Countries
France, Monaco
Highlights
Enjoy Monet's garden; Villandry; visit Château de Chenonceaux and tour the Loire Valley; sample fine Burgundy wines in Beaune; meet Monty Don in Avignon; see Provence and Brantes Castle; visit a perfumery in Grasse; the gardens of Ephrussi de Rothschild in Nice and the Princess Grace Rose Garden in Monaco.
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French Gardens in Spring – Paris to Nice

Note: This tour can be stand alone, or continue on from Nice to Rome on Botanica Tour BTIF10

 

Day 1. Arrive Paris and Sightseeing

On arrival, be met at the airport and transferred to your hotel. This afternoon, depart the hotel for a city sightseeing tour. This evening, enjoy a wonderful dinner cruise on the Seine River.
Stay: Two Nights: 5-star hotel in Paris, Scribe Hotel by Sofitel
  • Daily Meals Included:
  • • Dinner

Day 2. Monet’s Garden

Today, visit the iconic Monet’s Garden, designed with an artist’s eye for colour. There are two parts in Monet’s garden: a flower garden called Clos Normand; and a Japanese-inspired water garden, forming a contrast that complements one another. Clos Normand has expanded to approximately one hectare, full of perspectives, symmetries and colours. Fruit trees and ornamental trees dominate the climbing roses, long-stemmed hollyhocks and the coloured banks of annuals. Monet mixed the simplest flowers of daisies and poppies with some of the most rare varieties. In the water garden, you will find the famous Japanese bridge covered with wisterias, weeping willows, a bamboo wood and above all the famous nympheas, which bloom all summer long.
  • Daily Meals Included:
  • • Breakfast

Day 3. Loire Valley and Château de Chenonceau

In the Loire Valley visit the Villandry Garden, with its potager filled with ornamental and edible vegetables. Embark on an art experience as you visit Château de Chenonceau, an exceptional site with its exquisite design, richness of collections, furniture and decorations. It houses an exceptional museum collection of the Old Masters’ paintings: Murillo; Le Tintoret; Nicolas Poussin; Le Corrège; Rubens, Le Primatice; and Van Loo, as well as an extremely rare selection of 16th-century Flanders Tapestries.
Stay: Tours, Hotel Univers
  • Daily Meals Included:
  • • Breakfast
  • • Dinner

Day 4. Burgundy and Wineries

Enjoy a tour of one of Burgundy’s most important towns, Beaune, considered to be the ‘Capital of Burgundy Wines’. Visit the Marché aux Vins, a former Franciscan church that was restored in 1977, where the beauty of the architecture is matched only by the superb wines presented. Afterwards, dine on classic Burgundy dishes and sample the region’s finest wines.
Stay: Beaune, Hotel Mercure Centre
  • Daily Meals Included:
  • • Breakfast
  • • Dinner

Day 5. Avignon and Sightseeing

Tour the Papal Palace and Saint Andre Abbey. Admire ancient walls, pretty gardens and narrow streets. This afternoon, enjoy an exclusive opportunity to meet Monty Don, when he will conduct a special lecture.
Stay: Two Nights: Avignon, Grand Hotel
  • Daily Meals Included:
  • • Breakfast
  • • Dinner

Day 6. Provence

This morning visit the park and garden at Brantes Castle, a contemporary garden with a Tuscan influence with its magnificent mirror pools, lanes of boxwood, plane tree forest and one of the oldest grandiflora magnolias in Europe – approximately 200 years old. Continue to Arles to see the magnificent Roman arena, then enjoy the rest of the day to explore this region at your leisure.
  • Daily Meals Included:
  • • Breakfast

Day 7. Grasse and Cote d’Azur

Travel to the Côte d’Azur region. Visit Grasse, now known as the perfume capital of the world since production in the 18th-century. After visiting a perfumery, continue to Nice on the French Riviera.
Stay: Two Nights: Nice, Hotel Ellington
  • Daily Meals Included:
  • • Breakfast
  • • Dinner

Day 8. Nice and Monaco

Visit the gardens of Ephrussi de Rothschild, featuring French and Japanese gardens. See the exotic gardens, which brings together several million species of succulents. Boldly planted on the rocky mountainside where it blooms superbly, a prehistoric cave 60 metres below ground reveals its spectacular stalagmites and stalactites formed over a millennia. We continue to Princess Grace Rose Garden in Monaco, a place of calm and serenity where the scent of some 4,000 roses hangs in the air. Afterwards, we visit the Jardin de la Madone in Menton.
  • Daily Meals Included:
  • • Breakfast

Day 9. Depart Nice

After breakfast you will be transferred to the airport for your onward flight.
  • Daily Meals Included:
  • • Breakfast

 

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Ex Paris
Twin share $6,895AUD pp
Single $8,645AUD
(Note: The price displayed does not include the fees for flights, travel insurance, additional transfers; and pre and post accommodation. You may be contacted by APT Reservations to assist you with organising these options if applicable for your Trip selection.)

Includes:
Services of a Tour Manager and Botanical Guide
13 Meals – 8 Breakfasts, and 5 Dinners
Transfers on first and last day, tipping and porterage
Travel in a comfortable air-conditioned coach with plenty of room to spread out
Stay in good quality 4-5 star hotels that are centrally located
A special opportunity to meet celebrity garden presenter, Monty Don

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