Day Trips from Paris (tour groups?)

Would you recommend Brugge as a day trip on our own or with a tour? Also, I read that Versailles %26amp; Fontainebleau are easy day trips to do on your own, but a day trip to Normandy or Mont St Michel is better w/ a tour - is that true?

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We took a day trip to Bruges with ParisVision, and although they stop along the way, it%26#39;s still a very long trip for one day. The train is quicker, but you have to change in Brussels, so that could take some time. We didn%26#39;t feel we had enough time in Bruges.

Sandy

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If you chose to do the Bruges trip without a tour group, use the following web site to work our how long it will take by train and which trains and times to opt for to suit the amount of time you are prepared to allot to the excursion:

plannerint.b-rail.be/bin/query.exe/en…

This is purley for planning your trip and will not make bookings. At east you will be able to play with the possible combinations that work best for you in order to assess whether the journey by yourself is feasible.

Versailles is easy to do under your own steam, have not been to Fontainbleau. I would concur that a day trip to Normandy or Mont St Michel is better with a tour group.

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You can do any of these without a group tour but IMO %26quot;Normandy%26quot; (by which I take it you mean the D-day beaches and other associated sites, a small part of Normandy) is much too extensive for the few hours you can manage with a day trip from Paris. Much the same goes for Le Mont St. Michel and Bruges IMO. They are just too far away and will eat up too much time and energy travelling for the few hours you will spend there.

There are a dozen or more places wihin an hour%26#39;s travel or less from Paris that are well worth visiting. Besides Versailles and Fontainebleau, both of which are easy DIY day trips, there are Vaux-le-Vicomte, Chantilly and Écouen. all of which have splendid châteaux, Monet%26#39;s home and gardens at Giverny, the medieval towns of Senlis and Provins, the cathedral towns of Rouen, Chartres and Reims — and a host more....

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