What's the verdict? Where would be a nice break but also a typical village around Paris that one can do in a day trip?Provins is getting more attention. How about Rouen? Auvers-sur-Oise? Oh yeah...and exactly how does one get there and back?
Posted by
Boston
4132 posts
Rouen is great but is not a village by any stretch. It is a Norman city, with lots of history, some interesting cathedrals (one painted many tines by Monet) and half-timbered houses. About an hour each way by rail.
Posted by
Portlandia
3313 posts
I've mentioned Chartres before. The cathedral is spectacular and I really like the old town area between the cathedral and the river.
Posted by
la frette sur seine
448 posts
To go to a village that also includes something famous i'd suggest auvers-sur-oise....it's easy to get to with the train from st.lazare station and a change in pontoise. Despite a fair number of tourists going to visit VanGogh's last home and the sites of some of his famous paintings..it is still a place where people live and work. I love giverny for monet's house and garden, and the american art museum, but it has a "disneyland" feel...no pharmacy, market, post office, etc, and although there are now shuttle buses from the vernon train station it's not as easy to reach as auvers. Provins is medieval, but so is the lesser known Pontoise that you'd go thru to get to auvers.
There are many lovely villages in the northwest Ile-de-France, the French Vexin, but a car is really needed. Gisors is just on the edge of Normandy and a train there from StLazare would show you some countryside. Cobblestone streets and beamed houses, but no one at home will have heard of it....
Posted by
Anchorage
157 posts
Champs-sur-Marne; Chantilly/Senlis; Conflans-Ste Honorine; Crecy-la-Chapelle; Islands of Creteil; Ile du Martin-Pecheur; Chartes; Malesherbes; Provins; Rambouillet; or perhaps St Germain-en-Laye
All less than an hour by RER, but best choice would really depend on weather, month, day of week, etc.