Must see/do day trips from Paris

Two which are close by are Chateau Malmaison and the St Denis Basilica. Either can be reached in about 40 minutes from central Paris. Rouen is only a little more than an hour away by SNCF.

We need to know what you're interested in: wine? chateaux? art? historic churches? cute little towns?

Steve's Paris guidebook lists several day trips from Paris. You might review those.

Versailles if you like big crowded over-the-top palaces. Vaux-le-Vicomte for something similar on a more human scale (but harder to reach). Fountainebleau for an in-between palace with Napoleon features. Chartres for a great intact medieval cathedral with newly restored stained glass. Reims for a great restored medieval cathedral with lots of history, plus champagne houses if that's your thing. Giverny for Monet's garden and museum (but you can see a lot of his best work at the Orsay, Orangerie, and Marmottan in Paris).

Paris to the Past by Ina Caro describes dozens of interesting historic day trips from Paris, all doable by train.

Rouen is reachable and worthwhile, but farther into Normandy, like Bayeux and the beaches, are "a bridge too far" for a day trip IMHO.

Thanks for the replies so far. If I had to narrow it down, looking for chateaux, wine, quaint towns. I'll check out Rick Steve's book too, but like getting ideas to start my research ;-).

Have you gone to St. Denis Basilique in north Paris? That was one of my favorite things we did in Paris besides walking around and picnicking in the Parc des Buttes Chaumont.

Here are a few we have done in the last few years:
https://janettravels.wordpress.com/category/day-trips-from-paris/
We did Chartres, Auvers sur Oise, Fontainebleau, Malmaison etc before I was writing the photo journal. Auvers sur Oise is really worth doing as is Provins, a medieval walled town.

Go to Lyon or Beaune.

If you want an experience unlike anything you will see in Paris, I suggest the small town of Provins. It is great for a day trip out of town. There are medieval ramparts (huge walls and towers) that you can walk around and along. There is also a very tall castle overlooking the entire town you can tour. On top of that, there are many half-timbered buildings that just just epitomize small town/village France. My partner and I enjoyed the slower pace of the town, and capped off the day with a warm creme brule before we took the train back
to the bustle of Paris. The town has just enough to do for a day trip, not too big - not too small.

I'm a fan of Chartres.

St Germain en Laye, Versailles, and Fontainebleau.

Fontainebleau or Chantilly--I visited both this summer and enjoyed both, but one is probably enough :)

Lyon!? Certainly not! That takes more than a day trip. Chartres, Giverny, Maintenon, Rambouillet, and any of the nearby chateaux (Vaux-le-Vicomte, Malmaison, etc)

In addition to what's already here, you can get to Loire Valley and see one or two Chateaux in a day. I think it's better to spend a night or two, at least, and pick a few Chateaux you really want to see at a more comfortable pace.

Earlier trips to Paris included a day trip to Versailles, last trip included a day trip to Chartres. Both were comfortable day trips. I still haven't visited Giverny.

As a history buff, I really enjoyed St. Denis. I don't consider it a day trip, however, because it's on the Paris Metro system.

Meaux is pronounced "Mo" - as in dough.
Good luck finding a day trip you like!

Rhymes with “beaux”

After three trips for a total of 13 days I have yet to want to take a "day trip" from Paris (other than Versaille). If there isn't something you really want to see (and if you are asking here than there must not be) why spend the travel time? One trip and "all the major sights" doesn't do more than scratch the surface of Paris.

Richard, you do have a good point! I was just curious if there are things/places that I did not know about that are highly recommended because who knows when I'll be back. But I'm not worried about being bored in Paris by all means. I just want to use my time effectively. Appreciate everyone's feedback!

I second the suggestion of going to Meaux as a day trip, did that in June 2017 and visited the Grande Guerre Museum. You'll see several signs in and out of the station indicating the existence of that museum (it's big) and how to reach it by bus.

"Mewks"!? Were these British French people? lol

I’m an actual French person and I say /mo/. What you heard was people saying « ah, Meaux » when they finally understood where you wanted to go.

I suspect the French people who said the word was pronounced Mewks were having you on. Either that or French was not their native tongue.

You seem to have been unfortunate in that you had a lot of unhappy or unsatisfactory experiences and interactions while in France, according to your several posts. So sorry it was like that for you.

I went to Meaux ( I said "mo" at the ticket counter.) primarily to see the war museum in June, should have taken a taxi if I found one at the train station, since i don't recall seeing any, instead of waiting 45 mins at the bus station. On the way back, I would have taken the bus. The centre ville interested me as I rode by there to and fro. The town is worth going to just to visit the centre ville as the war museum is so far from it.

I was going to say that it is certainly possible for French people to
make mistakes (last time I checked they're still human beings), just
like a person in your own hometown who had never heard of a city 50
miles (5 miles?) away and never heard it pronounced.

Barbra, that may be true but French pronunciation would never allow for an "aux" to be pronounced "ooks". The alphabet doesn't work the way it works in English phonetically. The "x" doesn't make the same sound it does in English.
Eg: xylophone is pronounced "zee-lo-phone". The phrase "beaux arts" would be pronounced "bowz-ahr"

In saying "Meaux " I treated the "x" as a silent letter and focused on the letters, "eau" (like water) and said, "mo" which is what I heard anyway on the train. The main thing is go by a French pronunciation key, not one for English. The "au" pair is also pronounced differently in a German pronunciation key from that in French.

The last letter in a word is usually not pronounced in French. That’ why in French it’s /pah ‘rī/ and not
/’paer is/.

How does one pee In France when a public facility isn’t available. There’s a protocol that is probably described in Europe Through the Back Door. You go to a cafe. The fastest is to go to the bar, order a café or whatever, ask where the toilet is, rush there to take care of business, come back and enjoy your drink. Finally, get on with your day. It’s costs the price of your drink.

So, Barbra, did you enjoy yourself or not?