Tips or insights on 11 Heart of France?

I did this tour in 2015 but the itinerary has not changed much if at all. It is a wonderful tour! You see such a variety of things - from the medieval castle being built at Guedelon to real medieval churches to the Chateaux in the Loire to Normandy Beaches to Giverny. Really excellent.

The only place where I would need more time is Paris. Two full days in Paris is not enough. If you can go early or stay late, do so. At least plan to arrive the day before the tour starts if not 2 days just to take care of any transportation hiccups.

I felt like the chateau visits were plenty long for me. We toured the buildings and then had time for the grounds. Two were plenty for me although I am sure there are others who would choose to see more of them.

I was not crazy about Mont Saint-Michel which I thought was going to be a highlight. It was raining, the steps and alleys were slick and it just didn't catch me the way some of the other sights did. I am likely in the minority on this as most people love it. For me, I decided it is better seen from the distance, lol! It was better to stay overnight out there though rather than fight the crowds on a day trip. Rick and crew have the timing down on this very well.

I LOVED the D-Day landing beaches day. The guide laid things out for us, gave us geography lessons, filled us in on what the Germans did from 1940 to 1944 when DDay occurred. He was excellent, really one of the best local guides I've ever had. I enjoyed the small amount of time we had in Bayeux as well - enough time to see the tapestry and the cathedral. There is a WWII museum there we didn't get to but honestly, I'd rather be outside seeing where the action was than in a museum.

I'd encourage you to take it!

Here is a link to my rather old TR. I did it back to back with the Best of England so scroll down to the Paris and HOF segment.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/trip-tour-report-for-best-of-england-paris-hof

I agree with Pam that you need more days in Paris, to do the Eiffel Tower, Versailles, and some more time in Montmartre. Otherwise the rest of the tour I thought was very efficiently planned out, with enough time in each stop. You will spend some time on the metro in Paris, so it might help to study up on that.

Hi Roxane, I did this tour solo in 2009. Great tour, same itinerary. The time in Paris was sufficient but, if you’re like me and love the city, try to work in some additional days (or weeks!). It was my first time visiting Amboise and I was captivated by Leonardo and Clos Luce. We spent the night in Chinon and enjoyed a great wine tasting. The chateaux were amazing. Like Pam, I wasn’t totally impressed with Mont St Michele. It was raining and slippery and I had to walk up 200 circular steps to get to my room. Literally thought I was going to have a heart attack. The D-Day beaches were interesting and our guide was wonderful. Monet’s garden’s were icing on the cake. Nice variety of sites.

I’m planning to do this tour again with my BF in 2023. Looking forward to seeing the progress at Guédelon.

We just finished the Paris HOF tour last week. We had previously taken the RS Paris tour and felt that this was sufficient time to see a lot of Paris sites (Versailles, various districts). The Paris HOF tour will not give you enough quality time in Paris in my opinion. However the Paris HOF tour will give you adequate time for the other various sites, such as Amboise, Mt. St. Michel, D-Day, etc. What we did was to arrive 7 days before our Paris HOF tour started and we added extra sites. The reason we did this was because my wife and I had taken the Paris city tour, but our 3 teenagers did not. We wanted our boys to see what we had seen.

I have been to Paris a couple of dozen times and ALWAYS need more time. Take a relaxed pace to your choice of sites, in the assurance that when you come back there will be more to see.

We did this tour in May of this year. We have been to Paris several times, but really enjoyed the parts of Paris we saw on the tour, as they were off of the tourist path. If you have never been to Paris I agree with others that you may want to arrive a few days early or add some days at the end. For the other places on the tour I feel like we had ample time to enjoy each stop, and to have time to just amble around to enjoy the local culture. No doubt that the time, and tour, spent on Mont Saint Michel is a highlight, but the day spent touring the Normandy beaches was the best day spent on any tour I have ever been on. Dale Booth is the best. We had ample time to tour the Loire Valley Chateaux. I think everything was paced very well. Only pointer I have is that we enjoyed finding some of the lunches and dinners on our own at the local Boulangerie. A simple meal of a sandwich and good wine was a nice break from the big dinners, and nothing can beat French baguettes, cheese, meats and wines.

This was the first RS Tour that I did and I really enjoyed it. There will never be a perfect tour or tour itinerary. You will spend less time than you want in some interesting places and more time than you want in others (for me that was the wine-tasting). Part of the value of a tour is that you do end up seeing or doing things that you might not try on your own. I would say the value of the guides was tremendous and I learned quite a bit. Overall, I felt the timing was just about right on for the days during the tour.

I hadn't understood the amount of free time I would have in Paris and had not made plans in advance. That is something that I would do differently. There was more free time than I anticipated and I would have more options in mind.

I liked the combination of city and countryside that this tour gives.

My advice would be as follows:

1. Plan to stay more days in Paris than the tour allocates, either before or after the tour. If you've never been there before this trip, after the tour might be better because you'll have become acquainted with getting around the city during the tour and consequently will be more capable and efficient.

2. Note any place in the itinerary when you'll be given free time on your own and research the location where that free time will occur. Identify a few sights or activities you intend to hit during the free time so you don't burn up too much time trying to figure out what to do or where to walk.

3. When visiting the Bayeux tapestry, don't do as so many people on the tour I was on did, which was to stay glued to the railing for the entire length of the narrative at each spot being described in the audio guide. Intentionally or not, that rudely blocks the view of other people on the tour. It would be better, and kinder, to step up when an opportunity presents itself so you can see the details for a moment, then step back for the remainder of the narrative covering that part of the tapestry so others on your tour may have their turn at a closer look.

4. At breakfast, keep in mind that the amount of food provided is keyed to hotel occupancy. At a couple of hotels, some of the same people noted above in No. 3, who blocked the view of other visitors to the tapestry, also took the opportunity to show up early for breakfast and surreptitiously gathered cold cuts, fruit, bread, and cheese into paper napkins and slipped them into their backpacks for a free lunch. That meant that others who came down later, such as the tour guide who had been busy coordinating the day's activities in his room, had virtually nothing to eat for breakfast.

I'll generalize Nos. 3 and 4 as: be thoughtful and kind.