France Tours and Trips

The itinerary is unique in that it covers WWI & WWII battlefield sites & monuments. Many sites are visited each day so while the number seen is large, the time spent at each is short. Travel logistics made it such that some of the optional excursions were not really optional, (the group had not checked in to the hotel & there was nothing else to do if the optional was skipped).

A thoroughly enjoyable week's cycling in Provence. Erwin, our leader, was very experienced and knew the area well. Our first hotel was conveniently situatied in Avignon and served excellent breakfasts. Our second hotel was situated in wonderful grounds, had a lovely swimming pool and the breakfasts were superb. The wine tasting and picnic was particular highlight. Highly recommended.

The accommodation in particular was excellent. The hotel in Avignon had a a large stone terrace and the country hotel was beautiful. An excellent itinerary, visited beautiful and interesting places. Our Guide was supportive and friendly

Our tour leader, Mark G was the best - extremely competent with organisation, knowledge, dealing with guests and keeping us happy. His experience, anecdotes and language skills were very much appreciated. There was a variety in the quality of rooms - paper cups for coffee were not at all expected. Breakfasts were very good; local tour guides and Vox equipment made excursions very convenient. The additional Excursions were necessary to see some iconic places and landmarks. Many places involved lots of steps, along with the cobblestones of various shapes and sizes.

Great itinerary! Consider starting the tour in Nice instead of Monaco. Nice has more places (art museums and new town) of interest to explore compared to Monaco’s casinos. Expand the time to tour St. Emilion and arrive on time for us to tour the museum where only 2 of our travelers were lucky enough to get tickets which were sold out. The Michelin chef cooking class could be improved with more hands-on food prep being done by all travelers with a Chef who actually seems enthused for us to me there. The meal was delicious. Adding hands-on Would have made this a highlight experience with the added benefit of giving travelers a chance to interact beyond sitting across the table having a meal. As often as possible when providing a lunch or dinner, please allow travelers to choose from at least two entree options. Upgrade to better rooms at all of the hotel. Putting us in a base level cramped room at great hotels took away from the overall expectation of a trip of this caliber. The individual car ride through the mountains and village was a fun reprieve from the coach even though the coach is roomy and comfortable. Overall, a fabulous tour with an excellent Tour Director who is informative, engaging and responsive to travelers. Luggage handling/coordination by the driver and hotel staff was excellent. Dinner at the Eiffel Tower was wonderful.

More time spent on WWI than WWII, but that was actually beneficial to me, and honestly, it’s hard to fit both wars (and that only the European theater/western front!) into 10 days. The optional excursions were great as well.