Day Trips from Paris

Rouen
Dijon
Giverny
Chateau Malmaison (by bus from La Defense)
Reims
London on the Eurostar
Strasbourg by TGV

I consider Versailles a day trip.
You might also want to think about Chartres, Chateau de Fontainbleu, or Vaux-le-Vicomte. More information here: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/france/day-trips-from-paris-a1ca64d4-845d-4ab8-97b3-082d12b76f42

There's also Chantilly, north of Paris.

And, on the southwestern periphery of Paris, there's the Parc de Sceaux, which wouldn't take a whole day but could be a nice change of scenery from the bustle of the city.

I’ll second Fontainebleau and Vaux le Vicomte. They can be seen on a single day trip via train if planned carefully. The RS Paris book outlines what you need to do. Fontainebleau is a lot of fun but get the audio guide. Vaux is my favorite chateau in all of France. It was the inspiration for Versailles, is absolutely gorgeous, and much less traveled to. It’d be my choice if you can only do one. Full disclosure, once we arrived to the train stop that let’s you get to Vaux, we did take a taxi out there rather than waiting for the twice per hour bus that runs to the site.

Versailles is also awesome. If you consider a trip there, the tour of the King’s apartments is excellent and gets you into Versailles without waiting in the long line for the chateau. Otherwise, buy a timed entry ticket. Definitely see the Trianons and Hamlet in the back if you can. The Hamlet was my favorite part.

Someone also mentioned Rouen, which is fun for a half day. I’m not sure if it’s feasible by public transport but the Abbey of Jumiege is about 45 minutes from Rouen. Truly one of the most beautiful places I have even been. We could have spent hours walking around those ruins. Giverny is also on the way to Rouen and both the city and Giverny could be seen in one day if you considered an overnight in Rouen with return to Paris early the next day.

I love Chartres not only for the Cathedral(try to pick a day when the Labyrinth is revealed) but for the rest of the medieval old town as well. Easy daytrip from Paris.

There are literally dozens: Here are some we have done that are often a big off the beaten track:
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/category/day-trips-from-paris/

IN addition Auvers sur Oise is a wonderful day trip -- where VanGogh lived his last, died and is buried. Many of the scenes of his last pictures are there. Rouen for a small city with entirely different architecture from Paris and Reims for the Cathedral and Champagne house tours are both very close (Reims is 45 minutes by TGV). We like small picturesque towns like Moret sur Loing, Crecy la Chapelle, and Senlis. The big parks Bois de Bologne and Bois Vincennes are also nice, have rowboats on lakes etc and this past trip we went to Nogent sur Marne which is just on the other wise of Bois Vincennes and saw the last of the original 'halles' from les Halles as well as the ruins of the 'human zoo' site from the Colonial Exposition of the early 1900s.

I also heartily recommend a guinguette experience; these are usually open for lunch on weekend days; you can see what they are like in my photo journal above.

Many thanks to all for this tremendous collection of day trip suggestions. We are plotting our travels.

hey michael
last year in paris we took the train to reims. we did a tour with
allure.champenoise. click our offers, scroll down, our offers and it's in english. look over the tours and see what you like. got off train, walked to town, had lunch. the town is pretty. we met the couple that runs it, she speaks english, and off we went for our tour. getting out into the vineyards and small villages was my favorite part. after tour we walked around the church, stopped and had a glass of champagne and appetizer, did some shopping, people watching then back to train station. we bought our tickets day before in paris. check times going and returning. it was a nice day. have fun
check some of janettravels44 ideas. i liked the charming barge port, away from the city. also if you're interested cedricsparis.com has some great tours, some friends really liked them, plus they donate to a worthy cause.
aloha

Paris to the Past by Ina Caro describes lots of day trips (and a few overnights) by train from Paris. She knows and writes about France very well.

As a FYI, if you get the public transportation pass called the Carte Navigo Decouverte (about 22 euros/week), not only do you get unlimited transportation on the metro + busses, you also travel for free on the RER B to/from CDG airport and train travel out to Zone 5... which is REALLY far away from the center of Paris. For instance, for no additional charge, we travelled 2 hours away to Fontainbleu... both the train ride and then the bus from the train station to the chateau were included. Take a look at a map and see how far away you can get, and you might find more destinations than you have time!