Day Trips from Paris

Most day trips from Paris are one train and under an hour, which is why the city has more good ones than almost anywhere in Europe. The problem is that everyone takes the same one, on the same day, in the same three-hour window.

This summer there is a second problem. The direct train to Versailles is not running.

In 3 minutes:

• RER C to Versailles Château–Rive Gauche is closed 15 July to 22 August 2026, with no replacement buses. Use Transilien N from Montparnasse instead.
• Three of these are covered by a normal €2.55 Paris ticket: Versailles, Fontainebleau and Auvers-sur-Oise. The rest need a separate fare.
• Chantilly is 23 minutes from Gare du Nord, closed Tuesdays, and on the Paris Museum Pass. Almost nobody goes.

Which day trip from Paris should you pick?

The last column matters more here than anywhere else in Europe, because the closing days do not agree with each other. Versailles shuts Mondays, Chantilly and Fontainebleau shut Tuesdays, and Auvers shuts both.

What are the best day trips from Paris?

Versailles, with an asterisk this summer

The 2026 pricing changed in January and is now seasonal. From 1 April to 31 October the Passport is €35 for non-EEA visitors and €32 for EEA; from 1 November to 31 March it drops to €25 and €22. The Palace is closed Mondays and runs 9:00 to 18:30; the gardens and park are open daily.

The transport is the live issue. RER C between Paris and Versailles Château–Rive Gauche is closed from 15 July to 22 August 2026 for engineering work, with no replacement bus service, along with separate weekend closures earlier in the summer. The workarounds are Transilien line N from Montparnasse to Versailles Chantiers, or line L from Saint-Lazare to Versailles Rive Droite, both of which land you further from the gates.

If you hold a Paris Museum Pass, you still have to book a free timed Passport ticket online. The pass removes the price, not the booking, and turning up passholder-but-unbooked in July does not work. It also does not admit you to the gardens on Musical Fountains days. Our Versailles guide has the ticket types in detail.

Chantilly, the one nobody takes

Twenty-three minutes from Gare du Nord, thirty-nine trains a day, and the Musée Condé holds the largest collection of pre-1850 paintings in France after the Louvre. The Domaine ticket is listed at €18, or €14.50 reduced, and grounds-only at €9. Closed Tuesdays; the château runs 10:00 to 17:00 and the Grandes Écuries open at midday.

Two things people miss. Chantilly is on the Paris Museum Pass, which is unusual for somewhere outside Île-de-France. And Navigo does not reach it, because it is in the Oise; Navigo stops at Orry-la-Ville–Coye, so buy a separate ticket.

Give it four to five hours. The Musée Condé alone justifies two.

Fontainebleau, if Versailles is full

Forty minutes from Gare de Lyon on Transilien line R, then bus line 1 to the Château stop, running every fifteen minutes. Both legs are inside Île-de-France, so a Navigo Jour at €12.30 covers the whole day including your Paris travel.

Entry is €17, or €15 reduced, and it is on the Museum Pass. Closed Tuesdays. Worth knowing before you arrive: the €17 covers the Grands Appartements and the Musée Napoléon Ier only, and the Petits Appartements and the Théâtre Impérial are separate guided visits. Free on the first Sunday of the month outside July and August.

Fontainebleau is where French kings actually lived for four centuries before Versailles existed. It is smaller, quieter, and the Renaissance interiors are better.

Giverny, between April and November

Paris Saint-Lazare to Vernon–Giverny in as little as forty-eight minutes, then a shuttle across the six kilometres to the village. Monet's house and garden are €13, and the season runs 1 April to 1 November 2026, daily 10:00 to 18:00, last admission 17:30. No weekly closing day.

One booking detail changed this year: from 1 May 2026, e-tickets are final and cannot be modified. Before that date they still could. If you are booking a late-season slot for weather you cannot predict, that matters.

The trick is arriving at opening. The water-lily bridge is photographable for about an hour a day, and it is the first one, which is the argument for going independently rather than on a coach that arrives at eleven.

Auvers-sur-Oise, if you care about Van Gogh

The village where he painted seventy canvases in seventy days and where he is buried. It is the cheapest trip on this list: €2.55 each way, covered by Navigo, because Auvers is in the Val-d'Oise and inside Île-de-France.

The Maison de Van Gogh, the Auberge Ravoux where he died, is €10 and runs 4 March to 22 November 2026, closed Mondays and Tuesdays. Not on the Museum Pass.

The connection is the thing to plan. On weekdays you change at Valmondois and the trip runs an hour or more. On Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from April to October there is a direct train, leaving Paris Nord at 09:38 and arriving 10:22, returning at 18:15. That is the version of this day trip that works.

Three to four hours covers the Auberge, the church Van Gogh painted, the wheatfield, and the two graves.

Rouen, for free museums

One hour thirteen from Saint-Lazare. The Musée des Beaux-Arts has a free permanent collection, and so do Rouen's other municipal museums, including Le Secq des Tournelles, a church full of wrought iron that has no equivalent anywhere. Closed Tuesdays, otherwise 10:00 to 18:00. The cathedral, the one Monet painted thirty times, is free.

Once you have paid the train fare, this is the highest ratio of art to euros on the list. Five to six hours.

Chartres, if you go for the glass

An hour from Montparnasse. The cathedral is free and open daily 08:30 to 19:30 all year, with no weekly closing day, which makes it the safest choice when everything else is shut.

Chartres en Lumières runs 11 April 2026 to 3 January 2027, nightly and free. Check the times before you build an evening around it: in July the illuminations do not start until 22:00 to 22:30, which is after the practical last train back for most itineraries. Summer is the worst season for the light show, not the best.

This is also the one place on the list where a guide changes the visit. The windows are unreadable without someone explaining what you are looking at.

Reims, for champagne rather than art in 2026

Forty-five minutes from Gare de l'Est at best, but only around ten departures a day and the TGV needs a seat reservation, so there is no turning up. The cathedral is free; the towers are €9 and closed from 16 November to 14 February, and on Mondays year-round.

The 2026 caveat is significant. The Palais du Tau is closed all year for renovation, reopening as the Musée des Sacres in winter 2026/27. That is the coronation treasury and the cathedral's original sculpture, which is to say the art. What remains is a great cathedral and the champagne houses, and if that is the trip you wanted, book the cellar slot first and the train around it.

What most visitors get wrong

They go to Versailles on a day trip and to nothing else, ever. Versailles is worth seeing once. Chantilly, Fontainebleau and Rouen are worth seeing whether or not you have done Versailles, and all three are quieter, cheaper and shorter.

They also assume the Paris ticket stretches further than it does. Navigo and the €2.55 single are valid only to the last Île-de-France station. That covers Versailles, Fontainebleau and Auvers. Giverny, Chantilly, Rouen, Chartres and Reims are all outside, and a Navigo will not help you.

And they treat Mont-Saint-Michel as a day trip. It is three and a half to four hours each way, by TGV to Rennes and then a bus you must book in advance, for about three hours on the rock in the exact window every coach arrives. The tide, the empty ramparts after six, the dawn: none of that is available to a day-tripper. Stay a night or leave it.

If you are staying in the city, things to do in Paris covers the centre, and the Louvre ticket guide covers the one museum that needs planning.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best day trip from Paris?

Versailles if you have never been and accept the crowds. Chantilly if you want the same century of French art with a tenth of the queue, 23 minutes from Gare du Nord. Giverny between April and November for Monet's garden. Chantilly is the one that consistently beats its reputation, and it is on the Paris Museum Pass.

Is the RER C to Versailles running in 2026?

Not all summer. The RER C between Paris and Versailles Château–Rive Gauche is closed from 15 July to 22 August 2026 for engineering work, with no replacement bus service, plus some separate weekend closures. Use Transilien line N from Montparnasse to Versailles Chantiers, or line L from Saint-Lazare to Versailles Rive Droite, and add the walk.

Which day trips from Paris does a Navigo or métro ticket cover?

Versailles, Fontainebleau and Auvers-sur-Oise, because all three are inside Île-de-France. A single ticket is €2.55 each way in 2026, and a Navigo Jour covering all zones is €12.30. Giverny, Chantilly, Rouen, Chartres and Reims are outside the region, so Navigo stops at the last Île-de-France station and you buy a separate ticket.

Is the Paris Museum Pass worth it for Versailles?

It covers the Palace and the Trianon estate, but you still have to book a free timed Passport ticket online, so the pass removes the price, not the booking step. It also does not cover the gardens on Musical Fountains days, which are most show days in high season. With a non-EEA high-season gate price of €35, the pass pays off when Versailles is combined with two or three Paris sites in the same window.

Is Mont-Saint-Michel a good day trip from Paris?

No. It is roughly three and a half to four hours each way by TGV to Rennes and then a booked bus, for about three hours on the rock, arriving in exactly the window the coach tours arrive. Everything that makes Mont-Saint-Michel worth the journey happens at dawn, at dusk, or on a tide. Stay a night or skip it.

Check the closing day before you check the timetable. Half of these are shut on a Monday or a Tuesday, and that decides more days out than the train does.