Luxury France travel: Paris, Provence, the Riviera, & beyond
France is the country people think they have already seen. They have seen Paris in three days, from a bus, in August. That is not the same thing.
Paris rewards a slower visit more than almost any city I work in. A neighborhood rather than a checklist. A morning market. A museum at opening rather than at two in the afternoon, when the day has filled up. South of the city the country changes character every few hours. Burgundy and the Loire for wine and the houses that go with it. Provence for the light, the markets, and the smell of the hills in June. The Riviera for the glamour, which is real, and Monaco, which is smaller and stranger than anybody expects.
France trips come down to decisions that are easy to get wrong from a distance. Which arrondissement you stay in, which changes the whole trip and is the question I am asked least and should be asked most. Which chateaux and wine estates will receive you privately and which will simply sell you a ticket. When to be in Provence, because June and September are not the same month as August in any way that matters. Whether to drive or take the train, and the point at which that answer flips. And which restaurants need booking two months ahead, which in France is a real constraint rather than a formality.
Below are the France trips I build most often. They are starting points, not scripts, and each gets rebuilt around the people traveling. If what you want is not here, Burgundy and the Loire for wine, Normandy and the D-Day beaches, the Dordogne, a Paris and Riviera pairing, or a honeymoon, tell me on our call and I will design it from scratch.
