Accessing villages by public transport

Which direction from Paris were you hoping to do? If you wanted to do small towns enroute to Germany, you might consider something on the Route du Vin, Colmar, Strasbourg and towns in between. If you go south you might consider towns like Amboise, Tours, and neighboring chateaux. If you go north, towns like Rouen, Honfleur, Bayeux are well worth your time. Take a look at a good guidebook for suggestions on small towns to visit. Rick Steves France book will have lots of suggestion as well as transportation information.

If you are taking public transportation, I might consider staying in a bigger towns with a train station and more connections, then do day trips out to the small towns. For train schedules look on the www.bahn.com. You can also find a little more on bus info between smaller towns on www.rome2rio.com

Thanks Abe, the northern villages seem a bit out of the way going to Germany. Doesn't look like there are direct routes so the best looks like south. Would you suggest hiring a car in Dijon to see the surrounding historical villages?

If you are considering a car, your choices are manifold. Train to Colmar or Strasbourg and you'll find charming Alsatian villages. From Dijon, visit charming Burgundian villages. Do both - start in Dijon, end in Strasbourg, then high speed train to Germany. Rolling hills, vineyards, chateaux, cathedrals, weekly markets. GPS will be your best friend. Driving is pretty easy, navigating, especially in Burgundy, can be a challenge without it.

If you don't want to get a car then your best bet is to do day trips to villages near Paris and then train to maybe Strasbourg and then on to Germany. Villages are hard to access by public transport since it is designed for workers and school kids. But there are dozens of places near Paris. Another approach is to do a bicycle tour near Paris to out of the way places you would not otherwise be able to reach. Frenchmystique is a US expat who does small personally crafted bicycle trips around Paris and if you are up for this kind of travel, would be a great way to see out of the way non-touristy places.

We use Simms book 'An Hour from Paris' to craft local trips. Take a look at Senlis, Moret sur Loing and Cresy la Chapelle here for examples: https://janettravels.wordpress.com/category/day-trips-from-paris/

Transport to "villages" in France is very variable depending on the region of the country, ranging from hourly or more frequent (Nice to some of the heavily touristed towns nearby) to one bus per day to take the schoolchildren to the nearest town and back, with an extra one on market day to carry the little old ladies who don't drive any more (very large portions of the country). If you are looking at bus services to a specific place, the best thing to do is to find out which departement of France the place is in, and then search for the departement name with "transports en commun". The websites will usually NOT be in English, however.

If you are heading to Germany you might want to try Alsace, which is somewhere in the mid-range of public transport quality. Details of rural buses in Haut-Rhin (southern Alsace) are here. Details for Bas-Rhin (northern Alsace) are here.