Just returned from our fifth RS tour, and it proved to be one of our favorites. I will attempt to write a trip report that is complete without becoming a missive. "Attempt" may be the key word.
Transportation- We flew Air France from SFO to CDG. We ponied up $$ for Premium Economy seats. They were definitely better than United Economy Plus, but not as good as Business or First class. Hard seats, decent food, rationed alcohol. (one glass of wine/beer) Tip of the day: We booked our TGV train tickets to Reims as part of the Air France airline ticket. I did my search for open-jaw SFO-Reims and Marseilles-SFO and it automatically connected me to a direct train from the CDG TGV station to Reims. No Paris station scrum required. Upon arrival in Reims at the Champagne-Ardenne station we just walked down a small hill and caught the tram going directly into town. Dropped us off about two blocks from the Hotel Grand Continental (the RS hotel). Note to self/and you: If you pay for Premium Economy on Air France it entitles you to Sky Priority short(er) lines not only at check-in but also going through passport control. Saved us at least an hour upon arrival at CDG. Pay attention and watch for the red signs indicating theSky Priority line. We didn't notice this until we had been in the regular queue for 25 minutes. Still saved us at least an hour. Did only carry-on which helped.
Hotels-
Overall summary: all hotel rooms were very clean and well located. None had wash cloths (which we expected) and some had safety issues (which we didn't expect). Most had heated towel racks for sink laundry. All had opening windows, minimal street noise and helpful staffs. A simple breakfast was included at all the hotels- plenty of carbs to get you fueled for the day.
Reims: Hotel Grand Continental. We paid an upgrade to insure a king bed for our recovery night. Even with the upgrade the room was sparse. It was very clean with a tub/shower combination. Great location with many restaurants within two blocks. A Monoprix department store was just around the corner where we bought water, shampoo, lotion etc. Elevator available.
Colmar: Hotel Le Rapp. We had a large, clean room here. It had an armoire for storage, wood floors and a stall shower. It also had a separate toilet room. Elevator available.
Beaune: Hotel des Ramparts. We had a top floor room with a window/skylight that opened. It was clean and fairly large, but we missed an elevator for sure. It was 52 steps up (and down) spiral staircases with no hand railing. At the foot of the bed there were several "potholes" in the floor which tripped me up several times. The tub/shower had no curtain/glass to keep the water off the floor. The high,steep rounded walls of the tub in combination with the wet floor and no handrails on the walls surrounding the tub made it pretty dangerous. There was also a large spray can of insect poison in the room. Since we didn't see any bugs we assumed everything in the room had been sprayed. Not sure that made us feel better. :) The family that owns the hotel personally/warmly welcomed us making it feel like we were at a favorite aunt's house. There were beautiful common areas inside and a serene and lovely courtyard outside.
Chamonix: Hotel L'Arve We had a teeny, tiny room and a bed that did not allow both of us to sleep without limbs hanging over the edge/bottom. We did have a small balcony and lovely sound of the river rushing below us. There was good storage in the closet and a tube shower. There were beautiful common areas in which to relax and stretch out ( a good thing since we couldn't do that in our room).
Continue on if you are still interested.