France: Paris, Burgundy, Provence and the Riviera

1. Day 1: Arrive in Paris

   Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport to your hotel in central Paris

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Paris
   Day 1 details

   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, and a café terrace is the classic first stop. At 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group at the hotel for a short briefing on the trip ahead: how the two train days work, what to pack for the wine country and the coast, and how each base has free time built in. Then we walk to dinner together at a neighbourhood bistro for the welcome meal, a chance to meet the rest of the group, never more than 12 of you.

   Included

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

   Free time: Free until the 6 pm briefing

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

2. Day 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

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Paris
   Day 2 details

   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 and up 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, followed by the view through the great clock window over the Seine. The evening is free.

   Included

   • 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

   Optional experiences

   • An evening boat on the Seine
   • The Louvre or Montmartre on your own in the evening

   Easier option: Take a taxi or the metro between the Luxembourg Gardens and the Musée d'Orsay instead of walking.

   Free time: Lunch and the evening free

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

   

3. Day 3: TGV to Dijon and the Route des Grands Crus

   Paris Gare de Lyon to Dijon by TGV, then the Route des Grands Crus to Beaune

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Beaune
   Day 3 details

   After breakfast the vehicle takes the group and luggage to Gare de Lyon for a mid-morning TGV to Dijon, about 1 hour 40 minutes. Your guide walks you through the old capital of the Dukes of Burgundy: the Palace of the Dukes, the half-timbered houses of Rue des Forges and the stone owl on the wall of Notre-Dame, rubbed smooth by people touching it for luck. On market mornings (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday) Les Halles, the iron covered market, is the place for lunch, which is your choice. Our vehicle and driver meet us in the early afternoon for the Route des Grands Crus, the road south along the Côte de Nuits through Gevrey-Chambertin and Vougeot. At the Château du Clos de Vougeot, built for Cistercian monks, you see their huge medieval wine presses. We reach Beaune, about 50 km on, by late afternoon, and dinner tonight is Burgundian: think oeufs en meurette and boeuf bourguignon.

   Included

   • TGV from Paris Gare de Lyon to Dijon
   • Dijon on foot with your guide: the Palace of the Dukes, Rue des Forges, the owl of Notre-Dame and Les Halles
   • The Route des Grands Crus through Gevrey-Chambertin and Vougeot
   • Château du Clos de Vougeot
   • Burgundian dinner in Beaune

   Free time: Lunch free in Dijon

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

4. Day 4: Beaune and the Côte de Beaune villages

   Beaune to Pommard, Volnay, Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet, and back

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Beaune
   Day 4 details

   We start at the Hospices de Beaune as it opens. Founded in 1443 by Nicolas Rolin, chancellor to the Duke of Burgundy, as a hospital for the poor, it is known for the glazed, multicoloured roof tiles around its courtyard, the long Great Hall of the Poor with its curtained beds, and Rogier van der Weyden's Last Judgement altarpiece. Then the vehicle takes us a few kilometres south into the Côte de Beaune, through Pommard and Volnay to Meursault. The vineyard plots here, the climats, were listed by UNESCO in 2015, and your guide walks you between their low stone walls to show why a few metres of slope change a wine's name and price. In a family cellar a winegrower pours their reds and whites and explains the year in the vines. Lunch is in a village restaurant near Puligny-Montrachet, and we are back in Beaune by about 3 pm. The afternoon and evening are yours.

   Included

   • Hospices de Beaune (Hôtel-Dieu) at opening
   • Vineyard walk in the Côte de Beaune with your guide
   • Cellar visit and tasting with a Burgundy winegrower
   • Lunch in a Côte de Beaune village

   Optional experiences

   • A second tasting in one of Beaune's cellars in the free afternoon

   Easier option: Skip the vineyard walk and wait in the village before the tasting, or return to Beaune straight after lunch with the vehicle.

   More active option: Instead of riding back with the vehicle after lunch, cycle from Meursault to Beaune on the Voie des Vignes, a mostly traffic-free path through the vineyards, about 8 km and 40 minutes. We arrange the rented bike at booking and it is collected in Beaune, so you are back by about 3:30.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free in Beaune

   Activity: Tastings are small pours; you can taste and spit, and there are soft drinks for anyone not drinking.

5. Day 5: Cluny, the Roche de Solutré and Lyon

   Beaune to Cluny and the Roche de Solutré, then Lyon

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Lyon
   Day 5 details

   Burgundy goes on south of Beaune, so we take the slow way to Lyon. About an hour and a quarter away is Cluny, founded in 910, whose abbey church was the largest in Christendom until St Peter's in Rome was rebuilt; what is left, a single soaring transept, and a digital reconstruction show the scale. Next is the Mâconnais, the southern end of Burgundy, where the limestone Roche de Solutré rises over the vineyards of Pouilly-Fuissé. Lunch is in a village below the rock. It is about an hour from there to Lyon, where we check in by mid-afternoon. The funicular climbs to the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière and the view across the two rivers, then we walk down past the Roman theatre into Vieux Lyon, through the traboules, covered passages that cut between the Renaissance houses. Dinner is in a bouchon, the Lyon bistro of sausages, quenelles and local wine served by the pot.

   Included

   • Cluny Abbey
   • The Roche de Solutré and the Pouilly-Fuissé vineyards
   • Lunch in the Mâconnais
   • Funicular to Fourvière, the Roman theatre and Vieux Lyon's traboules with your guide
   • Dinner in a Lyon bouchon

   Easier option: Stay at the foot of the Roche de Solutré, or take the funicular back down from Fourvière instead of walking.

   More active option: Climb the Roche de Solutré before lunch, about 45 minutes up a steep path, for the view across the vineyards to the Saône valley.

   Free time: Free after dinner

   Activity: Vieux Lyon is cobbled and the walk down from Fourvière is steep in places.

   

6. Day 6: Les Halles de Lyon and the Pont du Gard

   Lyon to the Pont du Gard, then Avignon

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Avignon
   Day 6 details

   Lyon's best-known food market, Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse on cours Lafayette, opens early, so we walk its aisles after breakfast while the oyster bars, cheese counters and charcuteries are setting out, and you can buy something for the road. By about 9:45 we are driving south down the Rhône valley, about two and a quarter hours on the motorway with a coffee stop, and we reach the Pont du Gard in time for lunch at the site. 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 and has been on the UNESCO list since 1985. After lunch your guide walks you across the river beside it, through the site museum and up to the viewpoint, and there is time to sit on the riverbank below the arches. Avignon is half an hour on, and we check in inside the city walls by about 5 pm. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Les Halles de Lyon Paul Bocuse in the morning
   • Lunch at the Pont du Gard
   • The Pont du Gard and its museum with your guide

   Free time: Evening free in Avignon

   Activity: Les Halles de Lyon is closed on Mondays, so this day never falls on one. The longest driving day, about 3 hours in total, broken by a coffee stop and lunch.

7. Day 7: Avignon's Palais des Papes and Les Baux

   Avignon, then Les Baux-de-Provence and back

   • Drive about 1.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Avignon
   Day 7 details

   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. Late morning we drive about 40 minutes to Les Baux-de-Provence, a village on a limestone spur in the Alpilles, 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, then return to Avignon by about 5 pm for a free evening.

   Included

   • Palais des Papes at opening, with your guide
   • Pont Saint-Bénézet
   • Lunch near Les Baux-de-Provence
   • The village of Les Baux-de-Provence
   • The Carrières des Lumières show

   Easier option: Stay in the lower lanes of Les Baux and skip the climb to the ruined castle.

   More active option: Climb through the village to the ruined castle on top of Les Baux for the view over the Alpilles and the plain.

   Free time: Evening free in Avignon

   Activity: 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.

8. Day 8: The Luberon: Gordes, Sénanque and Roussillon

   Avignon to Gordes, Sénanque Abbey and Roussillon, and back

   • Drive about 2.5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Avignon
   Day 8 details

   A day in the hill villages east of Avignon, started early because the car parks of Gordes fill by mid-morning. 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. We see it from the path and the viewpoint, quietly, because the monks still live here. Lunch is a long one in a village restaurant. In the afternoon we go on to Roussillon, built on ochre cliffs in every shade from yellow to deep red, and walk the Sentier des Ocres through the old quarries. We are back in Avignon by about 4 pm, with the rest of the day free.

   Included

   • Gordes with your guide
   • Sénanque Abbey from the path and viewpoint
   • Lunch in a Luberon village
   • Roussillon and the Sentier des Ocres

   Optional experiences

   • A visit to a Luberon market on its weekly day, when it falls on this date

   Easier option: Skip the ochre trail and wait on a café terrace in Roussillon's square.

   More active option: Walk the longer loop of the Sentier des Ocres, about 50 minutes, down into the deepest part of the old quarries.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Avignon

   Activity: The ochre trail is dusty and stains: wear shoes you do not mind turning orange.

9. Day 9: TGV to Nice and Vieux Nice at sunset

   Avignon TGV to Nice Ville by train, then Vieux Nice and Castle Hill on foot

   • Drive about 15 min
   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Nice
   Day 9 details

   After a slow breakfast the vehicle takes us to the Avignon TGV station, a few kilometres outside the walls, for a mid-morning train to Nice. The direct train takes about three and a half hours, longer with a change at Marseille, through Marseille and Toulon and then along the coast past the red rocks of the Esterel to Cannes and Antibes, and lunch is your choice on board or from the station. We check in near Vieux Nice in the early afternoon and have time to rest. Late afternoon your guide walks you through Place Masséna, with its chequered paving and red-ochre arcades, into the old town's narrow lanes, past the baroque Cathédrale Sainte-Réparate and along Cours Saleya. From there we climb Castle Hill, by the steps or the free lift, to watch the sun go down over the Baie des Anges and the Promenade des Anglais. Dinner is yours in the old town.

   Included

   • TGV from Avignon TGV to Nice Ville
   • Vieux Nice on foot with your guide: Place Masséna, Cathédrale Sainte-Réparate and Cours Saleya
   • Castle Hill at sunset

   Easier option: Take the free lift up Castle Hill instead of the steps.

   Free time: Early afternoon and evening free

   Activity: You carry your own bag onto the train. If a date has no direct train, we change at Marseille or drive the A8 instead, under three hours.

   

10. Day 10: Èze, Monaco and Villefranche-sur-Mer

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

    • Drive about 2 h
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Nice
    Day 10 details

    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, followed by a short drive past the casino and along part of the Grand Prix circuit. 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.

    Included

    • 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

    Optional experiences

    • The Oceanographic Museum in Monaco in place of the drive past the casino

    Easier option: Stay in the lower lanes of Èze and skip the climb to the garden.

    More active option: 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.

    Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Nice

    Activity: 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.

11. Day 11: Saint-Paul-de-Vence and a free afternoon in Nice

    Nice to Saint-Paul-de-Vence and back

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Nice
    Day 11 details

    A short morning out, about 35 minutes inland, to Saint-Paul-de-Vence, a walled village on a ridge between the mountains and the sea. We arrive before 10, when the lanes are still quiet and the galleries are opening, and your guide walks the ramparts with you for views down to the coast. Painters came here from the 1920s onwards, and Marc Chagall, who lived in the village for nearly twenty years, is buried in the little cemetery at its southern end. We are back in Nice by lunchtime, in time to walk through the flower stalls of Cours Saleya and try socca, the chickpea pancake of the old town, before an afternoon on your own: the Matisse Museum in Cimiez, a swim from the pebble beach, or a slow walk along the Promenade des Anglais. In the evening we gather for the farewell dinner, with Niçoise dishes and wine from Bellet, the small vineyard inside the city limits.

    Included

    • Saint-Paul-de-Vence and its ramparts with your guide
    • Cours Saleya and a taste of socca
    • Farewell dinner

    Optional experiences

    • The Fondation Maeght modern art museum, just outside Saint-Paul-de-Vence
    • The Matisse Museum in Cimiez (closed Tuesdays)

    Easier option: Skip Saint-Paul-de-Vence and spend the whole day in Nice.

    Free time: Afternoon free in Nice

12. Day 12: Depart from Nice

    Your hotel in Nice to Nice Côte d'Azur Airport

    • Drive about 15 min
    • Breakfast
    Day 12 details

    Your last morning on the Riviera is unhurried. After breakfast, if your flight is in the afternoon, walk once more along the Promenade des Anglais or through 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.

    Included

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

    Free time: Free until your airport transfer

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

Wildlife and weather: Spring and early autumn are mild and the vineyards are green or turning gold; the grape harvest in Burgundy usually runs from late August into September. Lavender is in bloom in Provence only from late June to mid-July. July and August bring heat over 35°C in Provence and the biggest crowds on the Riviera, so we start early and keep afternoons free.

• Paris2 nights
• Beaune2 nights
• Lyon1 night
• Avignon3 nights
• Nice3 nights