Joie de Vivre Tour - Paris, Nice, and Avignon 14 - 22 June' 2024

15 – 22 June 2024

Paris, Nice and Avignon

Paris, the French capital, is renowned for its historical sights and monumental beauty. Superb Haussmann style townhouses, grand avenues and boulevards, legendary museums, churches, and parks offer endless opportunities for excursions and visits. While in Paris, you may want to stroll through the city’s chic boutiques, catch a performance at one of its famed operas or cabaret
shows, enjoy a nice meal in one of the many gourmet restaurants – and, last but not least, wander about the lively side streets, and picturesque narrow alleys reflecting the authentic Parisian ambiance and art de vivre. We suggest/recommend you arriving in Paris a few days before our tour starts.. speak to us for hotel options and assistance with securing

In Paris, the city of love and light, you will be spoilt for choice! We can recommend Royal Garden Champs Elysées (or similar) for your PRE TOUR accommodation – it is just a 7-minute walk from Avenue Champs Elysées and the Arc de Triomphe. It is ideally located for exploring Paris and features private parking on site. WiFi is provided throughout the property.

Eu235pp twin share / Eu 203 single.

Day one – Saturday Tour starts on 15 June’ 2024 in Paris…

Montorgueil Private Gourmet Tour
You will start on Rue Montorgueil to follow an itinerary punctuated with culinary discoveries and secret and little-known Parisian places. You will start with a famous cheese maker along
this street who will offer you a small tasting of different cheeses so appreciated by the French. You will then discover the ancestor of department stores and the places associated with the
shops before the Haussmannian revolution. You will then discover the oldest bakery in Paris and one of the most famous, it is even said that the Queen of England made a tasting there. It
will be the occasion to make you discover its products.

Visit on your own the Paris Perfume museum – we will then do a Private guided walking tour tracing the history of Haute-Courture on the famous Avenue Montaigne

Welcome dinner in a restaurant near Arc de Triomphe (included)
Menu 3-course meals
Choice between 4 starters, 4 main dishes, and 3 desserts
1 bottle of wine for 3 persons and coffee
14 minutes by walk from your hotel
Overnight stay and breakfast in a 4-Star hotel near the Champs Elysées

Royal Garden Champs Elysées (or similar)..is just a 7-minute walk from Avenue Champs Elysées and the Arc de Triomphe. It is ideally located for exploring Paris and features private parking on site. WiFi is provided throughout the property.

Day two – Sunday 16 June’ 2024- train to Nice

A private driver will pick you up from the hotel and drive you safely to the railway station in a premium vehicle. Direct TGV Train from Paris Gare de Lyon to Nice Ville in First Class
Duration: approximately six hours

A chauffeur will meet you for a private transfer between the Nice city and your hotel in a premium vehicle. Dinner included locally in Nice tonight.Check into Hotel Apollinaire (ex-Ellington) (or similar) for three nights.

This elegant 4-star hotel is located in the heart of Nice on the famous boulevard Dubouchage. It is next to the shopping district and less than a ten-minute walk from the old town and the beaches.

Day three – Monday 17 June’ 2024 Nice

Morning Cours Saleya Market Tour and Cooking Class with Lunch in Nice This tour will give you a hands-on introduction to Nice’s cuisine and culture. The day begins at 9.30 am at the famous Cours Saleya market, while there is still a fresh morning breeze. The narrow maze of centuries-old streets that is the Vieux Nice opens up onto this splendid space lined with bars, cafés, and fish restaurants on either side and market stalls down the center. You will get to shop like a true Niçois, sample locally-grown produce and meet the farmers. You will sit down to an authentic Niçois meal and toast your efforts with a glass of local wine.

Private guided tour of Nice with a licensed guide
The elegant city of Nice is set against an impressive backdrop of soaring hills and the famous
blue waters of the French Riviera. The “Place Rossetti” is at the city’s heart, surrounded by
brightly colored buildings, the cathedral, and a large fountain lending the square a unique
flavor. Nice is a city for all seasons.

Hotel Apollinaire

Day four – Tuesday 18 June’ 2024 – Nice
Private Perfume workshop – Enjoy the living patrimony by creating your own customized vial of perfume from one hundred essences present in the boutique.You will first attend the workshop provided by an expert perfumer and subsequently with his help make one for your own and take it home.

Visit the Perfume museum of Grasse / and enjoy a private visit at Domaine du Mas de l’Olivine

Two lovers of the land and its scents, Audrey (from a family of pickers going back 4 generations) and Thierry BORTOLINI (a gardener who has worked in some of the finest private gardens in the Mediterranean), open the doors of their 18th-century family estate, where they grow fragrant plants: Mas de l’Olivine in Peymeinade.

Guided tour: during an olfactory and gustatory stroll, come and discover the cultivation of flowers from the Pays de Grasse on our family estate.

The flowers are grown and processed on site into confectionery (tasting at the end of the tour)

Hotel Apollinaire (or similar)

Day 5: Wednesday 19-Jun-2024, Grasse – Saint Paul de Vence – Nice

Private Transfer in Nice

A chauffeur will meet you for a private transfer between the Nice city and Nice train station in a premium vehicle.

Note: For transfers, a maximum of 1 checked bag and 1 carry-on bag per person is included. If you have more luggage, please let us know so we can provide you with the appropriate vehicle.

Private transfer: Avignon TGV train Station to the Alpilles region

A chauffeur will meet you for a private transfer between the Avignon TGV train station and the Alpilles region. He will be at your disposal for 4 hours.

Your driver will meet you in front of the “L’Occitane” shop, located inside the station, at the north gate

Note: For transfers, a maximum of 1 checked bag and 1 carry-on bag per person is included. If you have more luggage, please let us know so we can provide you with the appropriate vehicle.

Wine Tasting of best great growths of Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Every wine tasting is a very personal and privileged moment, where time is taken, to taste, to learn, to share, to exchange. During one hour, you will taste a selection of 4 to 5 wines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Guy and David will not hesitate to share with you all their fabulous knowledge, in order to have you understand better all the subtleties of the tasting.

Duration: about 1 hour

Note: Few steep steps to access the tasting room

Check into this 4-star Hotel de l’Horloge (or similar) perfectly located in the center city’s Place de l’Horloge and close to the Pont d’Avignon. It’s a charming base for exploring Avignon’s art and culture.
Three nights here as well, so we can unpack and get comfy.

Day 6:Thursday 20-Jun-2024, Avignon – Gordes – Avignon

Entry to the Notre-Dame de Sénanque Visit one of Provence’s emblematic sites, the 12th-century Cistercian Abbaye de Sénanque. Your visit includes a HistoPad, a tablet that lets you turn back time with augmented reality and experience the site as it once was.
The abbey, deep in its Provençal valley, is one of the finest examples of early Cistercian architecture. Today the site is still home to a community of practicing monks. Seven times per day, the community gathers together in the abbey church to pray.
During the visit, you can admire the abbey church, the ancient dormitory, the cloister, the warming room, and the chapter house, built in the 12th and 13th centuries.
The abbey is particularly stunning when it is surrounded by blooming lavender fields in June and July. Hotel de l’Horloge

Visit Gordes
Gordes is listed as one of the “Plus Beaux Villages de France” (Most Beautiful Villages of France). This lovely little hilltop village looks like the scene of a postcard or painting. In fact,
artists Victor Vasarély and Marc Chagall found inspiration for their paintings here. An ancient “village perché” (perched village), Gordes has a dramatic setting. The village stands on a
steep slope descending from the Plateau de Vaucluse to the Coulon Valley. The perched location provided protection from invasions during the Middle Ages.

Private tour of the cellars of the Saint Firmin Palace
This man-made semi-troglodyte site is a marvelous creation that still retains its medieval history. Dug into the rock, under the houses, following the slope of the village, discover the
underground life under the city of Gordes. This cellar has 3 levels, which were used for crafts in ancient times. Due to the lack of surface on the ground and where the houses were
crammed together, this underground cellar was established, which is no less than a small city in itself. Olive oil mills, silos, and vats are some of the many things this cellar has to offer.
Visit Roussillon and the ochre trail
Roussillon blends into the surrounding cliffs. As you walk through the narrow streets and enjoy the small squares, you see and feel the color that is an inherent part of its history. It all goes back to the sea which once covered the area. When the sea dried up several million years ago, pouring rain slowly transformed the accumulated layers of limestone into ochre- bearing sands.

Day 7 – Friday 22 June 2024, Avignon – Gordes – Avignon
Visit Les Baux-de-Provence
Clinging to an ancient limestone, Les Baux-de-Provence is a typical Provencal fortified hilltop village situated in the Regional Natural Park of the Alpilles. It was mainly built between the
15th-16th centuries and is listed among the “most beautiful villages of France.” Nestled in the Alpilles mountains, it offers great views of the plains, the Mediterranean Sea and
the stunning rocky landscape of the Alpilles.
The Carrières de Lumières are an ancient quarry now used for regular exhibitions with artworks projected against the quarry walls – a real spectacle of light and sound! The theme of
the spectacle changes every year. Hotel de l’Horloge

Private Visit of an Olive Mill with Olive Oil Tasting
It is in the mill located at the foot of the Château des Baux that Catherine and Jean-Benoît combine savoir-faire, passion, rigor, and technique. Learn all about the olive trees and the
fabulous oils they produce each year. The visit of the olive mill will be followed by a tasting of some of the house’s production.

Farewell dinner at the hotel

Day 8 – Saturday 22 June, 2024 – Avigon – Paris

Private transfer: Alpilles region to Avignon TGV train Station

A chauffeur will meet you for a private transfer between the Alpilles region and the Avignon TGV train station.

Note: For transfers, a maximum of 1 checked bag and 1 carry-on bag per person is included. If you have more luggage, please let us know so we can provide you with the appropriate vehicle.

High-speed Train from Avignon TGV to Paris Gare de Lyon in First Class