Cities near Paris

I loved Reims. Good sites to see and great champagne :)

I didn't find Reims a very pretty city, but it has a number of worthwhile sights. Aethetically, I much preferred Troyes. It's popular with French visitors but seems to get few foreign tourists. It's chock-full of half-timbered buildings. It's a 90-minute trip from Paris.

Rouen us even faster, and due to the TGV, Lyon is within range at about 2 hours. Of the places I mentioned, Lyon has by far the most sights. You won't be able to cover it completely in the time you have available.

Dijon is not much more than an hour.by rail away. You can stroll from the train station to the city centre in about 15 minutes.

As a former Lyon resident, I will second the recommendation of time in Lyon. You could spend weeks there and still go wanting for more time.

But if you're moving to Le Mans, going to a completely different area of France (such as Lyon) may not be the best choice for starting your process of acclimating yourself to life here. Despite what occasional visitors to France may believe, living here can be difficult.

You will be challenged. You'll be challenged on your language ability, you'll be challenged on your willingness to endure French bureaucracy, and you'll be challenged on your patience with the idiosyncrasies of the French people.

Lastly, you'll be challenged on the odd tendency of French retailers to fail to have an item they had a couple of months ago (or last week) in stock on the day you visit. It's not like the U.S., where you can count on such things. Consequently, you may want to consider Rennes or Nantes. Both cities offer a lot to see, and they're cities you may grow to rely upon for everyday essentials during your life in France as you live in Le Mans.

Lyon would be another good choice for a couple of days if you haven't been there before.

Oops, didn't see the above post before I pulled the trigger on mine.

3 hours gets you access to most of France and some beyond. In 3 hours you can get to Marseilles. To Nimes. Bordeaux. London. Bruxelles. And points in between.

I'd join the crowd in Lyon, personally.

Hi,

On my second trip to Paris, I was 27 and went there solo too. To get to places within a reasonable time, I agree with a radius of 2-3 max. What is your main interest? My suggestions are Reims, Amiens, Meaux, Fontainebleau, Rouen, Troyes, Soissons, Chateau-Thierry. If you take the TGV, you can get to Arras, Metz and Strasbourg.

I’d say anywhere but Reims. One of my least favorite cities in France. There are so many great cities, towns... my list would be Beaune, Fontainebleau, Tours, Blois, Chartres, Rennes, Amboise, Bayeux...

Agreement on Rennes. Very nice, and if you wanted to see somewhere smaller, you'd have access to Fougeres, Vitre, and (larger) Dinan.

Strasbourg is about 2 hours by train, and there are several a day from CDG. The Strasbourg train station has luggage lockers. Strasbourg itself has enough for a couple of days and it's an easy day trip by train to charming Colmar. I looked at a couple other cities, but didn't find any with train connections from CDG. The convenience of not having to change trains would be a big consideration for me. And I loved Strasbourg and Colmar!

Afterthought - I looked at bahn.com, there's a direct train at 8.00 on 24/9 from Strasbourg to Le Mans and also at 15.08.

Recommend Colmar in the Alsace region, a very different ambience to the usual French town experience and it includes the beautiful Little Venice, just 2-3 hours on the TGV train from Paris.

https://www.tourisme-colmar.com/en/visit/presentation/architectural-heritage/F235008803_little-venice-colmar
https://www.rome2rio.com/guides/5-french-towns-you-need-to-visit/

The recommendations here are all over the place not near Paris. It seems easier to read some of kind of guide book with maps so you can see distance where everything area is covered and focus on towns that strike your interests.

And dont forget that most of the cities recomended here involve going Le Mans to Paris and changing there.

This summer we "discovered" a cute little place about 75 minutes train ride from Paris called Provins. It was built almost entirely in the 12th and 13th centuries and has hardly been touched since. There's the very old upper town, and the "newer" lower town. We were there in July and the lady selling tickets for the main sights of the town was saying how crowded it was and all the tours were sold out...honestly there was hardly anyone there at all! Cute little restaurants with homemade food, beautiful gardens, great little inns, and interesting history. Highly recommend! Great place to get over jet lag and rest.

I agree about Provins! Great place.