Overall trip was amazing! Loved the mix of h...
France
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Sep 28 - Oct 6, 2026
Overall trip was amazing! Loved the mix of history and market shopping. Celine Mancuso was the best guide. She is a true scholar and historian. Wish we could have extended her to the Avignon portion of the trip. Faure Brigitte was very accommodating and pleasant but did not have the depth of knowledge expected from a guide. She was more of a driver. The driver from Provence to Avignon did not speak English. This was a problem. The driver from Avignon to Aix was great! We did not get a chance to spend time with Chloe the guide in Aix. There was a mix-up as to whether we'd tour Gorde on the previous day or on the way to Aix. Alexia did not check with us to find out so we left Hotel Cambis much too early to arrive in Aix at 11 without being able to check in. Having nothing to do, we toured Aix by ourselves which was a long walk from the hotel and back. By check in time at 3, we were exhausted and wanted to enjoy the hotel. That was when the tour with Chloe was scheduled to start. That was very bad planning/timing. Alexia stated that break was time scheduled for lunch before the tour. We did not need 4 hours for lunch with nothing to do but a self guided tour. Should have checked out of Hotel Cambis much later. The Pigonnet hotel was nice but it was not 5-star service or food. It was too far from the city center to walk to the market on Tuesday so I missed that one. Nice grounds but not worth the price due to poor service, poor food and location. Domaine de Manville was awesome and Hotel Cambis was average but a good location. The breakfast buffet was terrible. Ran out of food and poor choice of food. The staff was great and recommended fantastic places for dinner. Your dinner list in Avignon is outdated with those restaurants closed altogether or closed the days we were there. Overall itinerary was awesome except for the last day.
Hotel Reviews
The staff was great. Able to get a ride into town to eat dinner. The Michelin Star restaurant was outstanding! Breakfast was amazing. Property was beautiful.
Rooms were great and management staff was amazing but breakfast buffet was terrible. Not a lot of choice, inconsistent, ran out of mocha, eggs, bananas. Employees were chatting in the kitchen and slow to refill the buffet. Front desk was able to get us incredible dinner reservations each night.
Hotel grounds are amazing but the bellman was not real helpful. No chance of checking in early. Wait staff was slow (someone delivered hot food on trays and left it sitting for a few minutes waiting on another server instead of serving right away which happened to multiple tables). French fries were cold and soggy and ham sandwich was dry and flavorless. Breakfast buffet was good. Room was big and nice.
Activity Reviews
Pretty countryside but too far to drive it all in one day.
We visited the Pope's Palace but it was incredibly hot inside.
Did not go on this tour as it was scheduled at check-in time which would have given us no time to enjoy the hotel. Should have been scheduled between 1-3.