La Belle France 2023

Customer Reviews

• PR

  Philip

  · September 30th, 2024
  Overall it was an excellent tour. The brochure accurately reflected the actual itinerary. Charlie was an excellent, knowledgeable guide who went out of his way to make sure we all got want we wanted out of the trip. Our driver Alex managed to negotiate some pretty tight back roads getting is to spots we couldn't have reached in a large coach. The coach itself was a little tight as far as leg room goes, and also in space for hand luggage, which was a problem for many of us. In general the hotels were good - all well situated and interesting in themselves. Some required using stairs, though Charlie carried luggage up and down to our rooms so that was not a major problem, except for our pre-tour stay in the Paris hotel, where we were allocated a 5 th floor room, with the lift only reaching the 4 th.
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  Trip date: September 2024
• J

  Julie

  · August 3rd, 2024
  I do NOT recommend this company. The "english-speaking guide" to take us around France was an Englishman was little knowledge or interest of France and, from his disparaging comments, little liking of french people. For the first few days the guide, Ed, spoke more about England than France, until comments were made. A shame as the itinerary of 'La Belle France' looked great but the delivery was very very poor. With an eastern european driver and an Englishman who didn't seem like to like France or French people there was no depth of information about French history, culture, or current lifestyle. Some information delivered by the guide was just plain incorrect (Napoleon from Sicily !). Despite the company's name there were long stretches on highways, sometimes for an hour+ in silence as the guide didn't chat or talk about what we were passing. Really unenjoyable. The leg space in the bus was cramped in all seats except for the front two seats. The taller people stuck their legs out the aisles to get more space. Some people got leg cramps on occasion. Stops at some highlights on the itinerary were short - a 'tick box' approach. For most places the guide left us at the front desk with an audio guide. There was no extra information or discussion about what we'd seen from the guide. I found myself eaves-dropping on other personally-guided tours to hear extra information about what we were seeing. Backroads Touring was a long way below the standard of other tour companies I been on. Do look elsewhere to make sure your trip to France is enjoyable and informative.
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  Trip date: June 2024