Classic 4.5 feefo-stars

France Magnifique

12 DAYS
From $5,149
$4,749 pp*
Save up to $400
*Rate is per person, land only, double occupancy, tour inclusions and available options may vary based on departure date.
Please select a date below for more details.

About This Tour

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From the royal Palace of Versailles to the enchanting streets of Paris, grab a baguette and rendezvous with the best of France. Explore the former royal court and gardens in Versailles. Stroll past the magnificent, colourful flora in Monet’s garden in Giverny. Delight in a 2-night stay in a stunning, renovated château in the UNESCO World Heritage Loire Valley. Enjoy a visit of the famous Chenonceau Castle. Sip wine during a tour of a winery and its impressive underground caves. Glide along the Seine as you take in the highlights in Paris. Savour the views and rich cuisine during dinner at the Eiffel Tower. Bask in the robust history, culture and romance of these celebrated cities and charming towns.

Your Tour Includes
  • 5 Handpicked Accommodations
  • 16 Meals
Included Highlights
  • Versailles Palace & Gardens
  • Giverny
  • Normandy
  • D-Day Landing Sites

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Your Tour at a Glance

Stay

12 Days

11 Nights


Meals

16 Meals

10 Breakfasts

1 Lunches

5 Dinners


Activity

3 - Active

What's This?

Travel Style

Classic

What's This?
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Getting Prepared

Know Before You Go

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Accommodations

Arrive Earlier

Pre Night: Le Louis Versailles Chateau - MGallery
From $230 per night

...
Le Louis Versailles Chateau - MGallery

Nights 1-2

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Le Best Western Hotel Moderne

Nights 3-4

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Hotel Oceania

Nights 5-6

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Chateau de Beauvois

Nights 7-8

...
Le Meridien Etoile

Nights 9-10

Stay Longer

Post Night: Le Meridien Etoile
From $230 per night

Trip Reviews

Live, Unedited, & Independent Traveler Reviews

Rating

44 reviews
Overall Trip Rating
4.5
Out of 5
feefo-stars
Based on 44 independent reviews
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30
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7
3
5
2
1
1
1
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    4star
    I was not thrilled with Paris at all. I thought the food would have been better as people rave about French cuisine. The pastries were excellent.
    Edward Blotzer
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Ben Vale was fantastic! Very detailed, very helpful. Really knew the sites. Driver Vincenzo was also extremely accommodating and always ready to help.
    Roberto Alarcon
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    3star
    war memorials and war museums
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    My favorite part of the tour was Mont St. Michel and the Normandy area. I enjoyed the tour manager's (Ben) knowledge about the area and the history that he knew.
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Becky Reagan was so informative and her knowledge of France and the French language made it so much better than if we had gone on our own.
    Rebecca Butler
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    3star
    Good. My favorite was seeing the Mona Lisa and walking where the Popes walked in the 1400's.
    Francis Gagne
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    4star
    Some improvement could be made
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    4star
    Time at the beaches in Normandy,Nice,monte Carlo
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    The tour was very well organized and enjoyable. There were only 24 people on this tour which was nice compared with the last one. Also, everyone got along well.
    Kenneth Grimes
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    I traveled as a "single" woman, but nothing made me feel single, or isolated, ever. Wonderful group, excellent planning, comfortable accommodations. My most memorable experience was the early morning visit to the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach...
    Constance Conklin
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    The comprehensive nature of the tour made it wonderful. So many sites ranging from the medieval to WW II. The castles, the gardens, and the restaurants made it a trip to remember.
    William Mc Andrew
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    The tour hit many of the highlights we wanted to see. Our most memorable was the beaches of Normandy.
    Linda Welch
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Well put together agenda with great experiences. Love the emphasis on local cuisine.
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    It was a very emotional trip. They were our greatest generation. To go to Normandy was to go back in time!
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Having local guides is a great idea! Having said that, our tour manager was excellent. With her help, we were able to arrange a side trip to visit my husband's uncle, who died in France after D-Day.Besides that, we had some wonderful times on our own, finding local shops and restaurants.
    Mariah Skinner
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Had a blast - and hit all my bucket list items!
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    3star
    The itinerary was excellent but there was not enough time in the places we went to. The tour needs to be 2 to 3 days longer to encompass the itinerary
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Normandy and Normandy beaches were so informative and beautiful. Loved seeing the beaches, cemeteries, and memorials.
    Robert Gaines
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    3star
    Several glitches in tour. Bus needing to park far away from some hotels and last night restaurant. Also why did we have to go to a restaurant do far away? Bus could not get close
    Linda Kopec
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    1star
    I recentlyt returned from St Martha's 100th Anniversary Trip, France Magnifique. I have travelled with Collette before. The trip before this was excellent. I couldn't sing enough praises about our tour guide Kathy Fil. This trip however was not the same. The tour guide, Beth Meredith, could use some time management skills as well as compassion. I think the tour guide must take into account the group she has been assigned to lead. This particular group was mostly older adults, many with mobility issues. In our initial brochure it describes "moderate physical activity". That is so wrong on so many levels. Climbing to the top of Mont St Michel is hardly a moderate walk. Beth's favorite phrase during this trip was "just a short walk". I understand that many of the locations we visited or stayed at have historical value and a large tour bus can not park or even get near the entrance. So why does Collette choose these particular hotels and/or restaurants ? How can they expect older adults to walk a mile with their carry on luggage in the pouring rain on cobblestone ? Doesn't seem realistic to me. At some locations there was a van available to transport those who needed assistance. Of course, it could only take a few tourists. Many times, people who really did not need the assistance jumped into the van and left those who truly needed it behind. Most often, they would not offer a second vehicle. Also there was the issue of time management. Beth never allowed enough time to get from one place to another at our expense. We were denied entry into the restaurant on our first night in Paris. By the time we got to a restaurant, it was after 9:00 pm and we had been up for for over 24 hours. Also because of this mismanagement of time, quite often we barely had enough time to eat lunch with the "free time" we were given. Restaurants in France do NOT hurry. If we were lucky, we were able to finish our lunch and get to the bus on time. There was never any time to explore the area we were in. In Lyon for example, we got to the hotel at 9:30 pm and we leaving early the next morning. In Avignon, we arrived in the evening, while it was pouring rain. The following day was our trip to Tarascon, the highlight of our trip to visit the final resting place of St Martha. If we went on that tour, we saw nothing of Avignon. Having us leave at 4:00 am to get to the airport was ridiculous. Our bags had to be out at 3:00 am. Why couldn't we have spent the last night in Marseille ? We were out for our final dinner together, it would have been easier to travel to Marseille after dinner than to be up practically all night. That brings up another point. Why aren't ALL dinners included ? This trip was not inexpensive. I have travelled on other group tours that ALL dinners were included. It seems we are getting less and less service for MORE money. This trip was supposed to be the crown jewel of St Martha's Centennial Celebration. Instead it was non stop chaos and disappointment. Having travelled with Collette before I expected better than this. I think I deserved better than this as did the rest of our group.
    Margaret Friewer
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Our favorite memorable experience is hard to pinpoint. We enjoyed everything on the tour. The highlight was our once in a lifetime visit to Tarascon, where our pastor was able to celebrate mass for us in the crypt of St. Martha. It was an emotional experience that we will never forget and feel so very blessed to have experienced. Our tour highlights also would include our 2 days in Normandy, at the WWII sites. A personal highlight was being chosen to assist the chef at our final night's dinner as he made creme brulee - such fun!
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Tour was as described and visit to Tarascon which is St Martha’s burial place was nice visit.
    Jaime Maceda
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Good value for the money - saw a whole lot of France for reasonable money! Really moved by visiting Normandy!
    Charles Strniste
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Please see previous comments.
    Austin Acocella
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    4star
    Dinner at the Abbey. Normandy Coast and WWII Museum
    Marynell Strunk
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    small group allowed getting to know everyone quickly plus allowed us to move about easily and stay together. Seeing a cross-section of French towns and sites was the highlight to me
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    See above. The Normandie experience was most memorable . I was able to find a friend relative in the cemetery .
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    the whole trip was memorable, no favorites!
    Ginette Young
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    3star
    Too many self touring stops .We really appreciate the Palace of the pope's special guide. We had been there before,on our own,so we were wowed by his knowledge of the place.
    Tara Delbene
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    4star
    The American Cemetery at Omaha Beach on Memorial Day and the top of Mount St. Michel were my favorites. On the negative side I wish I had known in advance that not all of the hotels were reachable by bus and required a long walk after a full day of touring. It was great being picked up at our home and taken to the airport when leaving for Paris (even though we left early). It was not as nice that we did not get transfers from the airport to our hotel once we arrive in Paris.
    Beryl Goldberg
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    2 days in Normandy to see D-Day sites was great, with time at the American cemetery and Omaha Beach being especially emotional. Also, time in several old walled cities was fascinating.
    Paul Goldberg
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    2star
    The country itself has to
    Victoria Padilla
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    This tour hit all the sites I had on my France bucket list. The hotels were conveniently located near restaurants and within walking distance of sites of interest.
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    The itinerary was more than expected. Mount ST Michael was the highlight for my husband, for me it was actually staying in Fontevraud Abbey, a dream come true.
    Barbara Ballenden
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Excellent tour manager.Too much time at the Memorial Museum. A visit to Monet's garden would have been right on the way, too bad we missed it. Lavender Farm a commercial waste of time. Appreciated Beth changing our flights home--arrived safely with wonderful memories.
    Helena Herning
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Our visit to the Normandy area was moving and educational. We have seen movies and read books, but the actual beauty is being on the beach and seeing where our brave soldiers fought and sacrificed for the French People and our liberties. On the next section I found all the accommodations really excellent, except for the first pre-nights (days). The Hyatt was under full construction and it was not possible to rest or stay inside during the day, forget about resting up after the long flight. But, this hotel will be ready for prime time by 2018!
    Ronald Hilton
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    We enjoyed Normandy the most.
    Thomas Olson
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Colette was very accommodating and flexible. We chose to lop off the end of the tour to spend a few days in Paris and our tour was adjusted for that
    Eileen Senecal
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    4star
    The tour included stops at sites we were interested in seeing. The two sites most memorable were the Normandy Beaches of Dday and the wine tasting in Avignon.
Reviewed on
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Paris and Normandy were worth the trip. We loved Fountainbeau the home of Kingsand Napolean.
    Wilford Hetzel
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Saint Malo was just breath-taking ! We enjoyed walking the ramparts of this walled city and the hotel was on in such a convenient location ! Every hotel was wonderful !
    Lauren
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    5star
    Seeing the American and German cemeteries from WW11 were profound and moving experiences never to be forgotten.
Reviewed on
  • Trip Rating:
    4star
    I think that the itinerary was nice. I really loved going to Normandy. I now understand D-Day a lot better and I REALLY got a feel for the ultimate sacrifice that our soldiers made. I would point out to future guests that their is not a lot of souvenir shopping until you get to Avignon so they dont get frustrated the whole tour trying to figure out where to get souvenirs. I don't think France is big on selling touristy things in general. Please make sure the tour manager points that out.
    Frank

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