Nathalie Durand

Our trip to France was wonderful. Our kimkim specialist Nathalie spent the time to understand our interests provided a great itinerary that met or exceeded our travel wishes. The only problem we encountered was with our first hotel. The room was dirty and had a smell. We requested another room which was slightly better, but still not adequate. We contacted Nathalie and she found us another, much better, hotel that we took the following night. The other hotels throughout the trip were very nice. The car transfers throughout the trip were punctual and comfortable. The tours and tour guides were especially good. We even emailed each of the tour companies in Bayeux, Saint Málo and Paris with positive feedback about the knowledge and passion of their tour guides.

The hotel problem at the beginning had the potential of spoiling the rest of the trip. But Nathalie’s quick response to find another hotel and her willingness to work to get a refund eased our minds and allowed us to enjoy our time in France.

Hotel Reviews

Le Bayeux 3*

Bayeux

The first room we got was dirty, there was mold in the bathroom and had a smell. They gave us a new room, which had teh same issues as the first room. We moved to a new hotel.

Authenticity & Character

Location

Close to all that is in Bayeux.

Staff

Very accomodating, friendly and understood our concerns about the rooms.

Cleanliness & Comfort

Hotel needs to be updated.

La Maison des Armateurs 4*

Saint Malo

Hotel is located within the walled city. It is very close to attractions, restaurants and shops. Our room was clean and comfortable. Our room overlooked the street. We kept the windows open so it was noisy at night. However, with the windows shut and AC on, noise is not a problem. Breakfast is good, plenty of choices. Staff was friendly.

Hôtel A la Villa des Artistes

Paris

A quiet, comfortable room with a friendly staff in the heart of Paris. Room was a little small, but not a problem for us. We would recommend it.

Activity Reviews

Eiffel Tower skip the line summit tour (small group/2h)

Paris

Skipped it. Too many people.

Paris to Bayeux - Discover Giverny along the way

France

Beautiful stop on our way from Paris to Normandy. Two hours was enough for us to experience the beautiful gardens and home of Claude Monet.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Christophe was punctual, helpful and a good driver.

Transport

Having a driver made the trip more relaxing.

Full Day Tour of Omaha and Utah Beaches & Normandy Landings Sites

Bayeux

Having a tour guide to see the landing sights should really be considered required. We learned so much and saw many sights that I am sure we would have missed had we done the tour on our own. Our tour guide, Victor, was friendly and knowledgeable. The travel was comfortable.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Victor was knowledgeable about the history of DDay.

Transport

Comfortable van. Victor was a good driver.

Mont-Saint-Michel Full day Tour

France

We are glad we had a tour guide for this experience as opposed to just going there on our own. Our guide was very knowledgeable about all aspects of the Abbey (including when the best time to eat was in order to avoid crowds).

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Manon was fabulous!!

Transport

Clean, comfortable van.

Two walking tours on the Emerault Coast: Saint Malo and Cancale (total 3.5-hours)

France

Marc the tour guide was wonderful. Since he is from Brittany he knows the area well. The Emerault Coast is spectacular! Cancale is a beautiful city and a must see if you are in to oysters. Had a wonderful time!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Marc knew a lot about the area. It was fascinating to hear the history of the region.

Transport

Clean, comfortable transport.

Half-day private tour Dinan and St-Suliac

Saint-Malo

This was one of the favorite tours of our visit to France. Once again, Marc knows the area very well and did an excellent job of explaining the history of the area as well as explaining about French culture today.

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

Transport

Saint Germain des Prés Food Tour

Paris

This would be a must-do tour in Paris. We had a great time with Matthias touring the neighborhood of Saint Germain and sampling the charcuterie, baguettes, cheeses and especially the chocolates, wine, choux a la creme and the patisserie! A very memorable tour!

Quality of Experience

Guides, Drivers and Staff

The cheese tasting was excellent- a highlight of the Paris trip. So much care effort and knowledge went into that evening.
The bike tour was really fun and well-planned out. The bikes worked well. However, our tour guide was not Parisian or even French and her knowledge of history was a lacking (also negative, snarky). We enjoyed seeing the sights but her commentary was a bit superficial and geared toward a younger age group.
Our hotel in Paris (Novotel Les Halles) had a very convenient location and a nice breakfast each morning. Also a pretty interior courtyard. Our kid's room had a clogged shower drain that overflowed, and the A/C was not great.
In Normandy, the Hotel Bayeux was too rustic. We stayed in MAISON BLUE, #17, and it was awkward, uncomfortable, old and just odd. While the ability to stay in one apartment as a family, this was a bit too rustic for our tastes, especially the bathrooms, with cracked floors and tiny toilets without sinks nearby. The breakfast was fine.
The D-Day beaches tour was very thorough, and and the day by visiting the US cemetery at 5 pm for Taps was very moving. Our guide was very knowledgeable.
Clare Collins, our tour guide for Mont St. Michel, was excellent: extremely professional, efficient, and also possessing an amazing depth of knowledge of the historical site. We loved her enthusiasm.
Finally, Hotel L' Addresse, our accommodations in St. Malo, were quite nice, and more typical of what were were expecting. There was terrace and balcony off each room. There was a nice breakfast each day.. It was reasonably close to the walled city and close to beach stairs- a plus. The staff was extremely helpful and offered to be proactive with recommendations and with communication about our daughter's left-behind passport and medications. They also packed a to-go breakfast for us the morning of our departure.
Unfortunately, one of us seems to have developed a case of scabies from that hotel suggesting they may need some new bedding!
Adil, our St. Malo tour guide, was also very professional and knowledgeable. We were grateful for all of the time he spent with us and his driving us from Bayeux to Mont St. Michel and on to St. Malo.
Our driver back to Paris was very efficient and professional and made sure we linked up with the courier for the missing passport.
Nathalie, thank you for helping plan this trip for us. Thanks for helping retrieve the missing items left behind at the hotel in Paris, we are extremely grateful for that. It would have been so difficult without your help. We all will have wonderful memories of our trip to France in 2023.

My husband and I were looking to travel to France for our delayed honeymoon/anniversary trip, and found KimKim while looking online for travel/tour companies. The travel itinerary created by our tour specialist, Nathalie, was fantastic, and we enjoyed all of the different excursions booked (our favorite was the wine tasting tour in Aix-en-Provence!, though they were all amazing, including the excursion to seeing the Pont du Gard, and our own personal guide for our trip to Versailles, La Conciergerie, Saint-Chapelle, Notre Dame). There were a few bumps along the road (booked to see the Louvre with a private small group tour, however unbeknownst to us the start time of this tour was changed to earlier in the day, and we did unfortunately miss the tour; and had difficulty with a couple of the private drivers hired to take us to/from the hotel to/from the TGV) however we will be getting refunded for these reservations. The hotels reserved for us were very nice (chose 4 star hotels for the most part, one 3 star hotel in Lyon but was also very nice), and we had surprise gifts for us waiting in our hotel rooms as a part of our anniversary trip, which I thought was a very nice touch and added welcome surprises to our trip along the way. Overall, had a really nice time, and glad we used KimKim to help curate our trip.