June 2026 Paris and Heart of France tour questions

FYI, there is no “Best of France” tour. RS offers four different tours in France. You will get more helpful responses on this Forum if you correctly mention the tour you are taking.

Thanks appreciate it.

Welcome to the forum!!

I haven’t taken this tour, but I wanted to mention that the tour scrapbooks are a good resource. In taking a quick look, I did see some for the Paris and Heart of France tour.

You can find the scrapbooks here:

https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/scrapbooks/tour-alum-scrapbooks

Thank you! I didn't know those existed.. appreciate your help

My surprise favorite was Guédelon, the castle being built using original 13th century methods and materials. I saw it in 2011, so it should be nearly finished. This is such a great tour and you will visit so many lovely sites. About summer, if your hotel doesn't have AC be sure to ask for a room fan as soon as you are checked in.

I took this tour in April 2025. It's a wonderful tour. As was recommended above, check out the scrapbooks as you might relate to some of them, or not. I can't think of anything I didn't enjoy. That being said, I did not get up early in the morning on Mont Saint Michel for the church service, etc. I did walk all over MSM the evening before and along the ramparts(?). Early morning is not my thing and I was preserving energy for Normandy. Normandy is the major reason I took this tour. That and the other stops that were hard to get to see; ie, Guedelon, the Cathedral in Bourges (an ancestor was married there), MSM, Chateau de Luce. My favorite surprise was Chateau de Luce (Leonardo da Vinci). The inventions of da Vinci's in action in the house and park were wonderful. And, of course, the rebuilt Notre Dame in Paris was sparkling, compared to when I saw its interior in 1976. We had Dale Booth as the guide in Normandy, so need I say more? It was wonderful. There are more one night stays than some other tours, which doesn't bother me so much as I don't ever really unpack. There are a few hotels where there are stairs with no elevator avoidance. I only say this because one of the lovely solo women had extremely heavy bags and she found Bayeux and MSM, at least, to be too much. However, I think she liked to buy books so...

My packing was perfect for me, IMO. There was nothing I missed and nothing I didn't use except things I was glad I didn't use; ie, my first aide and repair kit. As Laurie Beth said, take a small fan. I do this on every trip and use it just about every night so I'd be miserable in the summer without one. I don't know if you are male or female or your age, so I can't really make other suggestions. My roller bag with out my raincoat/jacket in it weighed 19-20 lbs. so it was very easy to maneuver, except for on the Eurostar. The overhead shelf is a little far from the aisle and there was one kind young man who used his finger to guide the opposite end of the bag onto the shelf. LOL I was wavering that last inch to get it up there...I would have made it but the help speeded things up! Well, I will say I took 4 merino wool tee shirts, long sleeve mostly, two jeans and a yoga pant, one light puffy vest, a blazer, and a knee length raincoat. This includes my airplane clothes, which were the ss tee, blazer, dark wash jeans. brooks adrenalines. I packed a compressible pair of tao ballet flat type shoes for the room.

This tour is one of my all time favorites! I did it in 2015 but still remember so much about it. I looked back to my Trip report from then just to confirm what my "WOW" moment was and like others it was the DDay Beaches tour with Dale Booth. Honestly, he is awesome. I've gone to the area 3 times since then and NEVER have had anyone of Dale's excellence.

I did go up to the Abbey for the Morning Lauds service at 6:50A in the rain. There are no handrails in some areas and the steps were slick with rain (even when you think you are inside there are some areas that are open to the sky). The congregation was small and of course the service was in French. We kind of got chewed out by the priest becasue no one was doing responses. Although Rick kind of sells it like it's OK for tourists to attend, it definitely was not and I felt awkward since I am not Catholic nor do I speak or read French. Let your conscience be your guide on whether you attend or not.

Definitely have a waterproof rain jacket with a hood. This will help with any windy conditions you might encounter on the DDay beaches as well as any rain.

I'm with Wray on Clos Luce in Amboise. What a cool house and garden to see! I did it on our free afternoon there so I'd encourage that for you, too.

I've not traveled in June but the roses should be blooming. I think I remember correctly that there is a big rose garden at the cathedral in Bourges which you will tour in the AM before you leave for Amboise.

I am a light packer so my suitcase is in the 16-19# range. You do have to plan things for this tour because you have the 2 one-nighters in Bourges and Mont Saint-Michel so you can't really do laundry there. For me, that just means I pack 4 pr of undies instead of my usual 3, hahaha!

Have a wonderful, wonderful time! I hope you are planning to arrive the day before the tour starts and maybe staying a few days after in Paris? Does this tour still stay at Hotel l'Empereur for the first nights? I'm staying there in April for the 1st time since before Covid. I love the location!

It’s been 11 years since I’ve done this tour but it’s one of my favorites. I’ve taken 12 tours. It is packed with bucket list items for me, MSM and Normandy WWll for starters, plus you get Loire chateaus, Monet’s Giverny, Leonardo and Paris! I went early spring so no advice about summer conditions. You will love it!

I enjoyed this tour in September 2018; it was my second RS tour.

A few highlights for me:

The D-Day tour with Dale Booth (I chose this particular tour because it included Normandy)

Overnight on Mont St-Michel, when it seemed as if we were the only people there. I got up early for the morning prayers, and we seemed to be welcome. Pam, I'm sorry you had a different experience.

A pleasant couple of hours at Soutterains Winery (Domaine des Souterrains) in the Loire Valley

In Bourges, the Cathédrale St-Etienne