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Subject: Day trips out of Paris

Question: My husband and I will be in Paris next month for 8 days. I had gone to France about 15 years ago with a high school home/stay and bus tour for two weeks (we toured the wine mountain country-so lovely). On returning to France as an adult, I'd like to visit a few of the sites I had seen a long time ago to show my husband (his 1st time in France). Problem is, my husband won't rent a car, and we both only know the basics of French language. Questions--We want to go to Vezelay (2 hours from Paris). Is there a train station near this town? Also, does Riquewhihr have a train station close by? I had enjoyed these 2 smaller quaint towns the most on my old high school trip. I had also liked Strasbourg. If we took a train to Strasburg, is the train station near the big church and cobble stone tourist area? Or would we need to take a taxi to this tourist place? Can you return to Paris the same day from Strasbourg on the train? Unfortunately now, I have to plan the trip and I don't know how to get to these places without driving. Do you know of any inexpensive tour companies that go through countryside towns? Parisvision and Cityrama told me they don't offer these kind of trips. Our hotel is in Paris the whole time-that is our departing city. Our trip is soon and I am going nuts spending hours on the Internet trying to find simple info on day trips out of Paris. We just want a nice day trip out of Paris one of our days there. Thanks so much.

Answer: There is a train station in Vézelay, two in fact if the SNCF(French train company) web site(www.sncf.fr) is right. There are no direct trains from Paris to Vézelay, I would suggest that you go to any SNCF office(They can be found in all train stations.) in Paris an buy your tickets there. Don’t worry about not speaking French most SNCF agents can speak English. I was not able to find a town in France named Riquewhihr, is the spelling right? It takes four hours to go from Paris to Strasbourg, so visiting it could not be done in one day. It takes about 15 minutes to walk from the train station in Strasbourg to the center of town and the Cathedral.

I do not know of any tour companies that have tours of the French countryside. What I would suggest for day trips out of Paris is Chartres(A touristy yet small town with a very beautiful church, http://www.ville-chartres.fr/anglais/index.html), Versailles or Auvers-sur-Oise(Where Vicente van Gogh is buried and where he painted the last years of his life. Thought out the village there are reproductions of his panting in the spot where they were painted.) To get to Auvers-sur-Oise you would leave from Gare du Nord, like I said most ticket agents speak English so it should not be a problem buying your tickets.

Not having a car in France is not the end of the world but it will limit your options for what to see outside of Paris. If you do decide to rent a car I would suggest that you not rent one in Paris but take the train to some town out side of Paris and rent one there.


One of my sponsors has Viator has sightseeing trips in and around Paris.

Related article: Attractions in Paris

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