Paris and then more of France by train?

I have not traveled in France, but what I always do when planning such a trip is google "County train map" to see the train lines. I think there is no maximum and many Paris fans would love to spend ten days there, but since it is your first time, I think taking one side trip would be nice (you could put it in the middle of your week and perhaps stay in two areas of the city at either end). I personally have Lyon on my list but of course pick what appeals to you the most!
Do share what month you intend to travel, as that may affect the suggestions, good luck!

Have you considered RS 7 day Paris tour? or
Paris & Heart of France and add a few days at the end.
We have done both and enjoyed them.
We are currently working on our plans for 5 nights in Paris and then the "My Way France 13 days" in Sept 2025.
So much to do/see in Paris.

Wow, a couple of quick replies. Neglected to mention I am looking at Sept or Oct. I have looked at the RS Paris tour, but it is booked solid for the fall, and is actually only five whole days on the ground. I think I need more time. I did put myself on the wait list, but then decided to begin planning my own adventure as it may not work out, or may take too long for a spot to open. As for the other tours, most are wait list only, or the available dates/itinerary don’t quite match what I want. I have done 3 RS tours, now, and enjoyed all of them, but often wish I had more time in some museums. At this point, some other places that interest me are Chartres, Carcassonne, Mont St. Michelle, and I’m sure my list will grow.

My 15 yr old daughter and I just spent 11 nights in Paris (including RS Paris tour) and it was not too long. There's so much to see, especially if you like museums and art. We spent a half day in Monet's gardens and house in Giverny, and a full day at Versailles. Otherwise we were in the city. I'd go back in a heartbeat. I'm not familiar enough with airports to use that aren't Paris, for France, but I'm sure others will contribute.

Only you can answer whether 10 days or 7 days in Paris would be too long. I suggest planning a daily itinerary for either period and seeing what you think of the result. One thing that may help is to look at the public walks offered by Paris Walks and putting them into your plans; maybe a guided walk each day, spend some time lingering in a museum, have a leisurely lunch, etc. Since you've been on RS tours you know how efficient multi-city tours can be but unless you don't care about the expense of signing up for the RS Paris tour you can do pretty much the same guided walks as the RS tour (even more, actually) using public tours and even have enough savings left over to spring for a private guide one day.

Well, for myself, even not being a "city-gal", 7-10 days in Paris is not too long! You can easily do some day trips. Chartres is a good one as are Chantilly, Versailles or Giverny. You probably know I am a solo traveler.

To me, Mont-Saint-Michel is NOT a good day trip - just too far and you get there just as the crowds are swelling. Carcassonne is just too far to consider at all.

If you have 10 nights, you could consider doing 4 nights in Paris, traveling out to another city for 2 or 3 nights, then back to Paris for the last 3-4 nights. Places I would consider for a 2-3 night stay - Colmar (a touch over 2 hours on the fast train), Bordeaux (2 hours by high speed train), Tour or Amboise for visiting chateaux if they are of interest to you. That suggestion does repeat back to Paris but I have better connections leaving from CDG than other cities so that is what works for me. You might have different needs or travel style.

Honestly, this is a fun dilemma!

So, I should add some details to clarify what I’m thinking. I’m thinking of spending 7-10 days in Paris, then going elsewhere by train. I have not figured out where yet, or for how long because I am unsure how to do this. Should I just pick two or three other locations that I could do some day trips from? Should I fly into Paris, and out of some other city? I also haven’t ruled out starting in London for a few days. I have not got a specific length of time in mind, yet, but it’s looking like accommodation in Paris is more expensive than I thought so that will play a role. I may be looking at a VRBO instead of hotels.
I like the idea of doing some guided walking tours in Paris, and I think going to Versailles or Giverny are both things I would like to do.
I’ve looked at the map of train routes, and they seem to go everywhere, but I am sure there are some routes and stops that make more sense than others. I did a train trip in Ireland many years ago that was a lot of fun, but I had to do a fair bit of backtracking to get to where I wanted. I’m trying to avoid that.
History, art, and photography are my goals. I know wine is big in France, but it’s not at the top of my list. I would go to an old castle much quicker than a vineyard.

Anita, it looks like your a bit overwhelmed.

Maybe take a look at the Trip Reports forum here and read some that include Paris, focussing on the ones that use public transportation, not self drive.

Like Pam, I can't get enough Paris. After not visiting for many years I planned a trip in 2022 starting with 4 nights in Paris, followed by a week in Colmar. Before I even booked my flights, I knew I wanted more time in Paris, so I added another week in Paris after Colmar.

Earlier this year a did a week in London, followed by a week in Paris.

What is the total amount of time you have available? How much time do you want to spend traveling between locations. Paris can be a great base for many day trips. Add on a few days at another location and you'd have a great introduction to France. Pam gave you a few ideas.

If you give us an idea of your hotel budget in Euros, we could probably give you some affordable suggestions. My hotel for my last 2 Paris trips was under €200 a night for a single room, great location and service.

Anita,
Just so you know, September is just about the most expensive time to stay in Paris because there are numerous conventions there in September, plus it is fashion month, so lodgings are very hard to come by and the hotels are full. If you go In October prices for lodging should be cheaper. If you can do it, give Paris 10 days. Ten days is far from being too long in Paris. There are 10 weeks worth of things to do and see. And you can do a Versailles day trip (one day), and Giverny (half day), Chartres (half day). Reims (champagne country) is a good day trip also. Please don't shortchange Paris

For other locations, Strasbourg/Colmar are a short TGV ride away and have lots to do and options for bus rides to smaller towns, plus day trips in the area and wine tastings. You could even visit some nearby towns in Germany. Strasbourg has a beautiful cathedral. Both towns are charming, with a different type of cuisine and lots of neat shopping opportunities. You can do very well without a car.
The Loire Valley is also a good choice, with the beautiful chateaux and a great wine history. We always have a car there, but lots of people on this forum have visited there without a car and will have good ideas for seeing the chateaux.

IMO, you can do this trip independently more cheaply than almost any tour group trip. We have traveled with tour groups in China, Kenya, Egypt and Turkey because of the language difficulty and wider cultural gap. In France it isn't necessary (in most cases). I hope you find some good answers and suggestions on this forum. The people here are great and good in sharing their knowledge.

Bonne chance!

I’ve looked at the map of train routes, and they seem to go everywhere

Well, they do ;-) So one strategy would be to pick a region you want to visit and start selecting stops on TGV lines. One image is at https://www.myconsoo.fr/upload/activity/image_les-lignes-de-tgv-en-france.png

For example you could go to St. Malo, Rennes, Vannes, Quimper, and have a nice Brittany visit. Or Nancy, Strasbourg, Colmar, and Dijon for a mostly Alsatian-area visit. There are other towns reachable in any region by local trains so my suggestion boils down to

1. pick a region after reading thru a higher-level France guide book
2. select TGV stops and now you've got a base plan that can be revised
3. do additional planning using a more focused book such as the Michelin Green Guide for the region
4. add additional towns if desired using local trains & buses

Look up blogs on best spots to visit in France (you will probably get the same 10 places or so), look up train duration and then look them up on YouTube. It will give you some idea of what they look like and whether you like them.

2 popular destinations that are within 2-3 hours train rides from Paris are Strasbourg and Lyon for example.

If you are in Paris for a week, there is a week-long transit pass; I can't remember which days it runs. The 144 hour (6 day) Paris Museum Pass might save you money if you want to visit a variety of museums; but it's 144 hours straight - you can't pause it for a day for a side trip, so you might plan those after. Also, if you stay in one apartment, you only pay the cleaning fee once. We stayed 8 nights in Paris.

I just did a solo trip to Paris. I flew to Amsterdam and spent a few days there then took the Eurostar to Paris for 4 nights then went back to AMS for 2 nights before I flew home. I felt 4 nights in Paris was a good amount of time (for me).

The only day trip that I considered while I was in Paris was Chartres but it would have eaten up an hour each way on the train and I felt it wasn't time well used as I had only 3 full days in Paris. I didn't have any interest in Versailles except maybe the gardens but it was in March, nothing much was in bloom yet so I felt it would have been a waste to go there.

My method of traveling probably wouldn't appeal to everyone but I'm not a person who does all the "tourist" spots. I have very little interest in Giverny or Versailles, for example. To each his own. I'm a solo traveler and love to walk. I do hit some highlights but I love simply seeing all of the shops and restaurants and architecture. One of my best memories is having lunch at a brasserie directly across from the Moulin Rouge.

I've been to the French Riviera on a separate trip but it's probably too far for you to combine that with Paris. I flew to Nice and spent 5 nights in Villefranche-sur-mer. Went to Monaco and St. Jean Cap Ferrat and Beaulieu-sur-mer.

You could train down to Bayeaux (2-1/2 hrs) which is near the D-Day beaches. There is a hotel there (Hotel Churchill) that has shuttles to Mt. St. Michel, I believe. There are the Bayeaux tapestries in a museum there too.