French Impressions From $3,249 $3,049 pp*

This was a great trip. The tour guide was very knowledgable and lovely. Her name was Stephanie and she described everything. The bus was great and so was the driver. French Impressions was truly a wonderful vacation.

It was a fun vacation. France is a beautiful country. My most memorable experience was the Eiffel Tower. I loved when the lights were on and it sparkled. Looking up at the tower with the lights was really beautiful.

The tour manager was exceptional and the accommodations were great.

We visited some wonderful places and saw much of France. I loved riding the fast train.

Tour was well organized, tour director was a gem (very patient, knowledgeable, helpful).

The tour was a little too fast paced for me. I would have preferred more free time in Paris and Nice. Could have taken the train straight to Provence and skipped so many hours in Avignon. Eze was a disappointment as there was not much to see there and would have appreciated more time in Nice to explore on my own.

The tour manger was knowledgeable, competent, and confident. I'm a timid person, and her attitude contributed to my being able to focus on enjoying my trip experience. The local guides were very knowledgeable and were pleasant and fun to be with.

This was my first visit to France, so all my experience made a great impression on me. Every stop was enjoyable to me, but the visit to Gordes is the most memorable. Truly all my experience was memorable.

Had a wonderful trip of a lifetime. Our tour manager Maryse was WONDERFUL!! The only complaint was hotel in Paris was hot!

WONDERFUL experience! I would do it again.

I would recommend Colette. Transfers from place to place were seamless. The itinerary was varied and interesting and there was also free time to explore at your own pace. The customer service before, during, and after the trip was consistent and informative which made the trip well worth it.

Seine river cruise with dinner was a wonderful introduction. Versailles and the visit to Monet’s home and garden was a beautiful experience. Provence and Gordes were beautiful. Enjoyed all the museums and factories. Enjoyed the vineyard and delicious meal. Cannes and Nice were fun especially to people watch! Loved walking along the Mediterranean Sea promenade.

Tour guide was excellent. a well paced tour. Airplane seats were not good, requested aisle and got middle. restaurants selected were very good. Hotel in Nice was old.

Tour Guide was excellent, Paris was memorable as was Versailles

I loved our guide Maryse Blouin - she was excellent. So helpful and considerate of all of us. She made sure everyone was safe and informed of all situations and was very personable and fun too!

Touring then seeing the Eiffel Tower lit at night was beautiful and the dinner on the boat ride on the Seine was just a grand finale to a glorious day!

I went on the tour because of the destination and also because I joined a group, which initially gathered and left from a location just five minutes from my house. The trip was to France, and this was my fifth visit there. If I I had to get to Paris to join a group, I know I wouldn’t have gone. I am a single traveler, and it is simply too much hastle for me to make my own arrangements, get to the airport, and navigate all the logistics of getting there alone - if that were the case, I know I wouldn’t have gone. The tour itself, the tour manager, the local guides, the locations, the pace and activities, were all splendid, and I’m so thrilled I went! By the way, I am a very well-seasoned traveler (river travel and ocean crossings, Europe, Orient, Africa, USA, etc., and about 20 cruises), and 95% of these trips have been with groups, and as a single traveler. This was my first trip with Collette (only because I always had to get to the destination first), and I was very pleased.

Wonderfully memorable trip without one glitch! We saw and did so much, and the pace was ideal (maybe a little too active for someone with limitations, but there were always alternatives and special considerations). I would like to add one more thing regarding accommodations as a single woman traveler. The hotels were all fine. The only comment I would like to make concerns the rooms I was assigned. As luck would have it (I guess?), every room I had, in each of the three hotels, was always up on higher floors, while most of the others in the group, with a few exceptions, had rooms on the first or second floors. Coming back to the hotel, especially at night, and always having to use the elevator alone to get up to my room was not always a comfortable feeling. I know, I know, it will be said that there has never been a negative incident, but that does not overule the personal discomfort. It reminds me of when I was traveling with my ill husband. We always got handicap-accessible rooms, which were 99% of the time not very accessible! They were generally on the top floors, and we were always told that there was no problem because there were elevators (how Patronizing!). Well, unless, someone has traveled with someone with limitations, they have no idea how important it is to have handy, and accessible accommodations. Once when we were about to enter an elevator to get to our room, my husband had a major, unexpected spell right in the elevator doorway and ended up on the floor, where he remained for about half an hour. I had to press the emergency button to get help. I felt like most hotels put the handicap-accessible rooms on the top floors and out of sight. I am mentioning this as food for thought in your considerations. Having been through a variety of similar situations, and I know from first-hand experience, how sensitive and important this issue is to a traveler with limitations.

I have already recommended Collette to several friends. Stephanie was the PERFECT guide -- she handled everything so smoothly, didn't talk too much (like a previous guide on another tour) but kept us well informed. Loved the cruise on the Seine, the cabaret, and the winery tour & dinner.

Tour manager (Stephanie) was exceptional. Loved the Cabaret and the river cruise. The winery meal was excellent, but some of the hotel meals were not good. We could do without the candy factory tour, maybe see an old church instead. Pace was good, accommodations fine. Versailles was so crowded, but nothing to be done about that! Everything about transportation went smoothly. Would definitely recommend this tour, especially with the fairly small group number.

The only reason I rated the service experience a three was because of the amount of work I know the tour manager had to do while we were on tour transporting us from hotel to hotel and managing our luggage and all the behind the scenes work. I was extremely disappointed in the local guides. Especially the guide for the Louvre. I spoke to her on behalf of myself and three other ladies, then two other ladies during two separate conversations spoke to her about the pace and content of the tour and she ignored all of us and appeared upset. We expressed that she was talking too much and spending too much time on each statue and we were interested in seeing more and spending less time at each exhibit and she blatantly ignored us. If Stephanie, the tour manager had stayed with us she could have intervened, but she left us alone with the local tour guides so she was no help. We also had an issue with the local guide in Cannes. Several people told Stephanie to ask him to slow down, and she spoke to him and he slowed for a minute and then would speed right back up. One lady broke off right away, I got frustrated and my husband and I went off on our own. We ended up seeing everything the group did, had a chance to shop and have a wonderful lunch. As this was our second tour in less than 6 months our tour of Italy was still fresh in our minds and we know what excellent service we received from our tour manager and bus driver, so our expectations were not met.

I think for the cost of the tour we had an average experience. The rooms were average and the food was between average and good. Breakfasts, good, included dinners definitely average.

I have traveled with collette three times. Overall I enjoyed the tour of Paris and the south of France. The last hotel we stayed at was a disappointment it was old and dusty. I also did not like the coach seat assignment. One passenger was assigned to the front seat, door side for the duration of the trip. This was not fair to others who wanted to sit in the front at least one day of the tour.

Comments already submitted.

Well planned itinerary covering many venues in time allotted to the tour. Good hotel locations.

Interesting venues throughout tour - the included lunch at Villa Ephrussi was a delight,

Not impressed with our last trip to France. France is beautiful! The Collette tour was so-so! Questioning if Collette will be in our future?

Spent a lot of money for what turned out to be an average trip!

Tour manager worked hard to provide us with in depth experiences. Pleasantly surprised that he helped us with air flight checkin at the end of tour. Before tour the customer service reps were friendly and helpful.

Loved Paris and Provence. After that I was tired so I didn't get that much out of rest of tour. Favorite experience was at Cezanne's workshop. I didn't know anything about him. I left workshop with a great respect for Cezanne as an artist who stuck to his principles.

yes I would use Collette again; however, I would not again accept plane travel transfer of only 1.5 hours between plane transfers. In Europe, it is almost impossible with the passport control lack of personnel; One and a half hours between transfer planes is not enough time; minimum times between transfer planes has to be minimum of 2 hours to 3; I will rather wait than have to run across the airport to reach my flights.

everthing worked well, except that one hotel was not too well located in France.

Excellent itinerary and schedule! Excellent guide and drivers! I love the included transit from airport to hotel and back again too!

The art-related experiences were the best! Book a driving tour of Paris on your own before the tour begins so that you do not miss the fabulous Orsay Museum. The Louvre too - both museums are musts! The museum guides were wonderful - so knowledgeable and interesting! The follow-up at Monet's home and gardens and Cezanne's home were unforgettable!

Would consider using Collette again & would recommend it to friends. Appreciated that most sightseeing tours were included in the package & minimum additional charges were required. Tour guide was insightful & knowledgeable. Especially enjoyed three night stays in centrally located hotels which meant no daily packing & easy access to restaurants, shopping, etc On the negative side however, first day after overnight flight & 9 hour time adjustment, was over scheduled with Eiffel Tower dinner & Seine river cruise Hotel room not available until 2 p.m. meant no rest time to recover from flight before scheduled activities. Enjoyment greatly reduced because of fatigue!

Choice of cities, 3 night stays, good quality hotels with complete breakfasts all made for favourable experience. Included meals (lunches & dinners) provided good choices.

Mark, our tour manager was very experienced, knowledgeable, well organized and humorous. A tour manager like Mark is the keystone to a great tour. Spending three nights in each city was definitely a plus. I have always felt that one of the disadvantages of bus tours is the constant moving every day. This tour was much more relaxing.

Dinner in the Eiffel Tower was wonderful

Everything was well planned, and our time was used well.

It was a good balance of activities. The Eiffel Tower lived up to its hype. But I really liked the more rural Provence area. Monet's garden was one of the more memorable experiences.

Mark, the tour manager, was excellent in overcoming several unforeseen challenges (e.g., touring Monaco with the Monaco Grand Prix being run). The accommodations at the three hotels were centrally located and four-star rated. Eze and St. Paul were unique towns to tour.

My original choice of dates was canceled due to too few participants. We were rebooked to a mutually agreeable date at no additional charge.

Our travel guide, ****, was unbelievable. Her knowledge of the areas we visited was amazing. She kept a close eye on the group at all times and I felt extremely safe. I do not have enough words to describe how appreciative I was to have such a wonderful guide. This was my first trip to Europe and also with a tour group and I had no idea of what to expect. There was a lot packed into each day, especially in Provence and Nice. I wish there had been more time in Paris--the first day we were pretty much sleep deprived from the overnight flight and did not get as much accomplished as I would have liked. One additional day in Paris would have have been great. All in all, it was wonderful!

There were so many wonderful moments, but dinner at the Eiffel Tower has to be my absolute favorite.

Some scheduled activities were canceled due to bus not showing up on time and lack of people for tour.

Eating dinner at the Eiffel Tower

First-class experience. Never saw a tour director (five previous tours with other vendors) work so hard to make sure everything went well. **** ****** is the absolute best. Wonderful mix of tours and free time. Would definitely take another Collette tour again.

Loved free day on French Riviera - just walking along ocean and enjoying sitting and eating in cafes.

tour guide was OUTSTANDING......

dINNER AT eIFFEL TOWER/LOUVE

Good value and well organized. Exceptionally long return travel at nearly 23 hours from leaving hotel in Nice to landing in Phoenix.

Loved the cruise on the Seine River and seeing all the great architecture with the lighting of the Eiffel Tower.

I didn't have much contact with the Us office. I would have liked to receive the travel documents sooner.

Every need was covered. I liked Provence the best.

Tour Guide - was very attentive and helpful.