One Week of Paris Day Trips: Offbeat Plan
Seven days, seven gateways, all the 6-day route plus Reims and the Champagne houses as the splurge finale. This is the full roster: two quiet unknowns first (Fontainebleau, Chartres), then the famous three (Versailles, Giverny, Disneyland Paris), then the walled town nobody talks about (Provins), then champagne. Mont-Saint-Michel is deliberately not on this list, see below for why.
Lock in these bookings first
- Versailles timed Palace slot (Day 3), mandatory even with free admission.
- Giverny day tour (Day 4), seasonal, late March through early November.
- Disneyland Paris dated park ticket (Day 5): book online ahead of the gate price.
- Reims champagne-house tours (Day 7), the tightest sell-out risk on this whole route: book a Reims champagne day trip or reserve the train alone at sncf-connect.com .
- Check hotel rates near central Paris on Booking.com .
The seven days at a glance
| Day | Focus | Travel time from Paris | One-way transport |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fontainebleau | About 40 min | Transilien R (Gare de Lyon) |
| 2 | Chartres | About 1 hr | TER (Montparnasse) |
| 3 | Versailles | 35-40 min | RER C |
| 4 | Giverny (seasonal) | 45 min + shuttle | Train to Vernon + Le Petit Train |
| 5 | Disneyland Paris | 35-40 min | RER A |
| 6 | Provins | About 1 hr 20 min | Transilien (Gare de l’Est) |
| 7 | Reims/Champagne | About 45 min | TGV (Gare de l’Est) |
Day 1: Fontainebleau
Transilien R from Gare de Lyon, about 40 minutes. Chateau EUR17, gardens free, no timed ticket needed.
Day 2: Chartres
TER from Montparnasse, about an hour, fares from EUR12. Free cathedral, small town, an easy half day.
Day 3: Versailles
RER C, 35-40 minutes. Palace-only EUR21, Passport EUR25-35, timed Palace slot mandatory even with free admission. Closed Mondays.
Day 4: Giverny
Late March through early November only. Train to Vernon (about 45 min, roughly EUR15), then the seasonal Petit Train shuttle or a taxi. Admission about EUR13.
Day 5: Disneyland Paris
RER A, 35 to 40 minutes to Marne-la-Vallee Chessy. 1-Park 1-Day from EUR56-62 booked ahead. Buy the RER fare on its own, it’s never bundled with the park ticket.
Day 6: Provins
Direct hourly Transilien from Gare de l’Est, about 1 hour 20 to 25 minutes. Free ramparts dating to the 11th through 13th centuries; the Provins Pass (EUR16 online) adds Tour Cesar and four more monuments.
Day 7: Reims and the Champagne Houses
TGV direct from Gare de l’Est, about 45 minutes, fares from EUR18 to 75 depending on how far ahead you book. Add the cathedral, one or two champagne-house tours, and lunch, and budget EUR180 to 250 per person. House tours need advance booking, especially in summer, this is a splurge day, not a show-up-and-taste one.
Why isn’t Mont-Saint-Michel just added as day 8?
Because a single extra day still isn’t enough. It’s 4 to 4.5 hours each way regardless of route, the once-daily Train Nomade or a TGV-to-Rennes-plus-bus combination, so a bolt-on day 8 would mean 8 to 9 hours of transit for a few rushed hours on the rock. Budget it as its own 2-night trip, either based at Mont-Saint-Michel itself or in Saint-Malo or Rennes, not a tack-on to this one. Our Mont-Saint-Michel breakdown covers the honest version of that trip.
What about the D-Day beaches?
Also better left off this specific route. The direct train from Paris Saint-Lazare to Bayeux runs as fast as 2 hours 18 minutes, technically survivable as a single very long day, but the Bayeux Tapestry Museum is closed for renovation until October 2027, so there’s less reason to rush it into a week already this full. Treat it as a separate overnight if it’s a priority.
Book Reims and Versailles first among everything on this route, they’re the two days most likely to have sold-out morning slots by the time you actually travel.