France by Rail - Escorted Holidays

“Great holiday to great location.

“Very enjoyable, good hotel and food. We enjoyed the excursions with the added bonus of great weather. Elaine our tour guide was excellent too.

“Well organised and well planned holiday with good variety of activities and a very good hotel as a Base with adjacent beach and nearby shopping area.

“Two wonderful places and experiences.

“Well organised, excellent guide. My only complaint is that the hotel room did not have any drawers in which to put clothes etc.

“This was a great holiday for me and my art loving friend. Although some co-travellers found the train journey arduous (not very able+ too much luggage) we enjoyed it - all the trains were punctual and the scenery great. We loved your centrally placed hotel (Monsigny) with its great French chef, and we liked being asked our menu preferences ahead of time as the food was fresh and local. The balance of tours to free time was great for us as we wanted to explore and visit exhibitions under our own steam. On our free day we went to Matisse’s Chapel at Vence and the Maeght Art Foundation - our rep Chris helped us with the public transport planning. A trip you could hint at for those prepared to go further afield. We visited all the other Art Museums already mentioned in your itinerary. Chris, our rep did a great job considering he had been drafted in at short notice - he was very good humoured and treated us like adults despite all the counting that had to be done. However, I expect he and other members of the group will have mentioned the serious let-down we experienced on the way home- trying to cross Paris when the connecting coach didn’t appear. We lost an hour which should have been our one eating opportunity, but, more seriously it resulted in a panic and hairy skirmish in trying to get the Eurostar connection. It really spoiled the end of the holiday to the extent that my friend said ‘never again’. The time of our Eurostar connection had been moved to an earlier slot, and I wonder if this had not been followed through by your office and an earlier coach link had not been booked. It wasn’t Chris’s fault - he worked his socks off trying to persuade a driver to take us. Is there any chance of compensation for this anxiety? It seriously marred the end of the Holiday - Perhaps some Rail Discovery vouchers? Otherwise the Holiday was great - did what it said on the tin - thank-you (and Chris). Yours, (Pamela) Jill Norton

“Very enjoyable but long journey down to the Dordogne (better on the way back). Good hotel but not very central to the places we went to. Good company and best ever tour leader.

“Really enjoyed our recent trip to Italy and Claire our Tour Manager was absolutely brilliant. Nothing was too much trouble, she was very organised and helpful, always around if you had any queries. Went the extra mile on several occasions, even suggesting extra trips on our 2 free days. The Group were a great bunch of people and everyone got on really well, but on the down-side we thought the group number at 43 was too big. This sometime caused problems getting on and off the trains with luggage, making you feel under pressure. All of the hotels were very nice and the food served was good. We had 2 long days of travel, both on Saturdays when the trains were very busy, particularly from Genova to Ventimiglia with no reserved seats on a regional train and no specific luggage space. The onward journey to Nice was by coach arriving around 5.30pm and with dinner at 7.30 it gave you no time to look around Nice as we departed the next morning at 7.00 am. What really was the point of putting Nice in the itinerary, we should have been heading north back towards Paris. Arrival in Paris at Gare de Lyons was 13.34 and our Eurostar from Gare du Nord was 18.13. Even allowing for transfer across Paris and the 60 minutes booking in time 4.30 hours was a long time to kill. Fortunately Claire liaised with the Rail Discovery office and they managed to organise a free lunch for us at a nearby restaurant. Thank goodness as it would have felt like an even longer day as we did not arrive back at St Pancras until 19.30. Being a Sunday this added another overnight stay in London as our last train had already departed. Photos of beautiful Chiavari and some very wet sailors who were out on the bow on our trip back from Portofino !!

“Lovely holiday spoilt a bit by very hot weather 43drgrees.