Highlights
Wine and Food, Culture and architecture, History and WW2 sites, in this partial self drive 11 days itinerary. Depart Paris from airport or city centre by train to the Champagne region. Here we have organized with a driving tour with driver licensed guide so that you can fully enjoy the tastings without driving yourself. On the second day in Champagne, a river cruise allows you to enjoy the landscape while sipping a glass of Champagne of course. Back to Paris to enjoy the city of lights. Among the experiences: bakery tour of Saint-Germain des Prés, a Cruise on the River Seine, Access to the summit of the Eiffel Tower, walking tours of Montmartre and Le Marais. Pick your rental car for a road trip to Normandy. The rest of your journey is self drive. e. Suggestions are the D-Day beaches of course, but also the Flower coast and Auge country as well as Honfleur and Bayeux. There are 4 different accommodations (one in Champagne, one in Paris and two in Normandy). There are all chateaux-like or boutique hotels.
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Itinerary - click for more
Day 1: Departure Paris
Private transfer from CDG airport to the train station. Train from Paris to Reims in 1st class
Duration: approximately 1 hour
Private transfer from the Reims train station to your hotel
Overnight stay and breakfast at a château-hotel between Reims and Epernay
Included: transport, room and breakfastDay 2: Full-day private driving tour of the Champagne region
Your private driver-guide will pick you up in a luxury vehicle from your accommodation for an immersion in the world of Champagne. You will enjoy a commented drive along the Champagne scenic roads and discover the villages that are part of the Champagne appellation area. Stop at the charming UNESCO-listed small town of Hautvillers, where you can visit the church where the famous monk Dom Pierre Pérignon is buried.
After many postcard-worthy views, you will visit a family-run boutique winery (“Premier Cru area”). You will learn about how the well-known beverage is made. Enjoy tastings of Champagnes conducted in the cellar (independent producer). You will also drive through the picturesque Avenue De Champagne in Epernay, where several prestigious Champagne Houses have their headquarters.
Next, you will head to visit two small family growers (“Grand Cru area”) and have a comparative tasting in their respective cellar of different types of Champagnes (independent producers). Upon the conclusion of your tour, you will return to your accommodation.
Duration: 8 hours – Hotel pick-up and drop-off
Champagne tastings. Lunch at your own expense
Overnight stay and breakfast at a château-hotel between Reims and Eperna
Included: driver / guide, tasting, transport, room and breakfastDay 3: Private transfer from your hotel to the cruise ship (30 minutes)
Vintage Private Cruise on the “Champagne Vallée”. Enjoy a private boat trip in a 1927 Dutch cruiser, a vintage boat agile, convivial, comfortable and fast. The front deck is raised to host a small living room, a kitchen and restroom.
Discovering the listed UNESCO World Heritage sites from an unexpected point of view. During your private cruise, enjoy a small family grower “Premier Cru” cave visit. Winemakers from the valley, chosen for the quality of their work, will be pleased to tell you all about their products. Keep great souvenirs from your Champagne tour and enjoy a Champagne bottle tasting from a small winemaker of the valley.
Duration: around 2.5 hours. Departure from Mareil sur Ay5
Private transfer from the cruise ship to your hotel (30 minutes)
Overnight stay and breakfast at a château-hotel between Reims and Epernay
Included: transport, cruise tour, drinks, local guide, tasting, room and breakfastDay 4: Paris St. Germain Des Pres
Private transfer from your hotel to the Reims TGV railway station. F. class train to Paris.
Duration: approximately 1 hour
Private transfer from Paris railway station to your accommodation
French bakery private tour in Saint Germain des Pres. Saint-Germain-des-Près, located on the left bank of Paris, has established quite a reputation over the years. It is especially known for being a foodie’s dream visit because it offers such a wide selection of places to savor the French cuisine. You will visit some famous bakeries and find out why French bread and pastries are a reference in the world and taste different kinds of french delicacies like the traditional “pain au chocolat” (chocolate bread), macarons, or modern bakery foods made by famous confectioners. Your guide will stop at several shops and make you taste a selection of the best French specialties along the way. The tour will be tailored accordingly to your tastes and special dietary restrictions to either include more sweet or salty food.
Duration: 1,5 hours. Included: Licensed guide, 3 tastings
Overnight stay and breakfast in a beautiful 4-Star hotel in Saint Germain des Prés district
Included: transport, train ticket, driver, Licensed guide, tasting, walking tour , room and breakfast.Day 5: Boat Cruise on the Seine River
The Seine is the epicentre of Paris, flanked by the emblematic monuments of the French capital, making it a real essence of the city. The modern river boat “bateau Parisien”, with accessible terraces and outdoor walkways, will take you on a smooth boat ride along the river. Enjoy the beautiful panorama on this one-hour cruise and learn about the city’s secrets and fascinating history. An audio guide available in 14 languages will keep you entertained. Glide past the Notre Dame cathedral and under the famous Pont Neuf. Keep your eyes peeled for some of the most iconic landmarks in Paris: Louvre Museum, Tuileries Garden, Orsay Museum, Grand Palais, Trocadero, Conciergerie and many more.
Departure and docking: Eiffel Tower pier #3
Duration: 1 hourEiffel Tower Tour with 3rd Floor Summit access
Skip-the-line and visit the very top of the most famous monument in the world – the Eiffel Tower! Save time by going directly to the 3rd floor via elevator with your queue cutter ticket. You will outfox the thousands of people waiting in line with priority access to the very top!
At 984 feet high, you will admire the unarguable best areal views that Paris has to offer and see the main monuments such as the Louvre Museum, the Invalides, and many more at an unparalleled perspective. However fantastic views are not the only thing you will see at the very top. The office of Mr. Eiffel himself is a room he had reserved at the top of the tower to welcome his visitors, of course. In several places there are illuminated panels with some pictures from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, sometimes even more recently. We see the engineers who designed the tower, Gustave Eiffel the contractor, the architect Sauvestre and Emile Nouguier, the designer. There is also a sign explaining how the inauguration of the tower took place, in 1889, and the opportunity to see up close the technical installations at the top of the tower. Finally, there is a champagne bar on the 3rd floor of the Eiffel Tower, which officiates a server offering two varieties of champagnes by Alain Ducasse: A white and a rosé. How many chances in your life will you get to sip champagne at the very top of the Eiffel? Not very many, but here is an opportunity now – best to take it!
Duration: about 2 hours
Transport not included. Included: Ticket for 2nd floor and access to the summit
Overnight stay and breakfast in a beautiful 4-Star hotel in Saint Germain des Prés district
Included: audio guide, cruise tour, entrance fees, room and breakfastDay 6: Private walking tour of Montmartre
The tour is organized around items of cultural, historic and artistic interest. You will discover Montmartre and Les Abbesses, their ephemeral art and the steps and mazes of narrow streets, not to mention the trail of the artists who have made this place famous. Located in the 18th arrondissement, at the top of Montmartre hill, the district of Les Abbesses has an iconic status in the Parisian imagination. Made famous by its painters such as Picasso and more recently by the film with Amélie Poulain, this district remains one of the liveliest in the capital.
Your guide will take you around “Le Lapin Agile”, the cabaret café that was the meeting place of writers and painters, and you will also explore the Place du Tertre that used to be the center of the old village of Montmartre. A quarter that is historically linked to the Commune de Paris, this excursion will also be an opportunity to revisit some of the insurgencies to which the Sacré Coeur was built as a memorial.
Duration: 1,5 hours. Included: licensed guide
Meeting point: In front of the carousel, metro “Abbesses” (line 12)
Option possible to extend to a 3-hour tour for a fee (instead of 1,5 hours)
Overnight stay and breakfast in a beautiful 4-Star hotel in Saint Germain des Prés district
Included: Licensed guide, walking tour, room and breakfastDay 7: Le Marais private guided tour
This excursion will take you through the Marais district, around its monuments, heritage, and fashionable addresses. Stroll along the streets of a lively place that has many facets. Located on Paris’s Right Bank between part of the 3rd and 4th arrondissements, Le Marais gets its name from an old swampy area occupied from the 12th century by religious orders. Although it has become a trendy quarter with many fashion boutiques, the Marais also has a very important historic core. It is also a district bursting with colorful gay culture, where restaurants, art galleries, and trendy bookshops are plentiful. From the elegant Place des Vosges to the Musee Carnavalet, your guide will give you a detailed explanation about the heritage of the sites that marked the 18th century and the French Revolution, while also showing you the Marais’ contemporary places of interest that give it its present reputation.
Duration: 1,5 hours. Included: licensed guide
Meeting point: In front of the newsstand, metro “Saint-Paul” (line 1)
Option possible to extend to 3-hour tour for a fee (instead of 1,5 hours)
Overnight stay and breakfast in a beautiful 4-Star hotel in Saint Germain des Prés district
Included: Licensed guide, walking tour, room and breakfastDay 8: Depart Paris
Pick Up of your Rental Car in Paris and it is at your disposal for the length of 4 days. Thus, you can move freely and comfortably. End of tour departure day return vehicle at airport.
Make your way from Paris to Honfleur (2H30. Suggestion: visit the Côte Fleurie. The coastal resorts east of Caen are often referred to as the ‘Normandy Riviera’ or the ‘Côte Fleurie’. A train line from Paris to Calvados opened in the nineteenth century, bringing the wealthy from Paris to the coast, where they built luxurious hotels and mansions. It is still this architecture that sets the character of the resorts today. The towns of Deauville and Trouville are the best-known resorts here and have numerous attractive examples of Belle Epoque architecture and famous beaches. In Deauville, you will also see the famous brightly colored parasols on the beach. Other resorts that are popular with summer visitors to Calvados include Cabourg and Houlgate. A visit to the coastal town of Honfleur is also highly recommended, with its harbor surrounded by historic buildings being one of the most attractive in France. Those fond of history will want to visit Dives-sur-Mer, the town from which William the Conqueror launched his fleet to conquer Britain.
Overnight stay and breakfast at a boutique hotel in the heart of Honfleur
Included: car insurance (CDW, TPC, LAF), car rental, room and breakfastDay 9: Normandy and WWII sites
Today a self-guided visit of Normandy’s WWII sites and landing beaches. After visiting the German Cemetery, Normandy’s largest with over 21,000 buried, head to Sainte-Mere-Eglise and The Airborne Museum, which has gathered an amazing collection of memorabilia, much of it donated by the veterans themselves. Discover Utah beach, which was the first beach to be stormed by the Allies. Due to the fact it was lightly defended, over 23,000 soldiers landed there but the division sustained fewer than 200 casualties. Next is Pointe du Hoc where The U.S. Army Ranger Assult Group successful scaled 30 metre cliffs to capture this German fortification. Visit the most known of the five D-Day beaches, Omaha Beach. The troops here sustained the highest casualties, and the beach became known as Omaha the Bloody.
Do not forget to stop at the thought-provoking Normandy American Cemetery. It is the final resting place of 9,387 Americans soldiers as well one hour from Hornfleur is the Canadian War Cemetery in Beny Sur Mer resting place of 2048 Canadian Soldiers.
Overnight stay and breakfast at a château-hotel near the town of Bayeux
Included: room and breakfastDay 10: Suggestion: visit Beuvron-en-Auge
Almost every house in the village is built in the gorgeous half-timbered style for which Normandy is famous; those that are not also very picturesque buildings. Houses in Beuvron-en-Auge typically date back to the 17th century. Have a close look at the manor house, classified as a historical monument, as the detail on the woodwork is superb, with faces and patterns carved into it. The village lies along one main street. Almost every pavement edge has been beautifully planted with a mass of rudbeckias, nicotianas, salvias and much more. Many of the houses are now shops selling local produce such as cider and Calvados, or cafes and restaurants and several antique shops and artist workshops. The village Church of Saint Marin is also built in the typical style of the region. Do not forget to stop in the village long enough to have a glass of Calvados, the famous local brandy made from apples, after enjoying a wander around the town. Beuvron-en-Auge is part of the Normandy cider route. It is a marked route that passes through several villages and by several cider producers in the region. Look out for signs marked ‘Route du Cidre’ with a picture of an apple.
Suggestion: visit Bayeux
The Bayeux Tapestry is, without doubt, the most famous tapestry in the world and an unmissable site when you are in this part of Normandy. The tapestry depicts the conquest of England by the Normans, led by William the Conqueror, in the 1077 Battle of Hastings. An extraordinary feat, the tapestry is about 80 meters long and 50 centimeters high and is a fascinating document that provides a great deal of valuable information about life at that time.
Bayeux itself is an attractive town with a well-preserved medieval center surrounding its renowned cathedral. Notre Dame dates in part from 1077, although most of what we see today is in gothic style was built in the 13th to 15th centuries. Many other historic buildings of interest the medieval streets and houses around the cathedral, some half-timbered.
Bayeux is a popular base for exploring the beaches where the allied forces landed in 1944 at the beginning of the reconquest of Europe. The Memorial Museum of the Battle of Normandy recounts the action seen in Normandy from 7 June to 29 August 1944. Nearby, Bayeux also houses the British war cemetery in Normandy. The cemetery is very moving and immaculately kept. A lovely mix of perennials and red roses decorates each of the graves.
Dinner at the hotel’s restaurant is included tonight (4 course-meal – drinks not included)
Overnight stay and breakfast at a château-hotel near the town of Bayeux
Included: room and breakfast, dinnerDay 11: Departure
Your journey with us has come to an end. Make your way to CDG airport (4H) and drop your rental car off. ***end of services***
Included
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Vehicle Rental Details - click for more
Car Rental Type:
Renault Megane or similar,
Automatic – 5 doors (accommodating up to 5 pax and 3 pieces of luggage)Includes:
Airport charge
Insurances (CDW, THF), LAF,
Unlimited milageNot included : One Way Drop Off
The charges for optional accessory are to be paid on-site: Additional driver, young driver extra charge – 25 years, GPS
Not Included
Hotels or Similar
As a general rule the scheduled hotel for each departure will be one of the above listed. The final list of the hotels will available 15 days prior to departure.
2021 Dates & Rates - Friday & Saturdays
| Starting From Per Person Double |
|---|
| $7,860 |
The CAD ($) rate is indicative of Euro price and subject to change.
Price per person in CAD $ Dollars.