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Train travel to/from Paris during school vacations

Posted by on

We had thought we had to cancel this trip, so didn't plan for our last 3-4 days of an 11 day trip to Paris. I am now scrambling to make sure I can line something up for the last days, despite many people telling me to wing it. I just read on another post that schools are out Oct 22-Nov 4. We plan to depart Paris on a Friday afternoon or evening to explore another area, outside the city, staying a few days.

Question 1: Given school holiday, AND a Friday departure, should we expect extraordinary train traffic...as there would be car traffic in my metropolitan area in the states? We want to take a train.

Question 2: What are your thoughts on a place to experience something different? My ideas included D-Day/Normandy although I haven't booked a tour. Chartres and surrounding area. A friend suggested wine tasting, but I question that feasibility without a car.I just don't have a sense of how crowded places may be and the limitations on finding lodging.

I could just try to extend my stay at the hotel in Paris, and do day trips, but that uses a lot of back and forth time.

We already planned a day trip to Versailles.

Posted by
2546 posts

The French school holiday, Toussaints, is from 22 Oct to 7 Nov, but I am not clear on how this affects you. There is always heavy traffic leaving Paris late on Friday, and again late Sunday as those visiting out of town for the weekend return. This only affets those driving. In terms of train tickets, just purchase what you need, but prices increase and availability decreases the longer you wait to buy them.

Two logical areas of exploration are Normandy and the Loire Valley, but days are becoming much shorter and there is less available sunlight each day. For Normandy, I like to use Bayeux as a base. You'll know about crowds as soon as you attempt to book accommodations and restaurants. For the Loire Valley, I like Tours, specifically the area around Vieux Tours and Place Plumereau. Wine tasting should be arranged through the Office de Tourisme, you really do not want to explore wines and drive at all.

However, with shorter days and cooler temperatures, I find staying in cities to be preferable to touring the countryside and I never run out of things to visit and explore in Paris.

Posted by
6901 posts

It is not the busiest travelling period, except the 29 Oct-1 Nov period which is a long weekend.
Basically: look at where you want to go and see if you can book train tickets for the trains that do require reservations (I think you'd still find OK availability, except perhaps in the afternoon of 28 Oct out of Paris and the afternoon of 1 Nov back to Paris).
Trains to Normandy now mostly require reservations, but trains to Chartres do not even accept them. Lovely as Chartres is, I would not want to spend more than 3 nights there, including a half-day trip to Maintenon.

For wine tasting, there are many options. Most convenient from Paris would be Champagne (Reims, Épernay, or perhaps Troyes) and Beaune. I am not an expert, but there are winery tours - a car is convenient to get to wineries but driving and tasting do not go well together.

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