Personalized trips to France
for independent travelers

Hotel Apollinaire in Nice was very nice. Staff was helpful. Breakfast was included and was impressive. Hans and Susan and the kids had adjoining rooms. There was some breakfast confusion on the first morning, but we texted KimKim and things were straightened out right away. Hotel approx. 5 stars

Hotel Citadines Trocadero: good location*, good rooms for family group, reasonable kitchen, rather odd bathroom with tiny shower. Toilet in separate room and bathtub were okay. The staff were minimally helpful. There is a large, locked closet in the lobby to hold luggage. A self-serve laundry is onsite. The laundry app works well until you have problems or questions; then, nobody can help you. The dryer didn’t dry very well. We did not have breakfast there. It seemed to be a continental breakfast.

crowded

Antibes and Cannes. (It was interesting having a tour to these cities because we had gone past them on the train.) We met our driver / guide in the same place, along with two Russian women. Sebastian (Seb) was our guide again. It was very hot and we spent more time in the van with commentary than walking about, which worked well. We enjoyed this tour more than the previous one. 5 stars for Seb

We walked to meet our driver / guide Sebastian for a Monaco, Monte Carlo, Eze morning excursion. (Not sure why it is advertised this way, since you go to Eze first, then Monaco and Monte Carlo.) Seb was surprised that he had more people booked for the van than usual, but it was summer high season. He told us about history of the area and current celebrities who lived there. We had stops to see the views. It was very hot that day and the many steps in old Eze were a bit much. We arrived in Monaco in time for the changing of the guard, which is very hard to see when there is a crowd. Our family left the group at this point, since the children couldn’t go inside the casino, and we were interested in seeing the Oceanographic Museum. Unfortunately, the museum was very hot and crowded. However, Elizabeth wants to be a scientist and created her own project of taking photos and viewing the exhibits. Tour: 4 stars, museum: 3 stars Since we didn’t continue with the tour, we had to make our own way back to Nice. I had a Rick Steeves map and pocket guide which were somewhat helpful. The bus to the train station is no longer free and it was a rather long, uncomfortable ride. We managed to figure out the train and get through the crowds and back to Nice.

Disneyland Paris. Susan had planned this in great detail and KimKim helped with appropriate tickets, transportation, etc. This was a 5-star family experience.

Private Louvre Visit geared to a family with children. Our guide, Sara, knew the museum well, had a scavenger hunt-focused booklet for the kids to use, and did a great job with the whole family. The kids were very engaged in this activity. 5+ stars for Sara.

We went to Notre Dame early and did a self-guided tour before meeting our guide, Ed. He told us history of the cathedral and the area, showed us the Ile de la Cite, Latin Quarter, the Seine, Sainte-Chapelle. 5 stars

The final activity for the day was an Eiffel Tower summit at sunset. Our hotel wasn’t far from the tower and we walked. It took a little effort to find the meeting point. The guide for this event was more of a shepherd. He made sure everyone got tickets, got in line, knew about the security check, understood how and where to go in the tower. Everything went very well, despite some misgivings about being “way up in the air.” The views were spectacular. A 5- star experience.

Our guide was Arina (originally from Brazil). She had a good mix of places for us to visit and things to taste. We enjoyed this part of the tour very much and give Arina 5 stars.

Versailles, half-day tour of palace and gardens. We enjoyed seeing the palace and would have liked time to actually see the gardens. This was the part of the trip we enjoyed least. The heatwave didn’t help matters. Versailles is some distance from town. We tried hard to figure out walking, Metro, bus, etc. The only simple way to get there and to get back for an afternoon activity is by Uber. The process for sorting out groups of tourists and guides is rather disorganized. This was the first time we ever used the headphones / earbuds and device to hear the tour guide. It seems to be the most reasonable way of having multiple guides and groups of people to communicate with. However, we weren’t very happy with our guide (Leonor) or the tour. We arrived on time for a tour time which was an hour later. It was rather hard to stay with the group with so many other people there. We didn’t find the commentary very informative. After several hours, we were shown the gardens outside (through a window) and told that we had tickets to the gardens but that part of the tour was on our own. In retrospect, we think this should actually be marketed as a day-long tour with a guide in the morning and on your own in the afternoon, with the expectation of eating at the palace. There is a nice restaurant which was very crowded, a café with good food but very little seating space, and a small snack shop we noticed on our way out. Also, bathrooms are very hard to find once you are outside. Versailles 4 stars, guide maybe 3.

Hotel Apollinaire in Nice was very nice. Staff was helpful. Breakfast was included and was impressive. Hans and Susan and the kids had adjoining rooms. There was some breakfast confusion on the first morning, but we texted KimKim and things were straightened out right away.

The afternoon was a Private Louvre Visit geared to a family with children. Our guide, Sara, knew the museum well, had a scavenger hunt focused booklet for the kids to use, and did a great job with the whole family. The kids were very engaged in this activity. 5+ stars for Sara.

Versailles, half-day tour of the palace and gardens. We enjoyed seeing the palace and would have liked time to actually see the gardens. This was the part of the trip we enjoyed least. The heatwave didn’t help matters. Versailles is some distance from town. We tried hard to figure out walking, the Metro, the bus, etc. The only simple way to get there and to get back for an afternoon activity is by Uber. The process for sorting out groups of tourists and guides is rather disorganized. This was the first time we ever used the headphones / earbuds and device to hear the tour guide. It seems to be the most reasonable way of having multiple guides and groups of people to communicate with. However, we weren’t very happy with our guide (Leonor) or the tour. We arrived on time for a tour time which was an hour later. It was rather hard to stay with the group with so many other people there. We didn’t find the commentary very informative. After several hours, we were shown the gardens outside (through a window) and told that we had tickets to the gardens but that part of the tour was on our own. In retrospect, we think this should actually be marketed as a day-long tour with a guide in the morning and on your own in the afternoon, with the expectation of eating at the palace. There is a nice restaurant which was very crowded, a café with good food but very little seating space, and a small snack shop we noticed on our way out. Also, bathrooms are very hard to find once you are outside. Versailles 4 stars, guide maybe 3.

Our guide was Arina (originally from Brazil). She had a good mix of places for us to visit and things to taste. We enjoyed this part of the tour very much and give Arina 5 stars.

We went to Notre Dame early and did a self-guided tour before meeting our guide, Ed. He told us history of the cathedral and the area, showed us the Ile de la Cite, Latin Quarter, the Seine, Sainte-Chapelle. 5 stars

In the afternoon, we had a tour to Antibes and Cannes. (It was interesting having a tour to these cities because we had gone past them on the train.) We met our driver / guide in the same place, along with two Russian women. Sebastian (Seb) was our guide again. It was very hot and we spent more time in the van with commentary than walking about, which worked well. We enjoyed this tour more than the previous one. 5 stars for Seb

We walked to meet our driver / guide Sebastian for a Monaco, Monte Carlo, Eze morning excursion. (Not sure why it is advertised this way, since you go to Eze first, then Monaco and Monte Carlo.) Seb was surprised that he had more people booked for the van than usual, but it was summer high season. He told us about history of the area and current celebrities who lived there. We had stops to see the views. It was very hot that day and the many steps in old Eze were a bit much. We arrived in Monaco in time for the changing of the guard, which is very hard to see when there is a crowd. Our family left the group at this point, since the children couldn’t go inside the casino, and we were interested in seeing the Oceanographic Museum. Unfortunately, the museum was very hot and crowded. However, Elizabeth wants to be a scientist and created her own project of taking photos and viewing the exhibits.

Disneyland Paris. Susan had planned this in great detail, and KimKim helped with appropriate tickets, transportation, etc. This was a 5-star family experience.

The final activity for the day was an Eiffel Tower summit at sunset. Our hotel wasn’t far from the tower, and we walked. It took a little effort to find the meeting point. The guide for this event was more of a shepherd. He made sure everyone got tickets, got in line, knew about the security check, and understood how and where to go in the tower. Everything went very well, despite some misgivings about being “way up in the air.” The views were spectacular. A 5- star experience.