Please sign in to post.

3 days after Paris RS tour

suggestions please: RS tour ends Saturday AM. Requesting thoughts of places to visit for the next three days. Flying out of CDG on Tuesday . Are three days in Brittany too long? Other places that folks loved within region? Thanks

Posted by
7003 posts

What time of year are you going? Which part of Brittany are you interested in? Small town or city? Will you have a car or rely on public transportation? Three days is hardly a drop in the bucket for Brittany because it is a large area. With three days from Paris without a car, I would probably take a train to Rennes and day trip from there to any of St Malo, Dinard, Dinan, Mont St Michel, or go all the way to St Malo and stay there. With a car, I would probably stay in a smaller town in the St Malo-Dinan area. I stayed in Dol de Bretagne but I had a car and it was easy to visit the other places I mentioned from there. If you're interested in the south/southwest of Brittany (Carnac, Nantes, Brest, etc) you would probably need a car to see the more interesting sights and towns.

Posted by
372 posts

See the thread https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/paris-to-normandy-car-hotels for suggestions, although that focuses on Normandy instead of Brittany (people often use the two regions interchangeably).

If you are really thinking of Brittany, no, 3 days is not too long! In fact your problem is going to be what to cut out. The region is easier to visit by car; take a train out to a city or town in Brittany where you start your visit and pick up the car there. Coverage is skimpy in the RS book for the region but the Rough Guide will have all the info you need for 3 days, and the Michelin Green book is the comprehensive source listing everywhere a tourist might want to go.

Lastly, I think you may have significantly less than 3 days. If you leave Paris after breakfast on Sat then by the time you get to your 1st destination, drop your bags at the hotel, etc it is easily noon or later. And unless you have a Tue flight in the late afternoon it is unlikely you can leave Brittany Tue morning in time to make the flight so that means spending Mon nite back in Paris.

Posted by
11507 posts

Why leave Paris , I guarentee you the two days the tour gives you is not enough to scrape the surface . There is tons to do on Paris and many good day trips you could take ( way less hassle then changing hotels two more time s , like you would have to if you leave city, )

Day trip to :

Rheims
Versailles
Chartres
Fontainebleau
Chantilly
Giverny( for Monets gardens , in season)
Tours( for Loire valley tours)
Epernray ( champagne house tours )

So many , and still you haven't seen even a fraction of Paris itself .

Posted by
4692 posts

Agree with Pat 100%. Why leave Paris? Many, many thing to do there without the hassle of changing hotels and losing time traveling between places -- and it almost always takes longer than one anticipates. If you must get out and about, Rheims, Versailles, and Giverny are all easy to do day trips.

Posted by
489 posts

If you are in Paris during the Tour de france.... well, you have some interesting options there, too.

Posted by
7951 posts

There are literally dozens of great day trips near Paris without going to a whole other region -- you really don't have time to see much of Brittany as you need to be in Pars the night before the flight home.

There are also dozens of things in Paris itself you won't have seen --- take a look at what the Steve's tour includes and then explore all the other things Paris has to offer and make your list -- I can guarantee 3 days won't come close.

But within an hour of Paris some obvious day trips: Versailles, Giverny, Fontainebleau, Auvers sur Oise, Chantilly, Senlis, Chartres, Crecy La Chapelle, Vaux le Vicomte, Basilica St. Denis (definitely do this, if Steve's doesn't -- on the Paris metro)
Rouen, Reims, Malmaison, Sceux, Moret sur Loing, Provins --- just so much.

With only 3 more nights -- don't waste time on traveling to another region but if you wanted two nights somewhere else -- the Loire or Alsace would be more manageable than Brittany where you absolutely need a car.

Posted by
372 posts

Replies have made the point that the OP is unlikely to run out of things to do in Paris, especially when day trips to places within an hour of Paris are considered. And I agree. However I wouldn't be so quick to abandon the plan to visit a different area.

It can be fun to see something new, and for many of us living in the States even the adventure of riding a working and efficient public transit is part of seeing part of the world outside of our normal experience. And after the RS tour, which aims in part to develop the skills to travel independently, a few days on one's own can be a great way to test and confirm you can really do it before launching into a complete trip w/o a tour.

It sounds from the question like the OP was fishing for ideas on where to go. Will the OP get an in-depth view of Normandy, Brittany, the Loire, or wherever else they might end up if they leave Paris for 3 nites? No, but that doesn't mean not to do it, IMHO.

Posted by
7003 posts

Good points Bill. It's possible the OP has been to Paris before and wants to try something else. Hopefully they'll come back and give us more information.

Posted by
870 posts

We loved Giverney, Honfleur, Etratet.....places near and on the way to our Normandy visit.