France Honeymoon Packages

We had a great trip - full of delightful meals, amazing history and beautiful countryside.  It was quite difficult to return home after such a adventure!  The support and immediate accessibility of the travel team staff (travel planners) throughout the trip was invaluable.  We visited Paris, Dijon, Avignon and Eze on this trip.We had been to Paris before so we used this opportunity to visit some areas in detail that we hadn't time for in our prior visit. Guided tours of the St Germaine des Pres and Marais neighborhoods were interesting.  On our own we saw the Rodin Museum, revisited the Ile de la Cite and Ile St Louis neighborhoods, and enjoyed great dining.  The Hotel D'Aubusson on the Left Bank was perfectly located to take advantage of the whole city.  We spent one full day out of the city on a Loire Valley chateaux tour. Our guide was an excellent driver and her knowledge of the history of the area was comprehensive.In Dijon the hotel we stayed in, if I could plan it again, I would definitely choose a more upscale and better located hotel. Oddly, the corridor to our room was very dark and dismal, as it is painted all black; in addition, the room itself was too small for two people and two large suitcases.  The outdoor areas were not well groomed and were not inviting for afternoon relaxation in the courtyard.  Also, the neighborhood was dark and didn't feel safe for walking at night. We cannot say much for the tour guide that we had there either as she was not very enthusiastic and seemed to focus on areas that were not especially interesting, leaving no time to for her to guide us through the Duke’s Palace (now a free museum) or several other areas that she ultimately recommended we explore on our own. By that time we were tired from the walking and it would have been so much better to have a guided tour of the museum, which we were left to return to on our own and only had time to see the tombs of the Dukes before it closed. The wine tour guide was quite entertaining, and we wish we had booked a longer tour to see more vineyards and learn more about the actual viniculture process.  The focus of this tour was just to visit two “caves” and sample some lovely wines, with a bit of pressure (not excessive) to purchase for shipment home. Since we were in Dijon primarily to visit the Burgundy wine region and were only there for two nights it would have been better for our interests to spend more time exploring different vineyards during a longer tour.Avignon was fabulous - such lovely weather and our tour guide was great.  What a beautiful and historic city, clean, bright, great shopping and restaurants!  We had a delicious dinner where the young and talented chef came to our table to describe his creations. We also dined at a fine dining restaurant, recommended by the concierge at the Avignon hotel, which was excellent.  The hotel was fine, not especially spacious but better than the Dijon hotel.  There are stairs to navigate which wasn't a problem for us but might be for others.  I'm sure the staff would have been helpful if asked.  We took a full day tour of the historic and beautiful Provence region, visiting many amazing villages perched in the cliffs and hills of the area.  The guide was great - very knowledgeable and accommodating.And of course, the final stop in Eze was a dream come true.  Simply astounding hotel (possibly the nicest we’ve ever stayed at) where everything was absolutely top quality including the daily breakfast and dinners at the Michelin starred restaurant. Our tour guide for the nearby historic village of Eze and for Monaco was excellent.  We also ventured off campus one night to dine at an italian restaurant nearby, which was very good. Many thanks for your assistance in planning this memorable trip! 

This travel team have been professional with the proposal and planning of our trip. The route was logically organized with good recommendations on places to eat and visits. Some hiccups happened which we hope to see improvemnents; viz 1. Our driver at Nice forgot to pick us at the hotel to go to the Nice train station 2. The tour guide for the Antibes, Cannes and St Paul de Vence tour was not familiar with the local area as she was from Avignon. Likewise, she was also not very familiar with the Aix en Provence tour. Notwithstanding this shortcoming, she is a wonderful person and really made the effort to ensure the tours were fun filled. 3. The hotel at Marseille is a nice hotel, however access in and out of the hotel was a daily problem as the whole road in front was dug up. The whole place was messy and dusty. We had to avoid construction vehicles in and out of the hotel entrance. Our drivers had to park a distance away and we had to lug our bags to the transport.

We had a great time on the trip due to the people we met, the food and hotels after we upgraded. This France travel agency worked within a budget, the hotel stay in Lyon at the beginning was good, the TVG idea excellent, however the car rental went awry as the could not get us a English speaking GPS, it took 7 trys and 3 hrs before we could leave, they then gave us a big car (bad for the roads and parking in Europe) I was not aware that the roads in the Luberon were narrow and mountainous. We started out in Aix en provence at a wonderful hotel and lovely city, from there we traveled to Arles which we thought was nothing. Next we went to Bonnieux where the GPS did not work and we could not find the L"Auberge, until given directions from another hotel who called ours. We arrived in the rain and mud to be given a key for a cabin in the fields, we tried to enter but the key could not work, went back and upraded to a room in the main building. The next day while raining my wife fell and broke her elbow and cracked her knee. We returned to the Auberge and stayed on the three flights upo room for 3 nights, they were nice and brought breakfast and dinner up. Next we went to Avignon, again with a GPS that only sometimes worked. There we also upraded to a ground floor room, people were very nice and because of the injuries we took it easy. Food great in Villleneuve-lez-Avignon. The with a lot of help we took the TVG to Lyon and settled in and again took it easy but had a good time.

Overall, it was a great trip.  I only gave it four stars because I was comparing it to our trip to Germany through your recommended Company.  The private guides were all great and we saw and did exactly what we wanted in Bayeux, Amboise and Paris.  It would have been nice to have a list of good options for the Provence piece.  The accommodations in Provence were nice, but isolated and we found ourselves driving over an hour one way to see what we wanted to see in the area and it might have been better to stay in Avignon, or much closer to it anyway.  The hotel in Nice did not meet our expectations.  The front desk clerk at check in was rude.  There were stains on the bedroom walls in the bedroom (really don't want to even think about what they might have been) and mold in the shower.  The location was great though.  The boat trip in Nice was good as well.One note of uncertainty, the car rental was supposed to be for a Peugot 308 or similar and they gave us a 2008, not really sure if that is similar or not, but it was very tight.  The car rental office at the train station in Aix was rude and very slow.

The owner tried very hard to customize our trip and we were satisfied with his plan. Small group tours and all ground transportation were perfect. However, the 4 star hotels were somewhat disappointing- the locations were excellent but the 3 hotel rooms we had in the 3 destinations had significant deficiencies like a very noisey alleyway, a rock-hard mattress and a ground floor room with only a sheer drape next to the street. Overall, we really enjoyed Avignon and Nice very much and will have many fond memories.