Eastern France in June

I can't answer your questions authoritatively, but I do want to urge you to take this tour. It's a dandy! We visited so many places we would never have found or even thought of on our own.

Stan and I have taken over 20 Rick Steves tours, and this is one of our top 2 or 3.

You can see historical weather on the site https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/france/reims/historic Change the city to those you want to check and select the dates of interes

Count us as 2 more people who loved this tour and may do it again in the future. It’s hard to know with weather these days. It’s not usually hot in early June, but you could hit a heat wave. You could also get rain, but not usually multiple days. Our tour was in August and it was hot and and experiencing a drought, but we were never uncomfortable in the hotels.

I have taken this tour twice…once in May and again in late August early July. The weather was cool without any rain in May and hot and dry in August/September. I had a great time on both trips…just dressed appropriately. This is such a fun tour that gives the traveler a chance to experience so many different parts of France with several 3 night stays. Happy travels!

I always take a waterproof rain layer to Europe no matter what month. Sometimes I take a puffy vest to wear underneath, sometimes I don't need to.

This tour also includes a few days in Chamonix so I'd probably have a puffy vest to layer under the waterproof rain layer.

There can also be warm days in June in Paris or southern France so I would probably also cover the warm end of the spectrum and have 1 pr of capris or warm weather bottoms, lol!

Thank you everyone for the responses. Very informational for a newbie traveller. Much appreciated.

There is a free day in Chamonix. I plan to hit the hiking trails. I hike often, but not a fast hiker. Often, the last hiker in the group. If anyone has some favorite hiking trails or related information, let me know.

I also plan to take a local tour to Normandy and Mont St-Michel. If you have any recommendations/suggestions. In the past, I looked up TripAdvisor and selected based on reviews. Not going that route again. Not all reviews are genuine.

Are you planning to do one of the day trips out to Normandy and Mont Saint-Michel from Paris?

I know many do this but honestly, it's such a large area and your transit out from Paris takes a couple of hours. You can easily take the train from Paris to Bayeux to meet up with a local DDay tour operator but Mont Saint-Michel is not easy to get to with transportation.

To me both the DDay landing areas AND Mont Saint-Michel take a day each.

I've not been to Chamonix but in my experience on RS tours, your guide will likely have some suggestions on hikes. I've had them give suggestions in both the Dolomites and in the Berner Oberland for interesting trails.

Hi Pam - I'd like to do both. If it makes more sense to stay overnight at each location, I'll see if I can do that.
I plan to do pre-tour, therefore I don't know if I can get the suggestions from RS Tour guide. The reason for pre-tour because it's the first week versus the last week of June. I'm trying to beat the summer crowd as much as possible. Tour dates in May are all Waitlists.

We've taken 3 RS tours, not Eastern France, but I'm sure it will be marvelous. We just visited Paris and the Normandy region this past spring before joining the RS Belgium and Netherlands tour. I definitely wouldn't try to do Normandy/MSM as a day trip.

We took the train from Paris to Rennes; picked up a rental car and then stayed the night in Pontorson while visiting MSM. The next morning we drove to the very charming Bayeux; stayed a few nights taking a day tour through Overlord Tours of the WW2 Sites; and seeing the marvelous tapestry and cathedral. You could return the car in Caen and then take the train back to Paris.

Driving in the countryside highways and smaller country roads is oh so marvelous. Unlike our potholed So Cal roads, there is nary a pothole, roads are so nicely paved, not litter to be seen; and because my hubby injured his foot, I was doing the driving; and I just enjoyed how easy it was to navigate the roads along the green, green (!!) countryside. If you are traveling alone, I suggest requesting a GPS system and be sure and have them change the setting to English.

Paris is a big bustling city. There's no getting around crowds. May/June no difference. We had spectacular weather and crowds (not unbearable) in April.

If you have 3 nites and are willing to rent a car you could take the train to Caen and get the car, then spend the day in Bayeux visiting the tapestry and cathedral as well as the town. The next day take the Overlord D-Day tour which is a full day. We thought they did a great job and many other people on the forum like them as a search will show. On the third day drive to St. Malo, have lunch in Cancale if you like oysters, then end up at Mont St Michel around 3-4pm as RS suggests so you arrive as the bulk of daytrippers are leaving. Spend the nite in the area (we liked staying in a hotel across the bridge from MSM since there are frequent shuttle buses) and the next morning return the car and go back to Paris.

I have taken this tour in May, and it is one of my favorites. As I recall, it rained one day, in Colmar. A big factor for me in visiting Alsace is asparagus season, and it seems it stretches into June, so May through maybe mid-June, and you are good, if you like asparagus.

The tour is one of my favorites because of the diversity of locations and sites. I learned so much about regions, WWI sites, Roman ruins. It is a fantastic tour. Enjoy.

After reading your responses, I did a little more research on Normandy. With only a few days pre-tour, it's not wise to do both Paris and Normandy.
I'll follow "General Mac Arthur approach", assume I will return for more France. I save your suggestions for part 2. For this trip, I'll spend the few days pre-tour in Paris.

I have also taken this tour twice- once in June and once in September. The June tour was quite warm. One of the hotels didn’t have any AC and it was miserable. If I remember correctly it was around 100 some days. It’s a great tour and I highly recommend it!

@April - weather can impact travel in many ways. For this tour, it'll finish toward the end of June in the South of France. With global warming, I think it will be pretty warm. I'll pack a folding hand paper fan. Will plan for the worse and hope for the best.

RS forum is so well organized and resourceful. I did a search on Aix-en-Provence for a few days post tour. Other than articles and videos, there are also Aix-related links to forum discussions. Make it easier to find relevant information. Much appreciate the work of the site design.