If you’re looking to take a relaxing day trip outside of Paris while remaining in the Île de France and using the benefits of your Navigo pass, take a trip to the town where Brie cheese originally is from!
Visiting Meaux is especially a great idea during the summer as they even have a mini beach made up next to the Marne that flows through town.
On my day trip over the weekend in August, my friends and I spent the day strolling through town, tasting the local produce and Brie cheese at the market, and enjoying the sun at the beach. It was a perfect little getaway just outside of Paris.
In this blog, I’ll share the day trip I made with my friends so you can make the most of your trip!
At a glance :
What is Meaux known for?
How to get to Meaux from Paris
Site-seeing in Meaux
Meaux’s local farmer’s market
La Plage de Meaux – aka Meaux’s Beach
What is Meaux known for?
Though you may not be familiar with the town, Meaux is definitely worth visiting. Filled with so much history and beautiful architecture, this day trip will fill your cup full of French culture.
Meaux is especially known for being the town where Brie cheese originates, and so if you are a foodie or love cheese, you definitely need to make the trip.
Brie de Meaux actually dates way back to the Middle Ages, and was a cheese that kings such as King Louis XIV and Charlemagne enjoyed in luxury. A rich and creamy cheese molded by hand, the craft has stayed the same throughout the centuries. What better way to taste truly authentic Brie than visiting the town of Meaux!
For more backstory on Brie de Meaux, check out this blog.
How to get to Meaux from Paris
Meaux is located just over 40 kilometers northeast of Paris. To reach the town, you can take the line P directly from Gare de l’Est train station, and within 40 minutes and 5 stops later, you’ve arrived!
What makes this such a great day trip, is that you don’t even need to book a train to get there.
If you have the Navigo metro pass in Paris, all you need to do is scan your card, and it’s technically free (girl math).
If you don’t have the Navigo metro card, you can simply buy a ticket from the kiosks at Gare de l’est, or more easily from the mobile app Bonjour RATP.
To check train times, I always use the City Mapper app on my phone as I find it is usually the most accurate and provides the easiest routes. You can also use Google Maps or the Bonjour RATP app.
Site-seeing in Meaux
When you first get to Meaux, take some time exploring the streets to get to know the lay of the town!
Meaux was a very peaceful place to visit, especially on a Saturday morning, with locals all walking about with their families heading to the market and doing their weekend shopping.
The architecture is also quite gorgeous, as you feel like you’re walking through history with a mix of the buildings from the Middle Ages to even the 19th century all throughout.
Two places to check out while you explore the town would be Cathédrale Saint Étienne, as well as Jardin Bossuet.
The Cathédrale is actually nicknamed “la petite sœur de la Notre Dame de Paris”, or “the little sister of the Notre Dame of Paris”. What is fascinating about the church is that construction began around 1175, and didn’t finish until finish until 1540, nearly 300 years later, due to impediments of funding, wars, and renovations.
The garden, situated right behind the church, was in full bloom when we went, and was so peaceful to walk through.
These two sites are definitely worth visiting on your trip to Meaux!
Meaux’s local farmer’s market
After you’ve taken in the beauty of Meaux’s historic streets, head to the farmer’s market located at the Halle du Marché Couvert (Covered Market Hall), which is only a 7 minute walk from the train station.
The market is only open on Saturdays from 8am-1pm, so plan accordingly!
Here, you’ll find local farmers from all throughout the department and region whom are passionate about their products and produce and who are so lovely to talk to.
For my friends and I, our plan was to pick up food from the market and have a picnic at the beach, so we all picked up one or two items for a complete picnic.
Of course, we had to get Brie, and the vendor let us taste the different variations he had so that we could decide which one we liked best!
I even picked up 2 jars of honey to bring home to my parents and grandmother in the US two weeks later, because I personally believe France makes the best honey! There’s no better spot to get it than directly from the market.
La Plage de Meaux – aka Meaux’s Beach
After grabbing our ingredients for our picnic, my friends and I headed to the beach! It is roughly a 35 minute walk from the market, and located in Parc Naturel Du Patis.
La Plage de Meaux is man made and sits right on the Marne River that flows through. For access to the beach, we had to pay a fee to get in, but I think it was around 5-8 euros for each person.
Once there, we set up our blankets and enjoyed the sun and sand! Though it isn’t that big, the beach is big enough to not feel crowded next to the people near you, and the water even gets pretty deep so you can swim a bit as well.
I mean hey, we’ll take what we can get for being right near Paris instead of at the ocean!
This probably goes without saying, but definitely don’t forget to wear sunscreen. Even though I put it on, I quickly found out the next day where I forgot to apply and even reapply. I was quite burned to say the least…
But it was all worth it for this cute little beach day trip!
At the end of your day, you can easily head back to Paris the same way you came, taking the P train from the same train station.
Be sure to verify the times of the trains to avoid waiting long in between!
I hope you enjoyed this budget friendly day trip inspo outside of Paris!
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Xx,
Carmela
Under The Sun 
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