Paris Day Trips: 6 Days Beyond the City
Six days, six day trips, one hotel the whole time. This is a gateway-only plan, no city sightseeing (that lives in our Paris itinerary instead) and it stops just short of the long haul out to Bayeux. Want that seventh day added on? See the 7-day version , or trim down to the 4-day or 5-day plan if six is more than you need.
Book these before you go
- Versailles Palace timed slot (Day 1) - mandatory even with free admission; book directly on chateauversailles.fr .
- Disneyland Paris dated park ticket (Day 2) - buy it online ahead of time for the lower price tier.
- Reims/Champagne house tour (Day 4) - a Champagne day tour sells out weeks ahead in peak summer.
The six days at a glance
| Day | Day trip | Travel time from Paris | One-way transport |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Versailles | 35-40 min | RER C |
| 2 | Disneyland Paris | 35-40 min | RER A |
| 3 | Giverny (seasonal) | 45 min + shuttle | Train to Vernon + Le Petit Train |
| 4 | Reims/Champagne | 45 min | TGV |
| 5 | Fontainebleau | 40 min | Transilien R |
| 6 | Chartres | 1 hr | TER |
Day 1: Versailles
RER C to Versailles Château Rive Gauche runs about 35-40 minutes (check current schedules on iledefrance-mobilites.fr ), then an 8-10 minute walk to the gates. Palace-only entry is EUR21; the Passport with the Trianon estate and gardens is EUR25 low season, EUR35 high season. Everyone needs a timed Palace slot, including free-admission visitors, so book it first among all six days. Closed Mondays; if this is your Monday, swap in Day 6 (Chartres, or the Versailles gardens alone, stay open) instead.
Day 2: Disneyland Paris
RER A direct from Châtelet-Les Halles takes 35-40 minutes to Marne-la-Vallée-Chessy. Book a 1-Park 1-Day ticket in advance for around EUR56-62; the same ticket bought at the gate on a busy day costs far more. Disney Adventure World’s 2026 relaunch added World of Frozen next to the existing Avengers Campus, and the RER fare is a separate purchase from the park ticket, not a bundle.
Day 3: Giverny
Open only late March through early November, so check the season before committing this day. Train from Gare Saint-Lazare to Vernon runs about 45 minutes (roughly EUR15), then a seasonal shuttle (EUR5 one-way) or EUR20 taxi covers the last stretch. Monet’s garden and house admission is about EUR13. Go early if you’re visiting April through June, when the flowers and the crowds both peak.
Day 4: Reims and the Champagne houses
TGV from Gare de l’Est takes about 45 minutes, fares from EUR18 to EUR75 depending on booking lead time. Once you add the cathedral, one or two house tours, and lunch, budget EUR180-250 for the day. Book house tours weeks ahead in summer; this is a splurge day, not a budget one.
Day 5: Fontainebleau
Transilien R from Gare de Lyon takes about 40 minutes; the chateau is EUR14 and the gardens are free. It’s quieter than Versailles and has fewer showpiece rooms, which by day five of this trip is a welcome change of pace rather than a letdown.
Day 6: Chartres
TER from Montparnasse runs about an hour, roughly 18 trains a day, fares from EUR12 one-way. The cathedral is free and a 10-minute walk from the station. Treat this as a half-day at the cathedral plus lunch in the old town rather than a full day of varied activity.
Should this six-day plan include Mont-Saint-Michel?
No, not as a seventh day trip bolted on. It’s 4 to 4.5 hours each way from Paris with no direct train (or about 3.5 hours via TGV to Rennes plus a bus). If you can extend the trip by two more days, do Mont-Saint-Michel as its own overnight, not as a same-day add-on to this itinerary.
Why does this plan skip the D-Day beaches?
They’re worth doing, just not as a sixth stop after five other travel days. The train to Bayeux runs 2h18-2h30 each way and the site rewards a slower pace than a rushed there-and-back allows. If D-Day matters to you, use the 7-day version instead, which adds it as a clearly flagged very-long day.
Buy a paper map or download offline maps for Vernon and Bayeux before you leave Paris; rural station wifi is patchy and you’ll want directions the moment you step off the train.