Paris in 3 Days on a Budget: Cheap Day Trips
Three days out of Paris, and the fares stay small
Three days here means one day to settle into Paris cheaply, then two real day trips you book and ride yourself: Versailles on the RER C, then Chartres on a regional train for a cathedral that costs nothing to enter. No coach-tour markup either day. It nests inside the 4-day , 5-day , 6-day and 7-day versions of this same spine.
Book these before you go
- Versailles Palace timed entry slot, mandatory even with free admission, at chateauversailles.fr (Day 2).
- A Versailles day tour on GetYourGuide if you’d rather not manage the RER C yourself, though it costs more than the DIY fare plus palace ticket.
- Compare budget stays in the Latin Quarter or Marais on Booking.com ; both sit close to the RER and train lines this itinerary uses.
The 3-day route at a glance
| Day | Focus | Travel time from Paris | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Settle into Paris, free orientation | In the city | EUR0-15 |
| Day 2 | Versailles | 35-40 min (RER C) | EUR4.40 fare + EUR21 palace |
| Day 3 | Chartres | About 1 hr (TER) | EUR10-24 train, free cathedral |
Day 1: Settle in without spending much
Morning: Load a Navigo Easy card, EUR2, at your first Metro station. It covers the flat EUR2.55 Metro-Train-RER fare and EUR2.05 Bus-Tram fare inside the city, but Versailles and Chartres both run on separate point-to-point fares, not this flat ticket, so budget those separately on their own days. Compare budget stays in the Latin Quarter or Marais on Booking.com ; both put you close to the RER C and the Montparnasse and Saint-Lazare stations you’ll use later.
Afternoon: Walk into Notre-Dame’s nave for free, no ticket needed since its 2024 reopening, then follow the Seine toward Le Marais.
Evening: A EUR18-28 formule (fixed two-course menu) is the standard budget dinner move; the couvert, a per-person cover charge, doesn’t exist in French dining, so the menu price is the price you pay.
Day 2: Versailles, the near-in gateway
Morning: RER C reaches Versailles Chateau Rive Gauche in 35-40 minutes from Left Bank stations, a separate Origin-Destination fare around EUR4.40 one-way, not the flat city ticket. Check current schedules at iledefrance-mobilites.fr . From the station it’s a 5-10 minute walk to the gates. Every visitor needs a timed Palace slot, mandatory even for free admission (under-18s, EU residents 18-25), so book that first at chateauversailles.fr .
Afternoon: Palace-only entry is EUR21; the Passport, adding the Trianon estate and gardens on Musical Fountains days, is EUR25 low season or EUR35 high season. The gardens themselves are free daily, 7am to dusk, even on the Palace’s Monday closure, so a garden-only visit costs nothing beyond the train fare.
Evening: Back to Paris for dinner. Closed Mondays, so swap this day with Day 3 if yours falls on one.
Day 3: Chartres, the cheapest real day trip
Morning: The TER regional train runs direct from Gare Montparnasse to Chartres, about an hour, roughly 18 trains a day. One-way fares start around EUR10-12, though a same-day round trip can run EUR32-48 if booked late; book ahead on sncf-connect.com for the cheaper fare tiers. The cathedral is a 10-minute walk from the station.
Afternoon: Cathedral entry is completely free, no ticket, no timed slot, the one genuinely free major sight in this entire family of day trips. The stained glass alone is worth the trip; a tower climb or crypt tour is a separate small paid add-on if you want it.
Evening: Chartres itself is a small town, so an easy lunch in the old town plus the cathedral fills a relaxed day rather than a rushed one. Head back to Paris by early evening.
Is Versailles worth the extra fare on a tight budget?
Yes for the Palace interior, the Hall of Mirrors earns its ticket, but the mandatory timed slot applies whether you pay or qualify for free entry, so book it regardless. If the budget is genuinely tight, the gardens alone, free daily, are a legitimate half-day on their own without ever buying a Palace ticket.
Do you need to book the Chartres train ahead of time?
Not mandatory, regular TER trains rarely sell out, but booking on sncf-connect.com a few days ahead locks in the cheaper fare tier instead of the last-minute price. The cathedral itself never needs a ticket at all, free entry, no reservation, any day it’s open.
Keep every timed ticket for this trip as an offline screenshot, not just an email link; mobile signal at Versailles, Chartres and the smaller gateway stations is patchy enough to make a live QR code a real gamble.