Tips for which tour to take ?

I took the South of France tour in 2022 and loved it. It was my first solo tour and I wanted to see castles.

Here’s my very long tour report. Scroll down through planning and independent travel to find the tour portion.

I am having difficulty accessing your tour report. I click on the "tour report" highlighted, and it takes me to Rick lying on the floor (ha had) saying cannot get onto your report. Any suggestions, as I'd love to read it ! Thank you, Sue

We have taken the Eastern France tour and are anticipating Paris and the heart of France in September. We absolutely loved Eastern France, of the 8 tours we’ve taken it ranks in the top couple of tours.
They really aren’t day long bus rides. First of all the bus driver cannot legally drive longer than two hours without stopping for a half hour. And these aren’t just at rest stops, often they are at wonderful things to see or do. Many of the tour members nap or catch up on photos taken the day before during the bus ride.
My Way tours could be another option for you but we love a tour guide giving us history and/or interesting details about what we are visiting.
As always, taking these tours often leaves you wanting more of some of the destinations. That’s the beauty of RS tours for us, we can go back on another trip to see our favorites or extend the current trip with additional days before or after.

We did the Loire to the South of France tour in 2019 and loved it. We'd never done a bus tour of any kind before and I was concerned about the time spent on the bus, but thanks to the guide teaching us about French culture and history, the time flew by. I found the time on the bus to be an unexpected bonus of the trip.

Susan, sorry, my link didn't work. Give this a try https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/finally-trip-report-8-31-7-28-22-london-paris-rs-tour-venice

I've done the Paris and Heart of France tour which does the Loire Valley as well as a little Brittany and Normandie. It was one of my favorites. I have not done any of Rick's other France tours but I've done a couple of Road Scholar tours:

• one was Art of Living in Provence that stayed half the time in Aix-en-Provence and the other half in Arles with day trips out to see things in both areas

• the other was SW France and the Perigord which started in Bordeaux and ended in Toulouse. The itinerary is different now than when I took it in 2021 with the middle nights in different locations. This doesn't hit any of your wish list but thought I'd mention it.

Neither tour had long bus days.

Horsewoofie, I had never read your trip report, I'm astonished I missed it!

I tend to pour over any and every trip report there is. It was so great to hear about your travels alone and with the South of France tour that we have on our "someday" list.

Thank you a year and a 1/2 late for writing it!

Thank you all for your responses. Horsewoofie, your trip report was wonderful !

Thank you !

We’ve done the Loire to the South of France, Paris City and the Eastern France tours. The last two were back to back which I really enjoyed (except having to learn so many tour members names). I have a hard time picking a favorite because they all covered things I’ve wanted to see. Carcassonne, lit up at night was magical, Mt. Blanc was spectacular……I think you need to look at the itinerary of the tours and determine what your interests are. One tip, we went the last tour of the South of France, mid October and the canal tour had closed for the season and we got to experience the Mistrial one day.