La Belle France

The itinerary was well planned to give a range of experiences throughout the holiday. The visits to a winery, cider brewing were very interesting, and some more of this type of local experience would fit well with all the other visits. I found the visits to Normandy and other War Memorial sites of particular interest and quite moving. The viewing of historic places such as Monet's garden, the Taurin Tapestry and other special places were excellent breaks from the large number of castles visited. The provision of free time to allow our own investigations of some towns was most welcome, providing some leisure time too. The small group size is an attraction to the Back Roads touring style as it allows all members of the touring party to meet and mingle well. The tone of the holiday was set by the friendly and knowledgeable tour guide, Marie Plattard, and the expert coach drive, Alex. Marie was always available to provide local information and suggestions for our free time, and to help where possible with any problems we may have had. I would certainly seek-out what Back Roads tours had to offer when considering other country holidays, and recommend it to my friends and family.

La Belle France was an excellent tour, with a friendly, knowledgeable and good humoured guide (Marie) and a very safe and reliable driver (Alex). The group size was perfect - 14 tourists, and the organisation and paces we visited fulfilled all expectations.

Well designed itinerary and excellent tour leader and driver. Great to visit towns such as Dinan and Chinen. Loved being able to arrive at Giverney early and visit Monets garden house and the village. Honfleur glorious and enjoyed the two nights there. The dinners were excellent, the hotels well located and pleasant - with great staff. The timings were great - allowing time to get between locations with plenty of time for independent exploring. Highly recommend.

Excellent tour made possible by the tour guide and driver. Generally a good balance between organised time and free time was achieved. Accommodation was good

most enjoyable , well balanced & organized tour, lots of hilights from beautiful gardens, classic Chateaus & monasteries, castles, forts & free time.

Best guide, Max and driver Ken🥰they created a wonderful experience. Scenery was made more interesting by Max’s history and story telling. The whole group came together and we had such fun.

This was a superb trip run by our French tour leader Max and his very experienced and helpful driver, Ken. We stayed in the most charming villages and had some spare time to explore them which was even better. We saw a huge variety of sites - including fabulous gardens, fascinating military sites and amazing historical buildings. The included dinners were great with the highlight being a gourmet meal in Chinon.

Great trip. Saw a lot of France most tourists don’t. Wonderful guide and driver.

We loved this tour. The itinerary suited us. Steph was a good guide and Brian a safe driver. Our hotels were almost all great. The included meals were enjoyable and we liked the freedom of being able to buy our own lunches and dinners on a number of occasions. There’s also a nice amount of free time. Loved driving through the little villages on the back roads.

Accommodation is mainly terrible Only 2 venues where acceptable in the entire 10-day tour The food was pretty **** too

Well looked after by Truda and Ken

Guide was knowledgeable, we visited some wonderful places, bus had a few empty seats which made it comfortable.

Excellent Guide and driver, only 14 travellers, ages various and we all got along very well. Great locations, and good hotels. I thought the tour value for money.

Great itinerary, excellent tour guide (Albert) and the best driver (Ken). Small towns of great interest, enjoyable excursions and plenty of time to do your own thing. Accommodation acceptable, not luxurious but always well located and close to restaurants. Small group works well although a full bus made things cosy. Fortunately no long journeys.

The places we visited, and the tour leader and driver were a standout! One of the best BRT tours we have ever done.