Hi all, I%26#39;m thinking of taking a day trip out of Paris to the Loire Valley chateaux, during my 6 day holiday in Paris in November. Would it be too much to cram into one day? Is the Loire Valley worth seeing? Can you recommend any other day trips out of Paris? Thanks for your help
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The Loire valley is indeed worth seeing, if only briefly, at any time of year. For a daytrip from Paris, your best bet may be to sign up with one of the escorted tour operators out of Paris. Several offer both larger-group motorcoach and smaller-group, mini-van escorted tours (be sure to check for the language(s) the tour is being offered in) Most take in three(3) chateaux in a long day (depart Paris 7AM/return 7 PM). Most of the tours include CHENONCEAU (http://www.chenonceau.com/ ) CHAMBORD ( http://www.chambord.org/index.htm ) and one other Loire chateau ( http://www.ligeris.com/usa/chateaux.html ). Check details of what%26#39;s being offered by (among others):
CITYRAMA-- http://www.graylineparis.com/
PARISVISION-- http://www.parisvision.com/fr/index.cfm
PARIS TOURS-- http://www.paristours.com/
Other than these escorted tours, the only other reasonable convenient way to do it from Paris is to rent a car and drive yourself. The public transportation links (SNCF trains and regional buses) are not all that convenient or easy to coordinate for a single daytrip.
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Closer in to Paris, and quite easily done-on-your-own as full or half-day trips are: VERSAILLES, CHANTILLY (and perhaps onward to the old city of Senlis) FOUNTAINEBLEAU; VAUX le VICOMTE; MALMAISON:
CHATEAU de VERSAILLES-- http://www.chateauversailles.fr/
CHATEAU de CHANTILLY-- http://www.chateaudechantilly.com/
CHATEAU de FONTAINEBLEAU-- http://www.musee-chateau-fontainebleau.fr/
CHATEAU du VAUX-le-COMTE-- http://www.vaux-le-vicomte.com/
CHATEAU de MALMAISON-- musees-nationaux-napoleoniens.org/homes/home…
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Closer in to Paris, and quite easily done-on-your-own as full or half-day trips are: VERSAILLES, CHANTILLY (and perhaps onward to the old city of Senlis) FOUNTAINEBLEAU; VAUX le VICOMTE; MALMAISON:
CHATEAU de VERSAILLES-- http://www.chateauversailles.fr/
CHATEAU de CHANTILLY-- http://www.chateaudechantilly.com/
CHATEAU de FONTAINEBLEAU-- http://www.musee-chateau-fontainebleau.fr/
CHATEAU du VAUX-le-COMTE-- http://www.vaux-le-vicomte.com/
CHATEAU de MALMAISON-- musees-nationaux-napoleoniens.org/homes/home…
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Though not the Loire Valley or its chateaux, one of the best and easiest day-trips you can do on-your-own from Paris is a trip out to CHARTRES. The connections are as simple as it gets--70 minutes by SNCF train from PARIS--Gare Montparnasse to CHARTRES station than a lovely 10 minute stroll up through the the streets to CHARTRES CATHEDRAL and the old portion of the city(no cars allowed)--wonderfully well preserved/restored with much dating back to the 13-14th centuries. There is an English gentleman, MALCOLM MILLER, who does tours of the cathedral twice per day (Noon %26amp; 2:45 PM--2:45 only on SUN) and it is worth the trip just for one of his tours. There are several wonderful places for lunchoen there.
If you go out to Chartres on a Sunday, you will have the city pretty much to yourself. Because it is Sunday, most of the %26#39;..new..%26#39; portion of the city is closed (you can%26#39;t buy a garden hose, have your hair %26amp; nails done, renew your auto insurance, etc)---but most of the old portion is still open and available (restaurants, cafes, etc). Because of this, most escorted tour companiens do not run tours out to Chartres on Sunday, so it%26#39;s pretty much just you and the local residents. The only short-coming to this is that because Chartres Cathedral is still very much just a %26#39;parish church%26#39; for the local residents for late Sunday morning masses, there is only one Malcolm Miller tour at 2:45 PM.
CHARTRES-- http://www.ville-chartres.fr/site/index.php
CHARTRES-- www.chartres-tourisme.com/index1024.php
CHARTRES--http://www.chartres.com/
CHARTRES CATHEDRAL-- http://www.chartres-csm.org/
CHARTRES CATHEDRAL-- …wanadoo.fr/.diocese.chartres/cathedrale/ %26gt;%26gt;%26gt; VISITES %26gt;%26gt;%26gt; British Flag to get to the information on Malcolm Miller Tours
Le MOULIN de PONCEAU Restaurant--- http://www.lemoulindeponceau.fr/
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You should definitely try to take a day trip to the Loire valley/chateau area. Its a beautiful area and nice to see some of the French countryside in addition to Paris. To do it in a day you need to take an commercial bus tour (unless you drive). I%26#39;ve taken the bus tour twice and it was very enjoyable--the tours included Chenenceau and Chambord. One time the 3rd chateau was Amboise where we also had a nice lunch and a little time on our own--a very beautiful enjoyable little town. The other time the 3rd chateau was Blois which is a larger town, but also old and interesting with narrow hilly streets. The tour is a fairly long day--but its about an hour or more on the bus to and from Paris to the Loire valley so you have a chance to relax. For my next visit to Paris I%26#39;m planning to take a day trip to Blois on my own--about 2 hrs from paris by train. I want to see more of the town and also revisit the chateau. the chateau there is interesting but not the most beautiful of them. You can also get rail connections to Amboise and Chenenceau, but it would be difficult to include them on your own in one day--but you could overnight in Blois. In the summer (only I%26#39;m told) there are bus connections from Blois to other chateaus in the vicinity.
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and dont forget to visit the Chateau Nozet in Pouilly to pick up a bottle of Pouilly Fum�� white wine
D
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My family and I are planning 7 days in the loire. Any suggestions. We are staying in a manor house outside saumur
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Definitely one of the highlights of our trip. We actually stayed the night in one of the chateaux%26#39;s in the area and took the train back the next day. It will be a long day, but I think it%26#39;s well worth the experience. Make sure you see Amboise and the house where Da Vinci died. Also, Chenonceaux is pretty cool. Mostly, the fun part is just riding through the countryside seeing old castle type structures hanging off of hills in the distance! Can%26#39;t exactly get that in the U.S., so we enjoyed it. I wouldn%26#39;t miss it.
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WE took the tour with Cityrama and loved it. they picked us up at our hotel early in the morning There were 6 of us in a van with a driver and a wonderful guide. We saw 2 castles in the Am and stopped for a wonderful lunch (included), and then on to one more chateau. I would really like to have the luxury of going back and spending a few days in the area. It really is beautiful to say the least.
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