France Travel Agents

We were a group of three who had little time to plan our trip to France to meet a group of friends to attend a wedding in Arles. We started in Paris and ended in Marseille by way of Arles and Avignon.

Emilie was our planner and she was very patient and. made great suggestions to include things we’d not considered. We went through several iterations of the plan and she was amazingly gracious and kind when we waffled, changed our minds or weren’t sure. Many thanks to Emilie!

There were many things we LOVED about the trip. The hotel in Paris (Bastille Speria) was well appointed with all of things that , are pet peeves when I travel (if unavailable) - enough hangers, hooks in the bath, ample products, tasteful decor, wonderful lighting
And a delicious breakfast. And the coffee machine…tres bien! The tips on the bus and metro were helpful and having the vouchers and the itinerary in the app made things easy. Emergency numbers also came in handy a couple of times - no scrambling! The Hotel Medeval in Avignon was notable for a great location and VERY friendly and fun staff that made us feel right at home. The rooms were lovely and the rest of the hotel is in the middle of and update and it is a place to put on your list for a next trip. In the basement, there is a passageway that leads to the Palace of the Popes and this will become a subterranean bar in the next year of so. We went on 7 tours during the two weeks and had some great guides. We had Remy for three tours and he was very knowledgeable and had a great personality; Sonja was so fun and full of historic details in Monmart and Valerie was wonderful in Marseilles on a gourmet food tour. Konstantine, our driver for the last two days, was SO thoughtful, funny and all around nice. He got us settled and bagage checked at the airport. He went above and beyond expectations. Thank you Emile for curating a wonderful trip!

Hotel Reviews

Hôtel LIFE Marseille Vieux-Port

Marseille

Once in the reception area, this hotel is OK. BUT, there are 39 steps to get to reception. There is an elevator once you arrive in reception. Staff did help with luggage; but I wouldn’t stay here again just because of the steps.

Authenticity & Character

The hotel is not well marked and easy to miss at night.

Location

It’s right on the harbor. Lots to see and is near restaurants and the train that will take you around the city

Staff

Staff were kind and helpful but not as personable as at some of the other hotels we stayed in.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Common areas and the rooms were clean and comfortable.

Hotel le Medieval

Avignon

Rooms were nicely appointed and clean. The hotel is under the process of renovation and will be closed around Christmas to complete stairwell, lobby and breakfast area. Currently it could benefit from more decor in some areas; but this is coming. It is family owned and lacks that corporate cookie cutter feel.

Authenticity & Character

As noted above the place is being renovated in the common areas. The rooms have been renovated and the rest is somewhat plain; but there is a lovely plan for the renovation.

Location

Right around the corner from the Palace of the Popes, market, restaurants, etc.

Staff

Incredibly friendly - reception and breakfast staff knew our names and greeted us every day. We had lots o laughs and they were helpful in directing us to things we needed in town.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Bedrooms were very clean and comfy.

Hôtel Bastille Spéria

Paris

Great location, nice decor, well appointed rooms, lovely breakfast and convenient to Metro, bus and anything you need. The neighborhood felt like the residential part of the French Quarter in New Orleans. My favorite hotel of the trip.

Authenticity & Character

Nice decor and attention to detail

Location

Close to transit and part of a real neighborhood rather than commercial, touristy area.

Staff

Friendly and helpful

Cleanliness & Comfort

Everything

Activity Reviews

Afternoon Saint-Rémy, Les Baux & Pont du Gard Experience

Avignon

Remy was our wonderful guide and we learned so much!

Quality of Experience

Wish we had more time.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

We loved Remy, our guide.

Transport

Van was comfortable.

Private Montmartre Tour | From Le Moulin Rouge to Sacré-Cœur

Paris

Sonja was a wonderful guide and we enjoyed her so much!

Quality of Experience

Entrance Tickets: Sainte-Chapelle & Conciergerie

Paris

We were blown away by St Chappelle. Loved it.

Quality of Experience

Welcome to Paris

Paris

It rained cats and dogs the afternoon we were there. We were late to the tour, but notified the tour guide and they came back to find us and give us our tickets.

Quality of Experience

We got drenched and it was cold.

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The guides went the extra mile to find us even though we were late. Very nice!

We are a family of 6 people from the US doing a family vacation - parents and 2 sons and their wives, so all adults. Most of us had been to Paris before but not to Bordeaux and Sarlat so it was great to see some new areas. We traveled between cities by train and we had private tours of sites around Bordeaux and Sarlat. First of all, I would highly recommend Audrey and Beau Voyage for anyone going to France. The itinerary was perfect, with a nice mix of activities that everyone could enjoy. The accommodations everywhere were excellent. We especially enjoyed Le Temps Retrouve in Sarlat. Frederic was so welcoming, kind and helpful and his house was perfect for us. He made our stay so special. It was just a short walk to the city center for dinners and exploring and we did have some excellent meals there! We also liked La Maisson Bor’deaux and L’Empire Paris. Both were very well located, clean and comfortable, and the staff were very helpful and pleasant. The trains worked out very well for our transportation and it was relaxing to travel that way. The train from Bordeaux to Sarlat was very busy but that was part of the adventure! Our tours were excellent. In Bordeaux, we enjoyed spending time with Gabriel. On our wine touring day around Saint Emilion, we visited 2 chateaus plus did a walking tour of Saint Emilion and another tasting there. We especially liked our tour of Chateau Fonroque. Very interesting and different from other wineries we have visited in the US. The tour to Arcachon was also very good. We all climbed the sand dune and enjoyed a glass of wine at the top. Then we took a boat tour with a lunch spread onboard that was incredible. We had enough time after the tour to get a coffee at a local cafe before continuing back to Bordeaux to catch the train to Sarlat. We did a cooking class with Bruno at O’Plaisar des Sens Restaurant in La Roque-Gegeac and it was excellent, complete with a visit to the market for shopping for fish and produce, and truffle hunting with Bruno and his dog. Such a unique and interesting experience! Very fun. Clara was very good for our 2 days of touring in Sarlat, although she seemed to be more a driver than a guide. The weather forecast for one of the days was for rain, so she was able to switch some things around so we did a little more on the first day and a little less on the rainy day. We did a boat ride in La Roque-Gageac and walking tour of the town. Then we went to Mirandes Castle, saw the bird show, and did the self-guided tour of the castle. On the rainy day, we visited Chateau Beynac and Chateau Castelnaud. We had a guided tour at Castelnaud which was good. Because of the rain, we did not get to Domme or the Gardens of Marqueyssac, but that was ok. We did appreciate the flexibility with Clara being able to change things around. It might have been nice to have a little more commentary from her as we drove around, but she was very pleasant and accommodating, so not a huge problem. We did enjoy having some free time in Sarlat as we went to the market and bought things to have a picnic lunch and we also had time to relax by the pool. In Paris, we did a boat tour on the Seine which is always a nice way to see the city. We all went to Notre Dame which is very crowded these days with so many people wanting to see the renovations. It is spectacular. I recommend getting advance reservations for this. It’s free on the official Notre Dame website. The walk-up line on a Saturday morning was huge and although I have no idea how long people were waiting, it was nice that we could just walk right in. Even though it takes a bit of planning and was slightly inconvenient to book in advance, it was well worth it in my opinion. In general, for a group our size (6), I was glad that we had made all of our dining reservations in advance. We had contacted some of the restaurants directly, and in Sarlat, Frederic was kind enough to make recommendations and advance reservations for us. Given that most of the restaurants were quite small, I think it would have been difficult to turn up without reservations. I don’t know if Kimkim makes dining reservations but we had good success by contacting restaurants directly or by emailing the hotels and asking for their assistance. I didn’t love everything about the Kimkim app. It was convenient to have all of our tickets and vouchers in one place so that part is nice. Having the itinerary on the app is nice too, although we did some customized things on our tours and the app didn’t seem to be able to keep up with that. For the most part it was correct, but for example, the tour description of Arcachon Bay was nothing like what we actually did. So there were a few little glitches like that. The other thing that I didn’t love was the “Trip Chat”. It was fine to communicate with Audrey this way; however, once I invited my family members to view the trip, they all became part of the trip chat. Since I was planning the trip with Audrey, it didn’t seem necessary to include everyone in every communication, as it often meant everyone’s phone dinging in the middle of the night due to the time difference with France. Maybe it would be good to have the option of including others in the chat part of the app. Overall, this is a minor complaint. Our trip to France was fantastic and I don’t think there was anything about the itinerary we would change. I would not hesitate to use kimkim again for booking a trip. I really liked being connected to a local tour operator who is so knowledgeable about the area and could help us put together a wonderful itinerary that we all enjoyed. Thank you for everything!

I was able to curate our trip with Audrey and her colleague based on my preferences and also to accommodate my husband whose back issues worsened as we were planning the trip. We are not experienced travelers and our travel styles and expectations differ but Audrey managed to please us both! We loved our first hotel on the left bank, Jardin de Cluny. Other favorite parts of Paris: our food tour with Laur. We were continually challenged finding our way on the metro and on foot so we were late meeting up with Laur though we kept in contact with her. Our host at the hotel was a big help in pointing us un the right direction, even so, we took the train the wrong way! Laur’s tour of history, and out of the way food specialists was wonderful. Our tour of Notre Dame was also so well done by our guide, Solana. Her history and architectural tour was done outside the church because she couldn’t speak inside, I think because of the feast of the assumption. Then she accompanied us inside and wordlessly pointed out things she had mentioned outside.It rained on both of these tours but we managed to be inside for the downpours, what luck! Our other private guide was supposed to be for the louvre but it was delayed in opening so Kim Kim and our guide pivoted seamlessly! I was asked where I’d like to go instead and I chose musee d’orsay. Our guide (I wish I could remember her name) knew so much without having been prepared! It was a true treat to have a guide for an art museum! Our other tour in Paris was not my favorite. First we saw the Eiffel Tower, a must see and so impressive. After, we went on a boat ride on the Seine. It was too long, we didn’t feel welcomed, and there was no narration by the staff. I had to find out for myself that we could download a tour with a QR code on our phone, no one told us. The problem with that is that their speakers played music the whole time, and trying to listen to the narrated tour with music playing was bad enough, but when the app wasn’t speaking it played its own music- what cacophony! Later I found out that my phone battery was continually running low because the tour was running in my background, until I got wise to it and deleted it. I would not recommend this company at all! On top of that, we didn’t know how to retrace our steps to the metro and by the time we did, after 10:30pm, the metro trains were only running every hour so we had to pay for a cab back to our arrondissement, and luckily found a fantastic restaurant close to our hotel that served until 11:30pm. Serendipity!
Outside of Paris we once gain had wonderful experiences! Our bike tour of Versailles was fantastic! We got to shop at the farmers market for our picnic lunch, learning how to make change in euros was new to us! Our picnic lunch in the grass was lovely and during the sunny portion of our trip. During our bike ride our guide, Arnaud, would pause us and regale stories of the kings and their court. We did endure a downpour on our bikes on the way back but luckily the tour provided us with ponchos! We were on our own for the palace tour, another must see! We especially loved the hall of the paintings of French battles, which Arnaud recommended.
Our next bike tour was a private ride through the Normandy countryside with Hugo. It was more than fantastic. Edward and I were both moved by the Omaha beach memorial museum and graves. We were given time to be on our own for about 2 hours, then back on the bikes for more stories of the countryside people during the war, then a picnic set out by Hugo in an out of the way spot. Lovely, every minute. We stayed at a delightful hotel called Lion d’or and enjoyed their lounge/bar with photos of famous visitors. It’s full of history, as is the town, Bayeux. For our last day I requested our driver take us to chantilly. Unfortunately it was closed the day we would visit but we enjoyed a neighboring town, Senlis. Our drivers were all great, especially our cab to the airport. All in all great memories and I belief we’ll be back to France!

Hotel Reviews

Auberge du Jeu de Paume

Chantilly

Professional staff

Authenticity & Character

Very pretty although the dinner was very expensive but the atmosphere of the dining area didn’t match the price of the food

Location

As close as one could get to chantilly castle

Staff

The front desk was very helpful especially when we thought we’d need an early breakfast

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel Le Lion d'Or et restaurant la Table du Lion

Bayeux

We were given a ground floor room because of my husbands back. Thank you kimkim! A delightful stroll outdoors to the bar where we enjoyed espresso in the afternoon and wine in the evening

Authenticity & Character

Love the photos of visitors from the 1940s

Location

Right on a Main Street, walkable

Staff

The bartender was so friendly even though we were the only ones in there ordering coffee

Cleanliness & Comfort

Relais du Louvre

Paris

It was nice

Authenticity & Character

Location

Quiet street next to a church so no road noise

Staff

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hôtel Jardin de Cluny

Paris

Loved this place. The hotel reception/ concierge was highly professional, the breakfast outstanding, the bed comfortable

Authenticity & Character

Cave breakfast room

Location

Walkable to Notre dame, to metro stops, on a 1/2 street with limited access so very quiet

Staff

Professional, knowledgeable

Cleanliness & Comfort

Activity Reviews

Giverny and Monet’s Garden Entrance Ticket

France

We did not do this, we went to Chantilly instead

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Private Normandy Foodie E-Bike Experience

Bayeux

Wow, electric bikes, knowledgeable guide, Omaha beach, picnic in grove, we had it all

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Guided visit of the Louvre Museum

Paris

Pivot to another museum worked out amazingly well

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Kimkim took care of us once we decided the louvre wouldn’t open in time!

Versailles Bike Tour

Paris

Easy bike ride through the grounds with the guide adding interesting stories along the way

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Because my husband has mobility issues we ended up taking a cab back to Paris which was quite pricey but that was our unique situation

Private Notre-Dame Visit

Paris

Despite the rain and restrictions on our guide talking indoors, we got a quality tour which we loved

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Private gourmet food tour in Saint-Germain-des-Prés

Paris

See general review

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Had to find our way there and we took the wrong train, more experienced travelers would probably not make that mistake

Seine River Cruise

Paris

See my review in the general review page. I do not recommend

Quality of Experience

Transport

Self-Guided Visit of the Eiffel Tower with Access to the Summit (Entrance Tickets included)

Paris

Loved this tourist attraction but hard to find our way there especially with someone who doesn’t walk well. We had just arrived in Paris and had to hurry to make our reserved time slot.