chantilly, fontainebleau, chartres or all??

[susioz]

I am in the planning stages of our trip in May. Have booked a house in Thenay, near Montrichard, an apartment in Dijon, and an apartment in Paris.(VRBO103254) (oh lucky me ;D) All the rest of 4 and a bit weeks is what's left, apart from a few days in Lyon, where we give our leased car back.
My question...
We arrive in Paris late at night, stay overnight near the airport and pick up our car from there the next day. We then head off towards Thenay where we need to be on the third day.
I would like to see Chantilly. I love horses and greatly enjoyed the Cadre Noir in Samaur this year. My husband is keen to see Senlis, and so am I.
Would also like to see Fontainebleau and Chartres.
Is this doable do you think, without going into meltdown and/or spending too much time on the road without sufficient time to investigate all the coffees and villages in between?
If not, what would you leave out?
We will be in Paris for the last week, but won't have a car then, so that makes a day trip a little harder.
Thanks for your input. We tend to be slow travellers and hate to feel rushed to get somewhere, but don't want to miss wonderful things either. Just need a few more weeks or months I guess.
Thanks for your input.
Sue

[sunshine817]

Chantilly is about 1-1/2 to 2 hours to the north-northwest of Paris -- and Senlis is right on the way. It is certainly worth a visit -- Senlis isn't very big, and won't take you long, but it's worth a stop.

Fontainebleu is 45 minutes-1 hour to the southeast of the city, and Chartres is 1-1/2 to 2 to the southwest.

Thenay is 1-1/2 to 2 hours to the south-southeast -- so Fontainebleu could fairly easily be done on your way there.

They're all very worth the trip, but I don't think I would want to try to put them into a single day trip.

You could try to see Fontainebleu on your way to Thenay (the rest of the village is okay, but not really anything special). Then you could visit Chartres and Chantilly as an extra day or two as you travel back to Paris.

[susioz]

Thanks Sunshine for the advice.
We will be leaving our car in Lyon and training back to Paris.
I think we will go to Chantilly first and stay the night.
Then head to Chartres and stay following night, and from there do a detour for a quick look at Fontainebleau on the way to Thenay.
About 300km on the last day which is more than we generally like to do, but will be in Thenay to slow down for a week.
Sound like a plan?
Sue

[sunshine817]

CDG to Chantilly is very doable -- stop in the village of Chantilly and pick up bread/cheese/etc -- there's a very nice grassy area right by the parking that overlooks the chateau, and is heavily used as a picnic ground (there are also tables in the parking lot). Nice to have a short drive and a lazy lunch when you first arrive.

yes -- then it's workable to drive down to Chartres, and around to Fontainebleu, then on to Thenay...this is really quite easy if you are going in the late spring/summer when the sun sets late in the evening.