When staying in central city hostels, Paris and its attractions are never far away.
Many of the iconic sights are located within an easy radius of each other so, for many, walking is the very best way to see them all.
Sooner or later, however, you might want to escape the bright lights of the big city and head off for a day trip or two in order to explore some of the many sights within easy access of the French capital.
Getting About So what's the best way to get around to see as much of the countryside as you can within access of your hostels? Paris, and in fact the entire country, has an excellent rail network; of course, they're not perfect and can be decidedly patchy on Sundays, but the trains are reliable, generally punctual and not massively expensive.
One exception to the last point is the much-vaunted high-speed TGV (Train Grand Vitesse) network, which is fantastic but quite costly.
(You'll have to look for special deals, which do come up occasionally.
) The Stations The French capital has a number of major stations from which inter-city and local services depart and all these are easily accessible from any of the central hostels.
Paris mainline stations are generally in a part of the city 'facing' the direction in France they serve.
So, Montparnasse serves the west of France, Gare du Nord the north and so on.
Some stations have multiple levels and the inter-city or international services will depart from one level and local services another.
It's all very easy and hassle-free.
Everything's well signposted and you should have no trouble finding your train.
Ideas for Visits Here are just a few locations accessible from the city by local and relatively low-cost train services for a very pleasant 'away day'.
• Versailles - home of the famous Chateau and where Louis XVI virtually withdrew to in the years before the revolution.
• Chartres - a very nice country town with some lovely old streets.
It has an extremely impressive and lovely cathedral.
• Orleans - again a town with a nice centre, a fantastic cathedral and views over the Loire and famous for its associations with Joan of Arc and the 100 Years War.
• Tours - a truly lovely and very chic town located on the Loire.
This is vineyard country, and there are plenty of local chateaux to see and wine tasting tours available.
• Fontainebleau - site of one of the grandest and most stunning of the French chateaux.
It's very popular with tourists and very well worth visiting.
• Rouen - this is a beautiful old town in Normandy and was once the rival of the capital in terms of its importance.
Costs As always, you'll usually keep your costs down if you look out for special deals and book a little in advance.
Many of those offers and deals are now available pretty much exclusively online, but if you're not connected while travelling, just call into the SNCF office at any of the larger stations and they'll usually be more than willing to try and help you find a bargain.
When you're in one of the city centre hostels, Paris doesn't have to be the limits of your world - tempting as that may be.
Make an effort to get out and explore what many people would call 'the real France'.
Many of the iconic sights are located within an easy radius of each other so, for many, walking is the very best way to see them all.
Sooner or later, however, you might want to escape the bright lights of the big city and head off for a day trip or two in order to explore some of the many sights within easy access of the French capital.
Getting About So what's the best way to get around to see as much of the countryside as you can within access of your hostels? Paris, and in fact the entire country, has an excellent rail network; of course, they're not perfect and can be decidedly patchy on Sundays, but the trains are reliable, generally punctual and not massively expensive.
One exception to the last point is the much-vaunted high-speed TGV (Train Grand Vitesse) network, which is fantastic but quite costly.
(You'll have to look for special deals, which do come up occasionally.
) The Stations The French capital has a number of major stations from which inter-city and local services depart and all these are easily accessible from any of the central hostels.
Paris mainline stations are generally in a part of the city 'facing' the direction in France they serve.
So, Montparnasse serves the west of France, Gare du Nord the north and so on.
Some stations have multiple levels and the inter-city or international services will depart from one level and local services another.
It's all very easy and hassle-free.
Everything's well signposted and you should have no trouble finding your train.
Ideas for Visits Here are just a few locations accessible from the city by local and relatively low-cost train services for a very pleasant 'away day'.
• Versailles - home of the famous Chateau and where Louis XVI virtually withdrew to in the years before the revolution.
• Chartres - a very nice country town with some lovely old streets.
It has an extremely impressive and lovely cathedral.
• Orleans - again a town with a nice centre, a fantastic cathedral and views over the Loire and famous for its associations with Joan of Arc and the 100 Years War.
• Tours - a truly lovely and very chic town located on the Loire.
This is vineyard country, and there are plenty of local chateaux to see and wine tasting tours available.
• Fontainebleau - site of one of the grandest and most stunning of the French chateaux.
It's very popular with tourists and very well worth visiting.
• Rouen - this is a beautiful old town in Normandy and was once the rival of the capital in terms of its importance.
Costs As always, you'll usually keep your costs down if you look out for special deals and book a little in advance.
Many of those offers and deals are now available pretty much exclusively online, but if you're not connected while travelling, just call into the SNCF office at any of the larger stations and they'll usually be more than willing to try and help you find a bargain.
When you're in one of the city centre hostels, Paris doesn't have to be the limits of your world - tempting as that may be.
Make an effort to get out and explore what many people would call 'the real France'.
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