France Tours & Trips

Top operators in France

• Europamundo

  
  4.0 (4,519 France reviews)

  "There are many things that we loved about this tour, many things people complained about on our tour that weren’t necessarily problems and many things that were sorely lacking in the program that we'd love to see improved for future tours: Things we loved: 1. They had some of the most incredible gems to stop at in between the larger cities. Caceres and Zaragoza are amazing and every stop provided a new experience with so many beautiful sights 2. Balance between "group" and "individual" - I loved that we were supported by the guides or group members for part of the day and then parts of the day were left to us individually so it still felt like our own trip and I wasn't dragged around to restaurants I didn't want to eat in or sights I wasn't interested in 3. Ignacio- I had to add this as a specific love because the guide in the Barcelona- Zurich leg was amazing. He was so confidant and calm in his leadership, was always warm and went the extra mile to help travelers. Things we heard travelers complain about but weren't a "problem" per se 1. Changing guides/tour divided into legs - if you are looking for the standard actor guide who entertains you with a dramatic flair, a tour group that sticks together all day for everything and a "family" that you grow close to over the two weeks, this isn't for you. The guides are not actors and they vary in quality. They are all native Spanish speakers, and their English fluency varies (tour group from Spain- you should expect this). Some were only okay in English and because I know Spanish, I could tell they were giving information in Spanish that they weren’t giving in English. 2.The pacing- is described in the itinerary including how long you spend in the cities (never more, can be less) and how many kms you travel each day. It isn't a leisurely pace and if you go into it expecting that, you are only deceiving yourself. 3. Free time - you are paying for the bus, guides and hotels. That's mostly it and the price reflects this. The itinerary clearly indicates what you pay for and when your free time is. You don't get a ton of tickets to things or personal tours of certain tourist areas. You get a very general, two hour bus tour of the bigger cities. Excursions and entrance into tourist attractions are extra in the optional excursions or for you to arrange on your own. I'll explain how this gets complicated in my next list. 4. Hotels- if you’re a budget traveler, these are the hotels you know well and you should expect this. They’re the Super 8 or sometimes even the Holiday Inn level. Most of them are fine - clean, have everything you need. Not fancy. Things we didn’t like about the tour 1. The crowds/group tours- Europamundo puts 100s of travelers on most legs of this trip. They get away with this because the tour you’re specifically travelling on says they only have a max of 75, but there are several different tours going on at the same time, in the same city from Europamundo. You get mixed with them on buses, in the hotels and at the tourist areas. We “fought for our resources” the whole way through this trip- fighting crowds for breakfast, spots on the elevator for luggage, seats on buses, spots in queues to get to the bathrooms or food. 100s of people let off in the same rest areas, same central squares, staying in the same hotels or going on the same tour was what made this tour much less enjoyable for us. It is this reason alone that we would probably never do a bus tour again. This has nothing to do with the high tourist season either. This wasn’t the busy season and guides said that. The problem is that too many tour groups stuff way too many people into the same small spaces at the exact same time and expect them to just deal with it. 2. Chaotic daily schedule – I said earlier that they did a good job of demonstrating the overall pacing in the itinerary and that is true. It was the minor details that they tended not include and wouldn’t even reveal until the last possible moment that can cause stress. If I don’t know when or where we’re being dropped off or picked up, I can’t book tickets or plan anything for myself for the 8 hours I have free in Lisbon, for example. If I do book my own excursion somewhere, I risk my booking being far out of the way, missing the transfer to my hotel or missing my booked activity because we didn’t get dropped off in time. We wanted to book restaurants but we couldn’t in the last two legs because they were much more chaotic than the first. We had a hard time trying to work around them and spent more time just sticking near a meeting spot to kill time because it was to busy and crowded to try to get in anywhere last minute. If we could’ve booked things ahead or known more information, we could’ve planned better

  Average - by David M.

  Tours

  75 France tours

  Age range

  3 to 85 years old

  Adventure type

  In-depth Cultural

  Response time

  6h

  Response rate

  68%

  Average price

  $197

  Europamundo is an expert in:

  • In-depth Cultural
  • Explorer
  • Active
• Costsaver

  
  4.5 (965 France reviews)

  "Tour guide, Steve and driver Eduardo were fantastic. Would 200% recommend them

  Excellent - by Kathryn L.

  Tours

  1 France tours

  Age range

  5 to 80 years old

  Adventure type

  In-depth Cultural

  Response time

  7h

  Response rate

  92%

  Average price

  $271

  Costsaver is an expert in:

  • In-depth Cultural
  • Explorer
  • Sailing
• G Adventures

  
  5.0 (22,660 France reviews)

  "Our guide was amazing. The foods was very good. The views were spectacular The hike was more challenging than I expected but I was able to adjust. It would be nice if there were daily elevation gain and loss on the itinerary. Sleeping with a group of six or more strangers was a challenge. There were people in my room that were very ill. I started feeling ill my last day. I came home and was very sick for days after the trip.

  Good - by AnnMaria R.

  Tours

  2 France tours

  Age range

  12 to 90 years old

  Adventure type

  Explorer

  Response time

  2h

  Response rate

  96%

  Average price

  $395

  G Adventures is an expert in:

  • Explorer
  • In-depth Cultural
  • Hiking & Trekking