Paris daytrips: Great places to visit within 90 minutes of Paris

France is a country of sophistication, culture, cuisine, and fashion. No tour of Europe is complete without a visit to France, or its capital city, the beautiful city of love, Paris. Of course, Paris is full to the brim with attractions and sightseeing opportunities, but if you want to get away from the crowds and explore what’s around Paris, perhaps just for a day trip, there is no shortage of places that will keep even the most demanding traveler entertained.

pic 1Les Fermes de Gally

Les Fermes de Gally are two working farms complete with garden centres, workshops, a gift shop, and farmer’s markets, located just outside of Paris. One farm is in Sartrouville, 25km northwest of Paris, and the other is in Saint-Cyr-l’École, which is 40km southwest of Paris. Les Fermes de Gally are fun, which will keep the kids happy with goats, pigs and rabbits to make friends with and an ‘Insect Trail’ (there’s an additional fee to enter the farm).

It’s a good choice for a day out for families and children from the age of three upwards. At Sartrouville you’ll find a Nature Club for children from 8-10, and at St. Cyrs there are five corn mazes to navigate. You’ll find authentic French produce in the markets and gift shops, and lovely places to stop for a bite to eat, serving freshly cooked locally produced food.

The Palace of Versailles

Enjoy a little culture with a day trip to the largest palace in Europe. It’s very popular, with up to ten million people visiting every year, and even with a full day you won’t manage to see everything. There are hour-long tours to the opera house and Marie-Antoinette’s private chambers.

You can walk around the beautiful park free of charge, or if you’re feeling active, you can hire a bike, set off along the Grand Canal and eat at the Potager du Roi (King’s Kitchen Gardens). Plan ahead and avoid the queues with ‘The Passport’, which gives you access to all areas, or one of the less extensive passes that includes ‘The Palace’ and ‘Hidden Versailles’. Get to the palace by SNCF train or travel by car; it’s around 30km from the city.

pic 3Cité des Enfants

The Cité des Enfants is just outside Paris, and is part of the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie – an enormous interactive science museum complex designed to introduce children to science and technology with fun activities and exhibitions, plus a Planetarium and the Geode 3D giant screen cinema. If you book tickets online for Cité des Enfants, you’re assigned a 90-minute slot and directed to an area of the museum suitable for your child’s age. If you check the website before you book, you can select a package – some also include admission to the Geode, others to [Read more…]