Paris Train Trips with a Toddler | elsewhere together
where we stayed · day & overnight trips
Paris train trips with a toddler
You don't need a car to explore beyond Paris with a little one. Here's every stroller-tested route we researched — from an easy half-day out to overnights worth the packing.
FILED UNDER: WHERE WE STAYEDREAD TIME: 6 MINBASE: PARIS
Paris is an incredible home base, but some of the best days with a toddler happen just outside it. Between the day trips that are easy enough to do on a whim and the overnights worth the extra packing, here's the full list — plus the practical train details that actually matter when you're traveling with a stroller.
Day trips
OUT & BACK IN ONE DAY
🌸 Giverny — Monet's Gardens
Top pick
~1.5 hrs from Gare Saint-Lazare (train to Vernon, then bus or taxi)
Stroller-friendly outside, but tight inside the house — bring a carrier for the interior. Kids love the garden paths, spotting frogs in the pond, and finding the famous bridge from the paintings. There's also a casual family-friendly café, La Parenthèse, right near the house — open all day with burgers and fries, so no pressure to hit the French lunch window. This is genuinely one of the best days you can have with a toddler: mostly outdoors, beautiful, and calm.
The palace and forest are both accessible. The château rivals Versailles in elegance, and the surrounding forest is a paradise — split the day between the palace in the morning and the forest paths in the afternoon. Much less crowded than Versailles and easier to navigate with a stroller.
The magnificent gardens are perfect for little ones who want to run around after visiting the castle, and renting bikes to ride through the Trianon gardens is a great option — the paths are flat. That said, a lot of the gardens have gravel, which can be a pain to push a stroller on, and the restrooms are really spread out — worth knowing in advance.
~1 hr from Gare Montparnasse · easy and underrated
Flat, walkable medieval town. The cathedral is stroller-accessible on the ground floor and visually stunning for content. Much less chaotic than Versailles.
Overnight trips
1–2 NIGHTS
🏡 Bayeux, Normandy
Best overnight
~2 hrs from Gare Saint-Lazare
This medieval city in Normandy is centrally located and within walking distance of the large Parc Michel d'Ornano — great for toddler energy-burning. French trains have ample room to stow folded strollers, though boarding early to secure space is smart, especially with a larger pram. Charming, walkable, and a good base for coastal exploration. Mont Saint-Michel is doable as a day excursion from here.
Compact enough to explore in a day but charming enough to justify an overnight stay. Cobblestone streets and colorful half-timbered houses — it genuinely looks like a fairytale town. Stroller-navigable on the flat canal-side streets; cobblestones vary but most of the central area is manageable. Also doubles as a scouting lens for Alsatian village life.
~1 hr from Gare Montparnasse (TGV) · overnight worth it
Tours is the ideal base for Loire château country. The city itself is flat, very walkable, and has great markets and food culture. From Tours you can extend deeper into the Loire Valley for the castles — Chambord, Chenonceau — among France's most enchanting. Good content potential, and relevant if you're keeping an eye on the property scene while you're there.
Children under 4 travel free on public transportation within the Paris region. Source: Ciao Bambino!
TGV and long-distance trains automatically assign a luggage space when you book. Regional trains, like the one to Giverny, don't require a reservation — just hop on. Source: Paris Muse
A lightweight umbrella stroller or carrier combo is the move — fold the stroller for the Metro or train, open it up once you arrive.
Board early on regional trains to claim luggage and stroller space before it fills.
You don't need a car to see the best of France with a toddler — just a train schedule and a folded stroller.
The takeaway
Paris makes an incredible base precisely because so much is one train ride away. Whether it's a calm half-day at Giverny or a proper overnight in Bayeux, the trains make it easy — you just have to know which routes are worth the trouble with a little one in tow.
FROM elsewhere together — family travel, told straight.
