Places to Explore In Side Trips from Paris

Auvers-sur-Oise

The tranquil Oise River valley retains much of the charm that attracted Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, Camille Corot, Charles-François Daubigny, and Berthe Morisot to Auvers-sur-Oise...

• 1 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 3 Things To Do

Barbizon

On the western edge of the 62,000-acre Forest of Fontainebleau, the village of Barbizon retains its time-stained allure despite the intrusion of art galleries, souvenir...

• 2 Restaurants
• 1 Hotels
• 2 Things To Do

Breteuil

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Chantilly

Celebrated for lace, cream, and the most beautiful medieval manuscript in the world—Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry—romantic Chantilly has a host of...

• 1 Restaurants
• 1 Hotels
• 4 Things To Do

Chartres

If Versailles is the climax of French secular architecture, Chartres is its religious apogee. All the descriptive prose and poetry that have been lavished on...

• 5 Restaurants
• 2 Hotels
• 6 Things To Do

Chateau de Vaux-le-Vicomte

A manifesto for French 17th-century splendor, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte was built between 1656 and 1661 by finance minister Nicolas Fouquet. The construction program was...

• 2 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 1 Things To Do

Compiegne

This bustling town of some 40,000 people sits at the northern limit of the Forêt de Compiègne (Compiègne Forest). The former royal hunting lodge here...

• 1 Restaurants
• 1 Hotels
• 3 Things To Do

Conflans-Sainte-Honorine

In the case of picturesque Conflans Sainte-Honorine, set at the confluence of the Oise and Seine Rivers, geography and destiny are inextricably linked. The town's...

• 3 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 8 Things To Do

Courances

Set within one of the most lavish water gardens in Europe, the Château de Courances is a byword for beauty and style...

• 0 Restaurants
• 1 Hotels
• 1 Things To Do

Dampierre

The unspoiled village of Dampierre is adorned with one of the most elegant family seats in the Ile-de-France...

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Disneyland Paris

Disneyland Paris is probably not what you've traveled to France for. But if you have a child in tow, the promise of a day with...

• 0 Restaurants
• 1 Hotels
• 2 Things To Do

Dreux

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Ermenonville

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Fontainebleau

Like Chambord in the Loire Valley or Compiègne to the north, Fontainebleau was a favorite spot for royal hunting parties long before the construction of...

• 3 Restaurants
• 2 Hotels
• 1 Things To Do

Giverny

The small village of Giverny (pronounced "jee-vair-knee"), just beyond the Epte River, which marks the boundary of the Ile-de-France, has become a place of pilgrimage...

• 2 Restaurants
• 6 Hotels
• 2 Things To Do

Houdan

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

L'Isle-Adam

Despite its actual proximity, this exclusive residential enclave feels far removed from Paris. The town has a sandy beach along one stretch of the River...

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Maintenon

The beautiful Château de Maintenon was the home of Louis XIV's unacknowledged second wife. Its splendid Le Nôtre–designed gardens and graceful aqueduct are as pretty...

• 1 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Maisons-Laffitte

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Marly-le-Roi

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Meaux

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Medan

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Montfort-L'Amaury

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Moret-sur-Loing

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Pierrefonds

Dominating the attractive lakeside village of Pierrefonds, a former spa resort, is its immense ersatz medieval castle...

• 0 Restaurants
• 1 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Poissy

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Pontoise

A pleasant old town on the banks of the Oise, Pontoise is famous for its link with the Impressionists...

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Provins

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Rambouillet

Haughty Rambouillet, once favored by kings and dukes, is now home to affluent gentry and, occasionally, the French president...

• 2 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 3 Things To Do

Rueil-Malmaison

Rueil-Malmaison is a slightly dreary western suburb of Paris, but the memory of Napoléon and Joséphine still haunts its neoclassical château...

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 1 Things To Do

Senlis

Senlis is an exceptionally well-preserved medieval town with a crooked maze of streets dominated by the svelte, soaring spire of its Gothic cathedral. For a...

• 1 Restaurants
• 1 Hotels
• 3 Things To Do

St-Germain-en-Laye

Encircled by forest and perched behind Le Nôtre's Grande Terrace overlooking the Seine, this idyllic town has lost little of its original cachet—despite the invasion...

• 2 Restaurants
• 1 Hotels
• 4 Things To Do

Suresnes

• 1 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 1 Things To Do

Thoiry

Thoiry is most famous for its 16th-century château, with beautiful gardens, a wild-animal preserve, and a gastronomy museum. The village makes an excellent day trip...

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Vaux-le-Vicomte

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Vernon

The Vieille Ville of Vernon, on the Seine, has a medieval church, which Monet painted from across the river, and several fine timber-frame houses (the...

• 0 Restaurants
• 0 Hotels
• 0 Things To Do

Versailles

It's hard to tell which is larger at Château de Versailles—the world-famous château that housed Louis XIV and 20,000 of his courtiers, or the mass...

• 8 Restaurants
• 5 Hotels
• 16 Things To Do