Welcoming more than 12 million visitors a year, Disneyland is incontestably the main draw of this area. It’s 40 minutes by RER. With queues likely, an early start is best. For a fairytale setting of a different sort, the town of Provins (www.provins.net) has Unesco status for its well-preserved ramparts and underground passages. In summer, it goes to town on medieval pageantry. Count on it taking 90 minutes by train from the Gare de l’Est; less by car on the A4.