Getaways from Paris: day trips and destinations close by.

Three airports, six stations and the RER

Paris has three airports with direct flights from Spain. Charles de Gaulle is flown to from Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Seville, Málaga, Gran Canaria, Tenerife South, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. Orly adds Alicante, Asturias, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Palma de Mallorca and Ibiza to almost all of those. Beauvais, much further north, receives flights from Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Seville.

Once in the city, a car is almost surplus: each railway station leads in one direction. From the Gare du Nord leave the trains to Chantilly, to Compiègne and, at weekends from April to October, the direct to Auvers-sur-Oise. The Gare de l'Est leads to Champagne, with a TGV to Reims in about 45 minutes and a direct train to Épernay in 1 h 20; also line P to Provins and the TGV to Colmar. Saint-Lazare is the Normandy station: Rouen in 1 h 15 and Bayeux in about 2 h 20. Montparnasse serves Chartres, Rennes for Mont-Saint-Michel and Saint-Pierre-des-Corps for Chenonceau; Austerlitz, Blois for Chambord, and the Gare de Lyon, Dijon for Beaune. For the nearest places the RER is enough: line C to Versailles, A to Disneyland Paris and line R to Fontainebleau.

A hire car pays off in four cases: the cliffs of Étretat, touring the D-Day beaches at your own pace, Vaux-le-Vicomte and the weekend in the Oise between Senlis, Compiègne and Pierrefonds. If you leave for Normandy on the A13, note that the Saint-Cloud tunnel is closed in the direction out of Paris from 16 November 2026 until the end of August 2027.

The court's palaces, all but Vaux by train

Under an hour by road are the court's palaces and parks: Versailles, 35 minutes away; Disneyland, Auvers, Senlis and Chantilly, between 45 and 50, and Vaux-le-Vicomte, an hour. All except Vaux can be done by suburban train and fit in a day with room to spare.

The second ring is between one and two hours: Fontainebleau, Chartres and Compiègne with Pierrefonds (70 minutes), Giverny and Provins (80), Rouen (90), Reims (95) and Épernay (100). Here the train usually beats the car, and several destinations also have a night written up: Fontainebleau and Barbizon, medieval Provins or Reims and Champagne.

Between two and a half and three and a quarter hours the day stretches: the Loire Valley, 159 minutes away, with Chambord by train and bus or Chenonceau and Amboise; Étretat (162), D-Day Normandy (194) and Beaune (202). They are possible day trips, but more bearable with a night: two in Étretat, two in Bayeux or two in Beaune with the Côte by bike.

Further off, Mont-Saint-Michel is about four and a half hours by road and the Alsace Wine Route almost six, but by train they shorten: about three hours by TGV and coach to the Mont, and between two and two and a half hours by TGV to Colmar.

Vaux-le-Vicomte's Grand Noël

In winter the covered and lit plans work. Chartres is illuminated at dusk, which from November to January arrives before the last comfortable train back; in December Reims has a Christmas market and Chantilly its equestrian show. From 14 November 2026 to 3 January 2027 there is the Grand Noël at Vaux-le-Vicomte with Fontainebleau in the morning, and until 6 January, the Disneyland Christmas season.

Spring is the season of the gardens. Giverny only opens from April to October, with May and June as the months of wisteria, irises and roses; Auvers has a direct train at weekends from April to October, and in those months Versailles schedules musical Grandes Eaux days.

In summer the coast draws: the kayak beneath the Étretat cliffs goes out from May to September if the sea allows, and on Saturdays from mid-May to late September Vaux is lit by the candles of the Soirées aux Chandelles. Rouen projects lights onto the cathedral façade at night.

In autumn wine and forest rule: the grape harvest in Épernay, the Voie des Vignes by bike through the Côte de Beaune, Alsace by bike for two nights, with September and October among its good months, and the deer rut in the Chambord forest.

Versailles on the RER C, any day except Monday

• Without a car, in a day: Versailles from Paris. RER C in about 40 minutes, the palace first thing and the gardens in the afternoon; any day except Monday.
• With one night: Mont-Saint-Michel. TGV to Rennes and a direct coach: the abbey and the walkway on the first day, the almost empty village at night and, in the morning, the bay with a guide.
• With two nights: the Loire Valley without a car. Train to Blois in an hour and a half, Chambord, a day by bike and Amboise, based next to the station.