France in depth: Paris, the Loire, the Dordogne, Provence and the Riviera

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Paris

   Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to your hotel in central Paris

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Paris
   Détail du jour 1

   Fly into Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) at any time. A driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the drive into the city, 45 to 75 minutes depending on traffic, and your hotel is central, within walking distance of the Seine. Rooms are usually ready by mid-afternoon, so if you land early, leave your bags and walk: the Île de la Cité and the Latin Quarter are close to most central hotels. At 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group at the hotel for a short briefing on the fifteen days ahead: how the two train days work, why we stay two or three nights in most places, and where each base has free time built in. Then we walk to a neighbourhood bistro for the welcome dinner, a first chance to meet the rest of the group, never more than 12 of you.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner at a local bistro

   Temps libre : Free until the 6 pm briefing

   Activité : Plan to land by about 3 pm to reach the briefing comfortably; later arrivals are met and join the group at dinner.

2. Jour 2 : Paris: Sainte-Chapelle, Notre-Dame and the Musée d'Orsay

   Île de la Cité, the Latin Quarter and Saint-Germain, then the Musée d'Orsay

   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Paris
   Détail du jour 2

   We are at the Sainte-Chapelle when the doors open at 9 am, with a timed ticket, because its upper chapel, walled almost entirely in 13th-century stained glass, is best seen before the room fills. Next door is Notre-Dame, reopened in December 2024 after the 2019 fire, its stone cleaned and its interior restored; entry is free and we use a reserved slot where one is offered. Your guide then walks the group across the river into the Latin Quarter, past the Sorbonne to the Panthéon and down through the Luxembourg Gardens to Saint-Germain, where lunch is your choice from dozens of cafés. In the afternoon a local guide takes us through the Musée d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station turned museum, for Monet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne and Van Gogh, ending at the great clock window over the Seine. The evening is free.

   Compris

   • Sainte-Chapelle at opening, with a timed ticket
   • Notre-Dame de Paris
   • Walk through the Latin Quarter, the Panthéon and the Luxembourg Gardens with your guide
   • The Musée d'Orsay with a local guide

   Activités en option

   • An evening boat on the Seine

   Option plus facile : Take a taxi or the metro between the Luxembourg Gardens and the Musée d'Orsay instead of walking.

   Temps libre : Lunch and the evening free

   Activité : About 6 to 8 km on foot over the day, with a spiral stair up to the Sainte-Chapelle's upper chapel. The Musée d'Orsay is closed on Mondays, so this day never falls on one.

   

3. Jour 3 : Paris: the Louvre and a free afternoon

   The Louvre, the Tuileries and the Palais-Royal on foot

   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Paris
   Détail du jour 3

   A second Paris morning goes to the Louvre, timed for opening, when the queue at the pyramid is shortest and the galleries are still quiet. A local guide takes the group on a route of about two hours through the parts most people come for and get lost looking for: the Winged Victory of Samothrace on the Daru staircase, the Venus de Milo, the Italian paintings around the Mona Lisa and the great French history canvases of David and Delacroix. Afterwards your guide walks you out through the Tuileries Garden and back up to the Palais-Royal, whose arcaded garden and striped Buren columns make a quiet place to stop. From lunchtime the day is yours. Many people climb the Arc de Triomphe or the Eiffel Tower, walk the Marais, or go up to Montmartre for the view from Sacré-Cœur. Your guide can suggest a route and book a table for anyone who wants company at dinner.

   Compris

   • The Louvre at opening with a local guide
   • The Tuileries Garden and the Palais-Royal with your guide

   Activités en option

   • The Eiffel Tower summit or the Arc de Triomphe roof
   • Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur on your own

   Option plus facile : Leave the Louvre tour at the halfway point and rest in the café under the pyramid.

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free

   Activité : The Louvre is closed on Tuesdays, so this day never falls on one. About 4 km on foot in the morning, much of it on museum floors.

4. Jour 4 : TGV to the Loire and Chenonceau

   Paris Montparnasse to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps by TGV, then Château de Chenonceau and Amboise

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Amboise
   Détail du jour 4

   After a slow breakfast the vehicle takes the group and luggage to Montparnasse for a late-morning TGV to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps, beside Tours, about an hour away. That is the easy way out of Paris: no ring-road traffic, and lunch is your choice at the station or on the way. Our Loire vehicle and driver meet us on the platform and we drive along the Cher to the Château de Chenonceau, built across the river on a row of arches and shaped by the women who owned it, Diane de Poitiers and Catherine de' Medici among them. We go in the mid to late afternoon, when the morning tour groups have left and the light comes low across the water. Your guide takes you through the gallery over the river, the kitchens in the piers and the two formal gardens. It is a short drive on to Amboise, where we check in below the château walls with the evening free.

   Compris

   • TGV from Paris Montparnasse to Saint-Pierre-des-Corps
   • Château de Chenonceau and its gardens with your guide

   Temps libre : Lunch and the evening free in Amboise

   Activité : You carry your own bag on and off the train; your guide helps the group with the platforms.

5. Jour 5 : Chambord, a Vouvray cave and the Clos Lucé

   Amboise to Chambord, then Vouvray and back to Amboise

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Amboise
   Détail du jour 5

   We drive about 50 minutes east to the Château de Chambord to be there when it opens. François I's hunting palace, begun in 1519, has a double-helix staircase at its centre, two spirals that wind past each other without meeting, and a roofline of chimneys and lanterns you can walk among from the terraces. It sits in a walled forest park of about 5,400 hectares, enclosed by a 32 km wall. Late morning we drive back west along the Loire to Vouvray, where the hillside is full of caves cut into the soft white tufa stone. A winegrower takes us into one to taste the dry and sparkling Chenin Blanc, and lunch is served in the cave. We are back in Amboise by about 3 pm for the Clos Lucé, the manor where Leonardo da Vinci spent his last three years, with models of his machines in the park. The evening is free in Amboise.

   Compris

   • Château de Chambord at opening
   • Cave visit and tasting with a Vouvray winegrower
   • Lunch in a Vouvray cave
   • The Clos Lucé, Leonardo da Vinci's last home

   Activités en option

   • The Château d'Amboise and Leonardo's tomb in the free evening, on your own

   Option plus facile : Stay on the ground floor at Chambord and skip the climb to the roof terraces.

   Option plus active : Climb Chambord's double staircase to the roof terraces for the view over the chimneys and the forest.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free in Amboise

   Activité : Tastings are small pours; there are soft drinks for anyone not drinking. The cave stays cool, so bring a layer.

   

6. Jour 6 : TGV to Bordeaux and the Cité du Vin

   Saint-Pierre-des-Corps to Bordeaux Saint-Jean by TGV, then Bordeaux on foot

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Bordeaux
   Détail du jour 6

   This is the longest hop of the trip, so we take the train. The vehicle drops us at Saint-Pierre-des-Corps after breakfast for a mid-morning TGV to Bordeaux, about two hours on the high-speed line instead of more than four on the road. Our second vehicle and driver, who stay with us all the way to Nice, meet the train and take the luggage to the hotel. Lunch is your choice near the station or in the old centre. In the afternoon your guide walks you through the 18th-century city that UNESCO listed as the Port of the Moon: the Place de la Bourse and the Miroir d'Eau, the shallow reflecting pool on the quay, the Grosse Cloche gate and the Cathédrale Saint-André. Later we ride the tram downriver to the Cité du Vin, a museum of the world's wine cultures in a building shaped like wine swirling in a glass; the visit ends with a glass of your choice and a view over the city. The evening is free on the Garonne waterfront, where the Pont de Pierre lights up at dusk.

   Compris

   • TGV from Saint-Pierre-des-Corps to Bordeaux Saint-Jean
   • Bordeaux on foot with your guide: the Place de la Bourse, the Miroir d'Eau, the Grosse Cloche and the cathedral
   • The Cité du Vin, with a glass of wine at the end of the visit

   Option plus facile : Ride the tram both ways between the old centre and the Cité du Vin.

   Temps libre : Lunch and the evening free

   Activité : You carry your own bag onto the train. About 5 km on foot in the afternoon, all on the flat.

   

7. Jour 7 : Saint-Émilion and on to Sarlat

   Bordeaux to Saint-Émilion, then the Dordogne valley to Sarlat-la-Canéda

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Sarlat-la-Canéda
   Détail du jour 7

   We leave Bordeaux at about 9 and are in Saint-Émilion in under an hour, a village of honey-coloured stone on a limestone slope above its vineyards, listed by UNESCO with the surrounding wine landscape. The tourist office guide takes us underground into the monolithic church, carved out of the rock in the 11th and 12th centuries, and the catacombs beside it, which can only be seen on a guided tour. At a family wine estate outside the village we walk through the vines and the cellar and taste the year's wines, and lunch is in the village. In the afternoon we follow the Dordogne upstream past Bergerac, about two hours with a coffee stop, into the Périgord Noir, the land of walnut groves and limestone cliffs. We reach Sarlat by about 5:30, check in for two nights, and walk to a Périgord dinner: duck, walnuts and, in season, truffles.

   Compris

   • The monolithic church and catacombs of Saint-Émilion with a local guide
   • Vineyard and cellar visit with a tasting at a Saint-Émilion wine estate
   • Lunch in Saint-Émilion
   • Périgord dinner in Sarlat

   Option plus facile : Sit out the climb to the top of the village and wait in the square before lunch.

   Option plus active : Climb the bell tower of the monolithic church for the view over the rooftops and vineyards.

   Temps libre : Free after dinner

   Activité : Saint-Émilion's lanes are steep and slippery when wet; wear shoes with grip. The underground church is cool all year.

8. Jour 8 : Lascaux IV and the Dordogne by gabarre

   Sarlat to Lascaux IV at Montignac, then La Roque-Gageac and Beynac, and back

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Sarlat-la-Canéda
   Détail du jour 8

   We take the first group slot of the day at Lascaux IV in Montignac, about half an hour north of Sarlat. The original cave, painted around 17,000 years ago, has been closed since 1963 to protect it; Lascaux IV is a full-size replica of almost the whole cave, made to the millimetre by artists and lit to reproduce the low light of the original, and a guide leads the visit through the bulls, horses and deer. It is part of the Vézère valley's UNESCO-listed caves and shelters. Then we drive south to the Dordogne at La Roque-Gageac, a village pressed against a cliff, for a gabarre trip, a flat-bottomed wooden boat of the kind that once carried wine down the river, under the castles of the valley. Lunch is in the village. In the afternoon we visit the Château de Beynac on its rock above the river and are back in Sarlat by about 4:30, with time to walk the medieval centre before dinner on your own.

   Compris

   • Lascaux IV, the International Centre for Cave Art, with a local guide
   • Gabarre boat trip on the Dordogne from La Roque-Gageac
   • Lunch in La Roque-Gageac
   • Château de Beynac

   Activités en option

   • The Sarlat market on Saturday or Wednesday morning, when it falls on a free hour

   Option plus facile : Stay in the lower village of Beynac and skip the steep lane up to the castle.

   Option plus active : Walk up from the river to the Château de Beynac, about 20 minutes on a steep cobbled lane, while the vehicle drives round.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free in Sarlat

   Activité : The gabarre boats run from about April to early November; outside that window we drive the valley road to the Jardins de Marqueyssac viewpoint instead.

9. Jour 9 : Cahors, Toulouse and the Cité of Carcassonne

   Sarlat to Cahors and Toulouse, then Carcassonne

   • Environ 3.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Carcassonne
   Détail du jour 9

   One of the three longer road days, about 3 hours 30 in the vehicle in all, broken into three parts. About an hour and a quarter south is Cahors, wrapped in a loop of the Lot, where we stop for the Pont Valentré, a 14th-century fortified bridge with three towers, listed by UNESCO among the routes to Santiago de Compostela. Another hour and a half takes us down the motorway to Toulouse, the pink city of brick, where lunch is near the Place du Capitole. Your guide walks the group through the Capitole's arcades to the Basilica of Saint-Sernin, the largest Romanesque church still standing in Europe, and down to the Garonne. The last hour is the drive to Carcassonne. We check in by about 5:30, and in the early evening, after the day visitors have gone, walk through the Narbonne gate into the walled Cité for a dinner of cassoulet, the bean, duck and sausage stew of the region.

   Compris

   • The Pont Valentré in Cahors
   • Lunch in Toulouse
   • Toulouse on foot with your guide: the Capitole and the Basilica of Saint-Sernin
   • Evening walk into the Cité of Carcassonne
   • Cassoulet dinner in Carcassonne

   Option plus facile : Stay in the vehicle at Cahors, and take a seat in a café on the Place du Capitole instead of the Toulouse walk.

   Option plus active : Walk across the Pont Valentré and back along the Lot, about 30 minutes, while the group meets at the far end.

   Temps libre : Free after dinner in the Cité

   Activité : About 3 hours 30 on the road in three legs of roughly an hour each, with a sit-down lunch in the middle.

10. Jour 10 : Carcassonne's ramparts and the Pont du Gard

    Carcassonne to the Pont du Gard, then Avignon

    • Environ 3.5 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    • Nuit : Avignon
    Détail du jour 10

    We are at the Château Comtal inside the Cité when it opens, and your guide takes you along the ramparts: two rings of walls and 52 towers, restored in the 19th century by Viollet-le-Duc, with the pointed slate roofs that started an argument still running among historians. The lanes inside fill up from late morning, so we have the walls before them. Lunch is in the Cité. Early afternoon we drive east past Narbonne and Montpellier, about two and three-quarter hours on the motorway with a coffee stop, to the Pont du Gard. This Roman aqueduct bridge, built in the 1st century AD to carry water to Nîmes, stands about 49 metres high on three tiers of arches. Your guide walks you across the river beside it to the viewpoint, and there is time on the riverbank below the arches. Avignon is half an hour on, and we check in inside the city walls for three nights by about 6:30.

    Compris

    • The Château Comtal and the ramparts of Carcassonne at opening
    • Lunch in the Cité of Carcassonne
    • The Pont du Gard and its viewpoint with your guide

    Option plus facile : Walk only the first section of the ramparts and wait in the castle courtyard.

    Temps libre : Evening free in Avignon

    Activité : The ramparts walk has uneven steps and narrow passages. About 3 hours 15 on the road, broken by a coffee stop and the Pont du Gard.

11. Jour 11 : Avignon: the Palais des Papes and a free afternoon

    Avignon on foot

    • Petit-déjeuner
    • Nuit : Avignon
    Détail du jour 11

    The popes lived in Avignon for most of the 14th century, and the Palais des Papes they built is a Gothic fortress-palace big enough to need a morning. We go in as it opens, before the tour groups, with a tablet guide and your own guide for the stories: the great audience hall, the papal private rooms with their painted walls, and the roof terrace over the Rhône. Then down to the Pont Saint-Bénézet, the bridge of the song, which now stops after four arches halfway across the river. The palace, the bridge and the old centre are on the UNESCO list together. Your guide ends the walk at Les Halles, the covered market with a living plant wall on its front, where you can put together your own lunch from the stalls. After a run of travel days the afternoon is deliberately free: the shady squares, the Collection Lambert or a nap before dinner on your own.

    Compris

    • Palais des Papes at opening, with your guide
    • Pont Saint-Bénézet
    • Les Halles d'Avignon with your guide

    Activités en option

    • A Châteauneuf-du-Pape tasting in the afternoon, priced when you book

    Option plus facile : Skip the palace roof terrace and wait in the garden café.

    Temps libre : Lunch, the afternoon and the evening free

    Activité : Les Halles is closed on Mondays; on a Monday your guide ends the walk in the Place de l'Horloge instead.

12. Jour 12 : Roman Arles and the Carrières des Lumières

    Avignon to Arles, then Les Baux-de-Provence and back

    • Environ 1.5 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    • Nuit : Avignon
    Détail du jour 12

    Arles is about 40 minutes south, and we start at the Roman amphitheatre, built around 90 AD for some 20,000 spectators and still used for bullfights and concerts, its arcades two storeys high. Beside it are the remains of the Roman theatre, and your guide walks you on to the Place du Forum and the courtyard of the old hospital where Van Gogh was treated in 1889, now planted as he painted it. Arles's Roman and Romanesque monuments have been on the UNESCO list since 1981. Late morning we drive into the Alpilles to Les Baux-de-Provence, a village on a limestone spur, and have lunch nearby. In the afternoon we watch the show in the Carrières des Lumières, where paintings are projected across the walls and floor of a vast old quarry, a programme that changes each year and plays on a loop, so we walk in whenever we arrive. We are back in Avignon by about 5 pm for a free evening.

    Compris

    • The Roman amphitheatre of Arles
    • Arles on foot with your guide: the Roman theatre, the Place du Forum and the Espace Van Gogh
    • Lunch near Les Baux-de-Provence
    • The village of Les Baux-de-Provence
    • The Carrières des Lumières show

    Activités en option

    • The Arles market on Saturday morning, when the date allows

    Option plus facile : Stay in the lower lanes of Les Baux and skip the climb to the ruined castle.

    Option plus active : Climb through the village to the ruined castle on top of Les Baux for the view over the Alpilles.

    Temps libre : Evening free in Avignon

    Activité : The quarry stays cool all year, so bring a layer. The show changes each year and the quarry closes for a few weeks in winter.

    

13. Jour 13 : The Luberon villages and on to Nice

    Avignon to Gordes, Sénanque Abbey and Roussillon, then Nice

    • Environ 4 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
    • Nuit : Nice
    Détail du jour 13

    The third longer road day, about 3 hours 45 in the vehicle in all, with the Luberon in the middle so the drive to the coast never feels like a transfer. We leave Avignon at 8:30 to be in Gordes before its car parks fill: the village is stacked on a rock above the plain, its stone houses climbing to a Renaissance château, and the classic view of it is from the road on the way in. A few minutes north, down a narrow valley, is Sénanque Abbey, founded by Cistercian monks in 1148 and still home to a community; from late June to mid-July the lavender in front of it is in flower. Lunch is a long one in Roussillon, the village built on ochre cliffs in every shade from yellow to deep red. Then about two and three-quarter hours east on the motorway, with a coffee stop, to Nice. We check in near the old town by about 6 pm, and the evening is free.

    Compris

    • Gordes with your guide
    • Sénanque Abbey from the path and viewpoint
    • Lunch in Roussillon
    • Roussillon's ochre lanes

    Option plus facile : Skip the walk through Roussillon's lanes and wait on a café terrace in the square.

    Option plus active : Walk the short loop of the Sentier des Ocres in Roussillon before lunch, about 35 minutes through the old quarries.

    Temps libre : Evening free in Nice

    Activité : The longest road day of the trip, kept under 4 hours and split by Gordes, Sénanque and lunch. The ochre stains: wear shoes you do not mind turning orange.

14. Jour 14 : Èze, Monaco and Villefranche-sur-Mer

    Nice to Èze by the Moyenne Corniche, Monaco, then Villefranche-sur-Mer and back

    • Environ 2 h de route
    • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
    • Nuit : Nice
    Détail du jour 14

    We leave Nice at about 8:30 on the Moyenne Corniche, the middle of the three coast roads, and are in Èze by 9, before the coach and cruise groups arrive. The medieval village is wrapped around a rock about 400 metres above the sea, its lanes too narrow for cars, and at the top a cactus garden among the castle ruins looks along the coast towards Italy. Then 20 minutes on to Monaco. We walk up to the Rock for the changing of the guard at the Prince's Palace at 11:55, then visit the cathedral where Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier III are buried. Lunch is together near the harbour. On the way back we stop in Villefranche-sur-Mer, a fishing harbour in a deep bay, for a walk along the waterfront and through the vaulted Rue Obscure. We are back in Nice by about 4 pm, and in the evening we gather for the farewell dinner, with Niçoise dishes and wine from Bellet.

    Compris

    • Èze village and the Jardin Exotique d'Èze
    • Monaco: the Rock, the changing of the guard at the Prince's Palace and the cathedral
    • Lunch in Monaco
    • Villefranche-sur-Mer harbour and the Rue Obscure
    • Farewell dinner in Nice

    Activités en option

    • The Oceanographic Museum in Monaco in place of the harbour walk

    Option plus facile : Stay in the lower lanes of Èze and skip the climb to the garden.

    Option plus active : Walk down from Èze to the sea at Èze-sur-Mer on the Nietzsche path, about an hour downhill on a rocky track, where the vehicle collects you.

    Temps libre : Late afternoon free in Nice

    Activité : Èze is steep, with uneven steps throughout. The Monaco Grand Prix weekend (late May or early June, check the year) is avoided on this day.

15. Jour 15 : Depart from Nice

    Your hotel in Nice to Nice Côte d'Azur Airport

    • Environ 15 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 15

    Your last morning on the Riviera is unhurried. After breakfast, if your flight is in the afternoon, walk along the Promenade des Anglais, climb Castle Hill for the view over the Baie des Anges, or go through the flower and produce stalls of the Cours Saleya market, which runs every morning except Monday, when it becomes an antiques market. Your See Sight Tours guide arranges the transfers and sees everyone off. Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE) is about 7 km west of the centre, around 20 minutes by car, with direct flights to many European hubs and, in the busier months, some transatlantic routes. A driver takes you there at the time that suits your flight. Flights from about 11 am are easiest; for an earlier flight we arrange an early breakfast or a breakfast bag. To stay on, ask us for extra nights in Nice before you book your flights.

    Compris

    • Drop-off at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport (NCE)

    Temps libre : Free until your airport transfer

    Activité : Book a flight leaving after about 11 am for a relaxed morning.

Faune et météo : Spring brings green vineyards and gardens in flower at the Loire châteaux; September and early October bring the grape harvest around Saint-Émilion and warm, quieter days in Provence. Lavender in the Luberon is usually in flower only from late June to mid-July. July and August are hot in the south, often over 35°C, and the Riviera is at its busiest, so we start early and keep afternoons free.

• Paris3 nuits
• Amboise2 nuits
• Bordeaux1 nuit
• Sarlat-la-Canéda2 nuits
• Carcassonne1 nuit
• Avignon3 nuits
• Nice2 nuits