I will be in Paris for 8 days. I need help with day tours.

Sounds like a great trip!! I would also suggest the Normandy / D-Day sights. The WW2 museum in Caen would also be worth your time.

Yes, 8 days would allow for one or more day trips, comfortably. I wouldn't do all of the ones you listed on one 8 day trip, because that would only allow 4 days for Paris itself. So, choose a few, and then see how you feel about Paris once you get there. If you fall in love with the city, you don't need to take any day trips at all. If you want a change of venue, you can take day trips. Also note that Mont Saint Michel is very far for a day trip. People do it, of course, but I think you should stay closer (or, if you have your heart set on MSM, do it as an overnight).

Mary Jane, Mount St. Michel and the D-Day beaches are a bit far for a day trip, so I'd suggest leaving those for another trip when you can spend several days in Normandy and Brittany. I'm not sure about Giverney or the Reims Champagne tour? Versailles will easily be possible. It's about 30 minutes each way from Paris via RER. It hopefully won't be too crowded in October. I was there in early July and the crowds were dreadful. Be sure to allow at least 4 - 6 hours if you're planning to see both the Chateau and the gardens (which are HUGE). I would highly recommend packing along a copy of the Pocket Paris or France Guidebooks. The guidebook provides all the information you'll need to plan your touring efficiently and it provides a LOT of good information, including the opening & closing days of some of the sights. For example, the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays, while Versailles is closed on Mondays. I've found that having reliable information at hand is a tremendous benefit (I had the Pocket Paris book with me when I was there recently). Bon Voyage!

With only 8 days, I would choose no more than 2 day trips. The main attraction of Giverny is the gardens. They may not be at their best that late in the year, and it's really only a half-day, but uses up almost a whole day to get there and back, so I'd skip it. I still haven't done the Reims champagne (and cathedral!) trip yet but I really want to and I have researched it. You can do it on your own, but you probably will have to reserve tours in advance at the champagne houses. Versailles is classic, so I'd recommend that and Reims. Mont Saint Michele may be a bit far for a comfortable day trip.

I went to Giverny in mid-October and the gardens were beautiful! A real highlight of that trip for me. It is also an easy daytrip from Paris, as is Versailles. I wouldn't plan on too many day trips, as there is so much to do IN Paris.

i just got back from Paris and I would recommend a trip to Fountainebleau, it is 50km south of Paris and is a 40 min. trip by train from the Gare de Lyon Train station. Fountainbleau is the home of Napoleon's Palace and it rivals Versailles in many ways, there will be minimal crowds and the gardens and lakes behind the palace are beautiful. This would be an easy day trip. Also, you might consider taking the early Eurostar to London and tour the Tower and/or the British Museum, and heading back to Paris in the evening. Lastly, while I was in Paris my son (30 years old) convinced me to take the metro to Disney Paris and we had a really great time on our last day and that evening we took the express train from Disney to CDG airport and spent the night at the Sheraton at Terminal #2. (this makes it super easy to make a 10:45 am flight home without fighting the traffic,etc.) Important: While in Paris get tickets for evening concert in Saint Chapelle, this was one of the best moments of my life! Also, go to Cafe du Marche on Rue Cler st. order the Penne Pasta, you will forever be happy!!

I just returned yesterday after spending 8 days in Paris. I went to Versailles, of course and also to Chartres, which I enjoyed. I spent the rest of the days in Paris since there is so much to see. I often filled my mornings with museums or attractions and hit the other museums in the evening when they were open until 9 or 10 PM and they were less busy. I was then able to fit more attractions in.
Get a Paris museum pass. I got one for 6 days and really saw a lot. This was my 4th trip to Paris and my first one was when I was 23 and full of energy. I went when I was 40 & 50 and finally now at age 66. Somehow it was easier to take the Metro subway and buses when I was younger, but now the walking up and down the stairs and long distances underground to catch connecting Metros or buses was too strenuous and too TIME CONSUMING. We didn't find that our metro ticket offered a transfer when we changed buses, so we had to use another ticket! We wish we would have used cabs which were only costing us $10 or less per trip earlier in the trip since it would have saved so much time and left energy to tour the museums. I recommend cabs for older or overweight travelers because you can see so much more and conserve your energy when you walk around the sights. I will certainly use cabs on future trips!

As an alternative to Versailles, you might take a look at the website for Vaux le Vicomte. It's close enough for a day trip by train and I found it far more enjoyable than versailles. Less crowded (actually, uncrowded). Furnished, so you get more of a feeling for what life was like. Lovely gardens, with golf carts for tooling around them. It was the chateau of Louis' finance minister. Louis threw him in prison, and then took the architect, landscape architect, and artisans who created Vaux le Vicomte to create his palace at Versailles. So it's the same feeling, only on a more human scale. Much of Versaille struck me as "empty" and so crowded it was hard to experience it. (I was there in mid-May)

Are you really going to be here for 8 days, or do those 8 days include your arrival and departure days from/to the U.S.?

I agree about the Metro in Paris - much more time-consuming than you might think, and lots of stairs and hallways. There are champagne houses in the city of Reims that offer tours and tastings, check with your hotel in Paris (or the RS guidebook) about reserving. I loved Reims. I was in Paris for 5 days and used the Museum Pass every day but one (I got the 4-day pass), it was worth it. As the TI person said, it gets you into the skip-the-line line at the Louvre and other sites. Chartres is only an hour away from Paris by train, you might consider that. Have a great time!

Take a look at the RS Paris tour and then you will be able to see what there is to see and do in Paris. You can go to Versailles by train (RER train) for a day or less. I spent the whole day there, but we enjoyed just walking around the grounds and relaxing plus the Palace tour. You can spend as much as a day or as little as two or three hours there depending on what you want to do. A day trip to Giverny is also an excellent outing. Do buy the RS Paris guide book and in it you will find a section on day trips. But there is so much to do in Paris that you will only want to do one or maybe two days outside of Paris. Also look at the Rick Steves scrapbooking section and look at all the photos of the Paris tours or the tours that enclude Paris. Great source of what there is to see and do. Also look at YouTube and search the places you want to visit and you will see tons of great videos that will give you ideas of what to see and do. So much to see, visit, tour museums, bridges, boat rides, shops, cafes, your days will be filled and still not have enough time to see it all. I have been to Paris four times and can't wait to go back.

"The main attraction of Giverny is the gardens. They may not be at their best that late in the year, and it's really only a half-day, but uses up almost a whole day to get there and back, so I'd skip it." Yes, the main attraction is the gardens. I've not been there in October but judging from the variety of flowers there (and the comments from the above poster) I'm sure they would still be beautiful. If you're a Monet fan, or love gardens, it's a pilgrimage not to be missed. Also, it's not a whole day. I took the early train so as to get to Giverny when it opened (less crowds, better light for photos), saw the gardens thoroughly, toured through his home, and was back in Paris by 1:00pm for lunch. Others say to have lunch and explore the town of Giverny too and that would make it a longer day but not everyone does that. So it's easily done as a 1/2 day trip.