Day Trips From Paris

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France has a lot to offer visitors, so take a day trip from Paris to discover even more about art, history, or wine! Take a train, bus, or private car with an expert guide and enjoy a day exploring the country.

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Palace of Versailles

The ultimate in luxurious royal residences, the Palace of Versailles is most famous for being the home of Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette until the French Revolution in 1789.

From Paris: Versailles Guided Tour by Deluxe Minibus

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From Paris: Versailles Audio Guided Tour with Tickets

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Versailles Best of Domain Skip-the-Line Access Day Tour with Lunch from Paris

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Versailles Bike Tour with Market, Gardens & Guided Palace Tour

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Giverny: Monet & the Impressionists

50 miles northwest of Paris, you’ll find the beautiful commune of Giverny. Monet lived and worked there, and visitors will be able to see both his house and the pond that inspired his paintings of waterlilies. Other impressionists also worked in Giverny, and many day trips also include a visit to the Museum of Impressionism.

Private day tour to Giverny Gardens and Rouen from Paris

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Giverny and Honfleur Private Day Trip from Paris

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Wine & Champagne Regions near Paris

If you know anything about France, you’ll know that it’s home to the world’s best wines. Day trips from Paris will take you to all the major wine regions, including Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, and the Loire Valley.

Versailles Best of Domain Skip-the-Line Access Day Tour with Lunch from Paris

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Versailles Bike Tour with Market, Gardens & Guided Palace Tour

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From Paris: Burgundy Region Winery Tour with Tastings

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Full-Day North Burgundy and Chablis Wine Tasting Tour from Paris

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Mont-Saint-Michel

The picturesque island commune of Mont-Saint-Michel is a favorite destination from Paris, with thousands of visitors arriving every day to see the fortifications, the eye-catching shops and restaurants, and the monastery at the top of the hill.

From Paris: Mont Saint Michel Day Trip with a Guide

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Day Trip to Mont-Saint-Michel from Paris

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From Paris: Full-Day Mont Saint-Michel Guided Tour

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Mont Saint Michel Guided Day Trip with Abbey Entry from Paris

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Military History Tours

If you’re into military history then try a day trip to either the WWI battlefields at the Somme or the beaches of Normandy where the D-Day landings of WWII took place. Tours to both regions often include a visit to some of the Allied military cemeteries where you can pay your respects to the fallen.

From Paris: Normandy D-Day Beaches Day Trip

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Normandy D-Day Landing Beaches Day Trip with Cider Tasting & Lunch from Paris

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Normandy D-Day Small-Group Day Trip with Omaha Beach, Cemetery & Cider Tasting

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WWI Somme Battlefields Day Trip from Paris

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More Day Trips

Check out even more day trips from Paris, including trips to the castles of the Loire Valley, Bruges (in Belgium!), Disneyland Paris, and cities in the south of France!

From Paris: Small-Group Champagne Day Trip with Six Tastings

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From Nice, Cannes, Villefranche: French Riviera Day Trip

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From Nice: Monaco, Monte-Carlo & Eze Village Guided Tour

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Premium Tour to Loire Valley Castles: Chambord, Chenonceau, & Amboise + Wine Tasting from Paris

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Day Trips from Paris

Palace of Versailles | Flickr: Guillaume Speurt CC BY-SA 2.0

More Information about Trips to Versailles

There’s so much to see and do in Paris, but a trip to Versailles is definitely worth the effort of leaving the city. The stunning baroque palace and its beautiful gardens have inspired other palaces around Europe for centuries, and an entry ticket lets you explore either the palace, the gardens, or both! The ticket for the gardens also gives you access to three smaller châteaus: the Grand Trianon, the Petit Trianon, and the Hameau de la Reine. The palace is the second most popular attraction in France (after the Louvre), so it’s advised that you book skip-the-line tickets in advance or take a group tour with a guide who’ll make sure you get in without waiting in line.

How to get to Versailles

The trip to Versailles takes between 15 and 35 minutes on the RER-C commuter train, or 30 minutes by bus 171 from Pont de Sèvres station. If you’ve been using a public transport card that covers zones 1 to 5 during the rest of your Paris trip then you won’t even have to buy a separate ticket to get there, as the station is in zone 4. Once you get to the station you’ll need to walk for about 15 minutes to the palace gates. It’s relatively easy to get to by yourself using public transport. There’s also a car park if you’d prefer to hire a car and drive yourself.

Planning your Trip

Guided day trips to Versailles can vary in length, depending on how thorough the tour of the grounds and palaces are - they can take anywhere from 4 hours to 10 hours, including travel time. Some of the shorter tours to Versailles give you the chance to stay later and explore by yourself and return on a later bus but make sure to double-check the travel details before you book. Other tours combine half a day at Versailles with trips to Giverny, tickets to the Eiffel Tower, or a city tour of Paris.

Giverny | Flickr: ho visto nina volare CC BY-SA 2.0

Trips to Giverny: Monet & the Impressionists

Giverny is famous as the location where Monet painted the waterlilies, and if you’ve seen his art in the Musée D’Orsay or the Musée de L’Orangerie then you’ll be itching to see the beautiful countryside that inspired him. Tours to Giverny usually stop at Monet’s house and gardens at the Fondation Claude Monet, and often also include entry to the Museum of Impressionism which focuses on the other artists who were drawn to the village, including John Singer Sargent, Theodore Earl Butler, Blanche Hoschedé Monet, and Philip Leslie Hale, among others. Take a tour with a guide or visit by yourself to enjoy a flexible day surrounded by nature and art.

Things to do in Giverny

One must for anyone going to Giverny is Monet’s house and gardens. The gardens are a delight to visit all year round, as a result of some clever planning and planting, and the house has been extremely well-preserved. Combined tickets with the Musée Marmottan Monet or with the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris are available. The experience of visiting the Museum of Impressionism is quite different. It’s housed in a modern building surrounded by a garden with a contemporary feel. The permanent collection showcases the influence of Monet on contemporary artists while rotating temporary exhibitions cover a range of styles and themes.

How to get to Giverny

Giverny is about 46 miles (75 km) west of Paris, a drive that takes about an hour and a half depending on your starting point. It can be faster to take the train from Paris Saint-Lazare to Vernon-Giverny, as the fast SNCF trains only take 45 minutes to make the journey. From the train station, you’ll take need to take a shuttle bus (€10 for a return ticket) which will drive you the final stretch into Giverny village in 20 minutes. Within the village itself, everything can be reached comfortably on foot.

Wine regions around Paris

Wine & Champagne Day Trips from Paris

French wines are known for being the best in the world, with the country producing between 8 and 9 billion bottles every year. Each region produces unique tasting wines, depending on the type of grape and production methods used, in addition to the subtle changes in flavor from the terroir - the unique combination of soil type, climate, and growing habitats that influence the grape from day one. Learn a little bit more about each of the regions, and how to get there from Paris!

Champagne

The name ‘champagne’ can only be applied to wines from this region, about 100 miles (160 km) east of Paris. It usually refers to sparkling white wines, though there are also authentic sparkling rosé and (non-sparkling) red wines to be sampled. Day trips to Champagne often also include a visit to Reims, which is famous for its gothic cathedral where several French monarchs were crowned. Most importantly, you’ll get to sample the region's wines, with several tours stopping off at the famous Moët & Chandon and Veuve Cliquot vineyards and cellars. The train to Reims can take less than an hour, but if you want to visit the more rural vineyards then you’ll either need to drive or take a tour which includes transportation. The drive will take about 2 hours in each direction, so you should definitely plan a full day if you intend to visit the Champagne region.

Loire Valley

The Loire Valley is found southwest of Paris and is home to many beautiful castles as well as lush vineyards, including the Château de Chambord and the Château de Chenonceau. Tours usually focus on the castles rather than the wine, but you’ll find many options where lunch and a tasting of local wines are included. Wines that are usually included in the tastings include Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, and red wines that use the Cabernet Franc grape. The region surrounding Saumur is also one of the largest sparkling wine-producing regions outside Champagne, and a more in-depth tour might take you there as well. The drive from Paris takes at least two and a half hours, so expect full-day tours to take at least 10 hours in total. Trains run from Paris to either Tours or Blois, from either of those towns you’ll need to transfer to local buses or take taxis to reach the castles or vineyards.

Bordeaux

The region of Bordeaux is in the southwest of France and is the largest winegrowing region in France. It’s most famous for its red wines, which are usually made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec, and Petit Verdot grapes, with the percentage of each grape used in the mixing process varying from vineyard to vineyard. The region is also famous for the sweet dessert wine called Sauternes, which comes from a village with the same name. It takes 6 hours to drive to Bordeaux from Paris, so most day trips will include return high-speed TGV train tickets. The journey by train takes between two and a half and four hours, depending on the route and departure station, so prepare for a long day with plenty of time spent traveling.

Burgundy

While other wine regions favor white or red wine, Burgundy does both equally well! On a trip to Burgundy (also known as Bourgogne), you’ll taste wines which either use Chardonnay grapes or Pinot Noir and are grown in the valleys of the Saône river. The city of Auxerre is also full of sights to see, including the old town’s clock tower (Tour de l’Horloge), and the Abbaye de Saint-Germain, and it’s also known for making good Chablis. Driving from Paris to Burgundy takes between 2 to 3 hours in each direction. Direct trains depart from Paris-Bercy and take around 2 hours to reach the station at Auxerre St Gervais.

The island and monastery of Mont-Saint-Michel.

Day Trips to Mont-Saint-Michel

The monastery and island of Mont-Saint-Michel are one of the most popular sights in France, visited by 3.5 million visitors annually. Many of those visitors come on day trips from Paris to see one of the finest achievements of medieval architecture. Due to its location, on an island only reachable at low tide and on a foundation which proved to be unstable, the abbey was one of the most expensive and complicated construction projects of the era. The island, its buildings, and the surrounding bay have been on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites since 1979.

What to Watch out for in Mont-Saint-Michel

Day trips to Mont-Saint-Michel usually include entry to the Abbaye du Mont-Saint-Michel, the stunning Benedictine abbey at the island’s peak, now used by monks and nuns from the Monastic Fraternities of Jerusalem. You’ll be able to visit the courtyards, halls, and corridors while taking a guided tour. While on the walk up to the abbey you might also stop off to see the parish church of Saint-Pierre, which is home to a statue of the patron saint of the island. Don’t forget to browse in the little shops and cafés on the Grand Rue. The island’s streets are generally very steep and you’ll need to climb several hundred steps to reach the monastery at the top.

Planning Your Trip

It’s possible to book day trips with a guide or with an audio guide to take you around the monastery. Most tours include transfers in air-conditioned buses. The drive takes about 4 hours from Paris. For the traveler who’d rather arrange their own day trip, it’s possible to take the train from Paris-Montparnasse and then change in Rennes or Villedieu-les-Poêles before transferring to a bus. The whole trip will take between 3 and 4 hours in each direction.

D-Day Landing Sites, Normandy | Paul Arps Flickr: CC BY 2.0

WWI Battlefields and D-Day Landing Sites

For those with an interest in military history, or simply those who want to learn more about the two world wars of the 20th Century, a day trip to either the battlefields of World War I or the Normandy beaches which were the center of the D-Day landings is well worth the time. Supported by an expert guide, you’ll learn a lot about the impact of war on the local populations, the experiences of the soldiers fighting, and you’ll be able to pay your respects to those who died in action.

The Somme

The Battle of the Somme was fought between July 1 and November 18, 1916, and was the largest battle on the Western Front during World War I. Although it’s been over 100 years since the battle was fought, visitors can still see the fields where trenches were built and British, French, and German soldiers fought for almost four full months. Most day trips which visit the Somme battlefields also spend some time at a cemetery where soldiers were buried, many of them without names and visit the Museum of the Great War in Peronne. It takes about two hours to drive to the battlefields of the Somme from Paris, and given the nature of the sites you’ll be visiting, you’ll either need a car of your own or to book a tour that includes transportation.

D-Day Beaches

D-Day is the most common name used to refer to the Normandy landings, which were also codenamed Operation Neptune. On June 6, 1944, Allied forces invaded France to begin the liberation of Western Europe during World War II, landing at five sections of beach codenamed Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword. There were extremely high numbers of casualties during the landing, but the operation was ultimately successful. The operation is often seen as marking the beginning of the end of the war in Europe. Day trips to the D-Day beaches can also include a visit to Mont-Saint-Michel, an island monastery off the Normandy coast, or to a military cemetery where you can pay your respects to the fallen. The drive from Paris to the beaches takes about 3 hours each way, so plan for a long day of traveling. It takes less than two hours to take a train from Paris to Caen, and just over two hours to Bayeaux, both of which are close to the beaches. At Caen, you can also pay a visit to the Allied Beaches Memorial Museum.