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Itinerary input -- Ile de France Sights

I would like to ask some advice on visiting Ile de France sights: Fotainebleau, Giverny, Chartres.

We have a car and will leave from Beaune, Burgundy on a Wednesday morning. Vaux-Le_Vicomte which Rick gives three stars is closed so we will go to Fonatainebleau. I am trying to manage the tradeoffs of what parts will be more or less rushed. Looking for feedback about which option works best.

Option 1:
Leave Beaune 8am or so
2.5 hour drive to Fountainebleau, arrive 10:30
Visit Fontainebleau for 3.5 hours or so
Drive to Chartres, visit Cathedral for 2-3 hours (arrive 4-4:30; Cathedral closes at 7:30pm)
Drop Car in Orly Airport then six night in Paris
Daytrip to Giverny during our six nights/five days in Paris

Option 2
Leave Beaune 8am or so
2.5 hour drive to Fontainebleau, arrive 10:30
Visit Fontainebleau, time to linger if we want
Drive to Chartres, visit Cathedral in evening and/on morning of the bext day; stay overnight in Chartres
Leave Chartres by 12pm or so to head for Giverny (two hour drive, arrive no later than 3pm; Monet Garden close at 6pm)
Two hour drive to Orly, drop Car in Orly Airport then five nights in Paris

What I am looking for is any feedback about which option works best. Any ideas? Thanks in advance..

Posted by
591 posts

I'd go for Option 2....
Day 1: Visit both Fontainebleau and Chartres Cathedral - night in Chartres.
Day 2: Giverny is actually on the west side of Paris due north of Chartres, so to Giverny in the morning (about 1 hour 45" drive)and then you'd even have the option of visiting Versailles in the afternoon (1 hour drive)and then just another 30" to Orly.

Posted by
1878 posts

My experience has been that one of the challenges in renting a car is the drop off.... often hard to find the place where you are supposed to drop. A lot of times the locations for the drop close at 5:00pm or 6. Orly is open until midnight, buses to Paris from there, and closer to Giverny than CDG.