Along with a few friends, I will be studying abroad in Paris for the month of June 2016. We have class Monday-Thursday, which includes excursions to Paris' major monuments and museums, plus a trip to Chartres.
So, Friday-Sunday is our time! Does anyone have any suggestions for the best/easiest day trips from Paris, accessible via train?
(Keep in mind we're on a college student's budget!)
Thanks for any suggestions!
Since you posted on Rick Steves web site, I suppose they won't mind a plug for his son's company, Weekend Student Adventures (wsaeurpoe.com). He leads student oriented (both budget and activities) weekend excursions that might suit your needs.
Pack a picnic lunch and hop on a train to just about anyplace within a couple hours. Some of our favorites are Bayeux, Reims, and Honfleur. Go to www.tripadvisor.com, Paris forum, and do a search there for day trips. You will be overwhelmed by the choices. Go to www.seat61.com for all you'll need to know about booking French trains.
Pick up a copy of "An Hour from Paris" by Annabel Simms or "Paris to the Past" by Ina Caro. They both list easy day trips by train from Paris some of which are off the normal tourist radar.
The Burgundy region is unmissable. TGV from Gare de Lyon is an hour and a half from the city of Dijon, which boasts the Palais des Ducs, a wonderful covered market designed by Gustav Eiffel, and is surrounded by some of the best viticulture on Earth. Enjoy!
Since you are studying in Paris, I assume you can read some French and want to improve. In that case, I would strongly recommend buying the French-language Routard "Weekend Autour de Paris" guidebook once you get there. The former royal chateau at Fontainebleau is one of the best that is easily accessible by public transport.
There are obvious day trips in every guidebook like Auvers su Oise, Versailles, Fontainebleau, Chartres, but there are also literally dozens of great towns within an hour or slightly more of Paris and a few nice cities e.g. Reims and Rouen as two obvious examples. And don't miss Basilica St. Denis which is on the Paris metro. And don't miss Auvers sur Oise where Van Gogh lived his final days and is buried -- great day trip and there is a direct train on Saturdays.
For many of these the Navigo Decouverte transport pass gets you there so it is 'free' travel (not Rouen or Giverny or any other place outside the Ile de France,but that leaves many that are covered) If you are there the entire month of June, get the monthly ND pass. But now that the Ile de France has been 'dezoned' for transport, the weekly passes will also serve this purpose.
Get Simms book 'An Hour from Paris' which has detailed directions for 20 places not quite as well known; we have done most of these and I think Crecy la Chapelle, Moret sur Loing and Conflans St. Honorine were our favorites but they are all interesting. You can see some that we have done recently here:
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/category/day-trips-from-paris/
If I were you I would do a couple of day trips each weekend; what a great schedule and opportunity.
Overnight to Reims, stay in a B&B. See the city (cathedral, basilica, WWII museum), tour a couple of champagne caves with tastings. Also very easy as a day trip.
Train to Vernon, rent bikes and visit Giverny.
You could even go to London, or Ghent or Amsterdam for a weekend. I don't know about student fares, but you can get cheap train tickets if you buy now (but then you're locked in with non-refundable tickets).
Right outside of Paris on the Paris-Chartres-Nogent line there are three fantastic chateaux that no one visits:
1-Rambouillet
2-Maintenon
3-Nogent-le-Rotrou
These are sleepy little villages, but they are extremely fun to visit and the chateaux are worth seeing. Stop at the TIs in town for a list of other sites. For example, Nogent has many little spots that are amazing,
