The Best Day Trips from Paris by Car (No Train Required)
Paris is a lot. Sometimes you need to just get in a car and drive somewhere that doesn’t have a line out the door.
Some of the best places in France are less than 90 minutes from the city. Here are the best ones, with real driving times.
Versailles
23 km southwest, about 45 minutes by car.
Everyone’s been told to go. Far fewer people make it to the parts that matter.
The main palace draws massive bus tour crowds, but the Trianon estates and the Grand Canal are a different experience entirely. Quieter, more human-scaled, and you can cover them by bike or golf cart in a few hours.
Arriving by car gives you something no train ticket does: you can get there before 9 a.m., when the parking lot is still half empty and the gardens are yours.
Chantilly
40 km north, about 45 minutes.
Chantilly is what Versailles would look like if fewer people had heard of it. The stunning château sits on an island surrounded by water.
The Condé Museum inside holds one of the largest collections of antique drawings in France after the Louvre.
The 115-hectare gardens were designed by André Le Nôtre, the same man behind Versailles.
The stables, the Grandes Écuries, are the size of a small palace and still house over 30 horses.
The Auberge du Jeu de Paume is a five-star Relais & Châteaux property that sits between the château gardens and the Grandes Écuries, a five-minute walk from the château entrance.
Book a room on the upper floors and the French doors open onto the park. Rooms from around $500 per night.
Vaux-le-Vicomte
55 km southeast, about 50 minutes.
This baroque château is the reason Versailles exists. Nicolas Fouquet built it in the 1650s, threw a legendary party to show it off.
Louis XIV was so impressed and so furious that he had Fouquet arrested and hired the same architect, garden designer, and decorator to build him something bigger.
On Saturday evenings from mid-May through October, the château stages candlelit garden evenings with over 2,000 candles.
It’s one of the more quietly spectacular things you can do around Paris. Fontainebleau château is 23 km away, so these two work well as a pair.
Fontainebleau
65 km southeast, about 1 hour.
The château is open and worth the trip. Napoleon used it as a primary residence, and the State Apartments are among the best-preserved royal interiors in France.
Marie-Antoinette’s boudoir, Napoleon’s Throne Room, the Pope’s Apartment.
In July 2026, an arson-suspected wildfire tore through roughly 2,000 hectares of the forest, the largest fire ever recorded in the massif since records began in 1863. The forest remained closed through at least August 21 and the burnt sectors are expected to stay off-limits for at least a year.
If you want to stay overnight, Aigle Noir Fontainebleau on Place Napoléon Bonaparte sits directly across from the château. Rates run around $165 to $200 per night.
Provins
80 km east, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.
One of the most underrated day trips from Paris and easy to miss if you’re following the main tourist lists.
Provins is a UNESCO World Heritage medieval town with intact ramparts, a network of underground tunnels running beneath the old city, and Tour César, a 12th-century tower you can climb for free.
The town’s emblem is the rose, which shows up in everything from local beer to jam to soap. Falconry shows run most weekends in spring and summer.
Parking fills up fast on weekends; aim to arrive before 10 a.m.
Giverny
80 km northwest, about 1 hour and 15 minutes via the A13.
Monet’s house and gardens are the main draw, and they justify the trip on their own. The garden peaks from May through June when every bed is in full bloom.
A car lets you arrive at opening. By mid-morning the path to the Japanese bridge is shoulder to shoulder.
The Musée des Impressionnismes is a short walk away and almost always overlooked.
Auvers-sur-Oise
35 km north, about 40 minutes.
The shortest drive on this list and one of the most affecting destinations. Van Gogh spent the final 70 days of his life here and produced more than 80 paintings in that period.
You can visit the Auberge Ravoux, see the room where he lived and died, and walk out to the wheat fields he painted in the weeks before the end.
It works as a half-day trip and pairs well with Chantilly or Senlis on the same outing.
Chartres
90 km southwest, about 1 hour.
The cathedral is one of the finest Gothic buildings in Europe, its two mismatched spires visible long before you reach the town.
The medieval stained glass inside dates from the 12th and 13th centuries, including the famous Blue Virgin window.
The lower town along the Eure River is worth a slow walk. The façade gets a free evening light show projected on it most nights in summer.
Senlis
40 km north, about 45 minutes. Just 10 km from Chantilly.
Senlis is consistently overlooked. The old town has centuries-old mansions, a Gothic cathedral, and the Arena of Senlis, a first-century Roman amphitheater sitting in the middle of the city (free to visit).
The local chocolate, called Séraphine, is an orange-chocolate combination you won’t find anywhere else in France.
Reims
145 km east of Paris, roughly 1.5 hours by car. Reims is the Champagne capital. Producers like Veuve Clicquot, Taittinger, and Ruinart all offer cellar tours, and most include a tasting (€20-€40).
The Gothic cathedral where French kings were crowned for centuries is worth a long look. Plan for at least 5 hours.