be candid, we are not really into museums and churches, and more the type to walk or bike around a city and sit in a plaza people watching. Wine tastings are likely. We certainly look forward to French restaurants of course.

I have read a bit about Dijon and Beaune, and seems like Beaune is the better choice to stay, however, I'm thinking of parking ourselves in Dijon and taking a day trip to Beaune. A bike tour somewhere might be good. It also seems easier to take a fast train from Paris to Dijon, whereas the Loire Valley seemed more complicated.

As for the Loire Valley, I have not done strong research, so does anyone prefer the Loire over Burgundy? Or should we simply flip a coin? I'm sure either is great. again, we only have really 3 days of leisure and adventure.

Last, I know that we will be jet lagged, and I'm guessing we'd take a 2:30 or 3 p.m. train out of Gare De Lyon, but what if our flight is delayed and a long wait at customs and transport from airport to train? IN other words, how can we buy train tix months in advance, when we might end up being late for our train? Can anyone suggest how many hours to allow from time we land (hopefully 11:15) to get to the train?

thanks anyone for your two cents.

:)
Jordan

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Posted by
11569 posts

I highly recommend the Burgandy region. Beaune is a large town/ small city with historic charm and is a wine center.
And Dijon, a city, is also a very good choice where you can sample the local wines, mustards, snails, gingerbread.
These two are quite near each other and combined would be an easy way to see more of France without exhausting yourselves.
We have stayed in Beaune several times at Hotel Le Cep,an historic property.

Posted by
3101 posts

Well, I'd consider Chartres. Of course, the main draw is the great Notre Dame du Chartres, one of the greatest churches in France. We spent 3 nights there in 2019, and did not lack for things to do. The walking about and people watching are good. There are a number of buildings with the "son et lumiere" (pictures projected onto buildings, with music). Many nice restaurants. We do enjoy the cathedrals due to the wonderful art, both in the stained glass and in the paintings. It's a very short train ride from Paris.

Posted by
6713 posts

I don't think you could go wrong with either area, or with Chartres either. A car would make sightseeing easier in either Burgundy or the Loire, but if you're mainly interested in city walking/biking, people watching, and wine, you wouldn't need one. I'd say Burgundy because Dijon is easily reached from Paris, and Beaune is an easy train ride from Dijon. In fact, I'd suggest basing in Beaune, very walkable, human-scaled, twice-weekly market days, a beautiful medieval hospital (not a museum as such), and lots of tasting rooms. I'm not a biking person but I think you can rent bikes and get out into the nearby vineyards.

Dijon is less than two hours from Paris (Gare de Lyon) by fast train (Inoui), here's a website you can use to research timetables and get tickets. I'd allow about four hours from scheduled landing to train departure, including a taxi ride from CDG to Gare de Lyon, but others with more experience may have a better estimate. You could take an afternoon train and spend the first night in Dijon if you don't want to deal with another train from Dijon to Beaune on your arrival day.

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