Normandy, Brittany & The Loire Valley

Covered many sights and experiences in the time allowed. Excellent guide and driver. Very good value for money.

The trip gives you a chance to see a different part of France beyond the typical Paris focused trip.

The places visited were fine but the distances between them made trip rushed (very rushed lunch atMont St. Michel) at times. Honfleur was disappointing: lovely old buildings but rather touristy and too many tourists. In Loire area, the Chateau de Villandry was not nearly as beautiful and exciting as Le Chateau d'Azay le Rideau. Below: we are from U.S., NOT Dominican R. The pull down did not work

This is a fast paced tour with much to see! Yannick was a wonderful tour guide and took care of us all the way. He was very knowledgeable on every tour we took. The optional excursions were fantastic and a must do for this trip. Definitely would recommend.

I enjoyed all the locations included in the itinerary and options. Got to see memorials, cathedrals, chateaux and more. Also, enjoyed the time allowed to explore on my own. Our tour director, Yannick, was so passionate about sharing all his information about the stops and the countryside.

This is a jammed packed full on tour wherein one will experience many many interesting sites, sounds and smells. Although the tour is short, my memories will last a lifetime.

Bring your walking shoes........but well worth it!! History, beautiful gardens, wonderful food.......this tour has it all !! Loved staying in the Chateau De La Bourdaisiere....be sure and see its tomato and dahlia gardens.

Amazing time

Ideal way to see this part of the north of France-cathedrals, chateauxs and medieval towns. An opportunity to see wine and calvados production. For anyone interested in the D-Day beaches and the history of that dark yet hopeful time in history this is the ideal way to be reminded of the sacrifice of so many .

The Normandy, Brittany, Loire Valley itinerary is full and diverse with lovely accommodations and meals.. To stand where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake, to gazing out on the beaches of Normandy, and walking the American cemetery, to sleeping in the same chateau as King Henry IV are but a few highlights. The local experts provide the meaningful historical details that bring it all to life. Thank you again, Insight, for another remarkable trip.

It’s a good balance between the beaches and inland to the Loire Valley. However sometimes the tour felt a little rushed, with not enough time to explore the village of a lunch stop or much free time.

Great pace! Lots to see! Excellent Tour Guide and Driver

Needs better accommodations. no old crumbling chateaus. experts need to walk at the pace of the slowest guest and stop offen enough to count heads. Older guest need showers not tubs. Airport drop off needs to be to each guests airline terminal. Start times need to be after breakfast (9:00am) with bags out at 8am.

I would recommend this tour with serious reservations due to our 2-night stay at Chateau De La Bourdaisiere. Our room was shabby and dusty and needed serious upgrades to be part of an Insight tour. I could find better end tables & blankets at a dollar store, including the disgusting fan they provided. The chair upholstery was torn, and the bathroom shower & toilet needed to be modernized. Upon arrival we were warned that the Wi-Fi was "slow", yet it was nonexistent. A positive was that the grounds were well-kept and the food we were served for both breakfasts was delicious. Our tour director, was wonderful! Very knowledgeable and a great personality. He spoke fluent French (and Italian) and we enjoyed his insights. In addition, he provided suggestions for appropriate places to eat on nights we did not join the optional experience. We would take another tour with him again.

The Tour Director was terrific. He was personable, caring and very knowledgeable. The local guides were likewise knowledgeable and passionate about the places we visited. For the most part the trip was great. The biggest disappointment was the two nights spent at Chateau De La Bourdaisiere. The accommodations were not on the level we expected on an Insight Vacation. The room was in severe need of an update. The upholstery was torn and the overall feel was shabby and run-down. Nothing was ever done to update the rooms. It also did not feel safe as the building and rooms did not adhere to basic hotel occupancy codes. Timed lights that went off in the hallways and staircases at night, potentially scalding hot water in the shower, hotel provided power strip with wire strung across the floor to power a floor fan. We were told in advance that the Wi-Fi would be weak but there was no signal except near the front office where 20 people would gather trying to get a signal. It is regrettable that an otherwise terrific trip was marred by the memory of this sub-par hotel stay. Insight needs to seriously consider removing this hotel from the trip.

The itinerary is very busy but spaced out enough. The information can sometimes be overwhelming because there is so much that can be explained in a short amount of time.

We liked the choice option- Bayeaux tapestry or Arromanche War Museum

The pace is very fast the first 3 days. The sites visited are spectacular.

It was very diverse and enjoyable. Only complaint was the river cruise was with 600 other people. I'd have paid more for a better, smaller, guided tour. Also we loved the nights in the castle but just didn't have time to explore the area since we took the optional tour.. loved the optional tour and would replace the afternoon castle with the optional one!

We had the opportunity to see some many places in a rather short amount of time. Everything was interesting, well thought out, and pleasant.

our tour guide was fantastic, kept the group well organised, as well as awesome stories and jokes made for a great trip!

We visited the sites we want to see our guide kept everything moving provided the group with great information about each site and the local guides were excellent. We really enjoyed spending 2 nites in a castle. Only downer was St. Michael due to the crowds but that's not an insight problem other than to forwarn the groups in advance. All the optional experiences were top notch and worth the cost.

Very good trip great points of interest

It was a great trip with lots of highlights especially the Normandy Beaches, all the chateaus and the lovely towns and villages. was a wonderful tour director and added so much to the overall enjoyment of the tour along with our coach driver.

Our tour visited multiple locations in this part of France. The tour guide was very knowledgeable not only about the places visited but also the history of the area.

Great 1 week itinerary covering many beautiful stops. Beautiful varied stops with informative guides, tour director

Good but on the go the whole time. If you don't choose the option meals and tours you are left high and dry

Too busy, too fast paced, ;and not enough bathroom breaks. The option tours were a joke!! Only one, NEVER options. No A/C in most hotels. Far too hot. We were very disappointed with this trip.

If possible more free time. Dinner should never be optional when there is no place to eat, ie. Chateau de La Bourdaisiere

Well thought out itinerary with a good mix of activities, optional excursions and walking. We averaged about 9-12k steps each day and did all of the optional activities except for the Seine river cruise in Paris (sunset was after 10pm so it wouldn't have been dark/lit up anyway) and also skipped Moulin Rouge and opted for the DDay museum excursion vs Bayeaux tapestry (which will be closed for renvation begining September 2025 and lasting ~2years). Mont St Michel was beautiful and unique but by the time we arrived it was absolutely packed and we had barely enough free time to get lunch, lines were so long by mid-day so plan accordingly and opt for a quick counter-service crepe or sandwich. This was our 2nd guided tour and we also traveled with our 9 year old daughter. The tour guide, was fantasitc and super informative, he was a local of the areas we visited and he went out of his way to ensure we had the best time, especially with our daughter. Highlights of the trip were the Chateaus, Normandy beaches/museum and the coastal towns. Some of the included and optional dinners were fantastic and others were mediocre. For travelling in the summer, I would highly recommend a small handheld fan (less than $15 on Amazon) as multiple hotels did not have AC and the ones that did kept the temps around 74-78 and they don't all have windows to open for cool air. Since summer had such late sunsets the temps did not cool off until the middle of the night so having the handheld fan on our nightstands was very helpful. The Marriott Rive Gauche provided floor fans at our request after HVAC issues with essentially no air flow in our rooms. All hotel breakfasts were good with a nice variety and some fabulous local soft cheeses, all but one day had breakfasts at 7am with bus starts at 8am. Dinner was typically around 7-8pm by the time we actually ate and there was very little down time or free time if you opted for the excursions, which was fine with me. Overall a fantastic trip made even better by a great tour guide really made this trip special, so much so that I also inquired about the other tours he does with Insight.

Many days were very rushed, with brief stops and little time to explore before we moved on to the next stop. Several stops in smaller towns were just a quick lunch break (lunch is not quick at local restaurants so really just a time to hunt for a meal and then go back to the bus). Four nights were spent at more remote locations - so we could not easily walk around town on our own and explore. Getting a ride via taxi into one local town was discouraged as "not easy to do". Two of the four evenings included scheduled dinners at extra cost - essentially trapping participants into those dinners unless we took extra measures to buy food offsite during the day. The chateau stay was quirky the first night, but not comfortable for some of the group (heat, lack of fans in rooms to balance the lack of AC, bugs at night due to exterior lights attracting them), and the second night was just too much. France and the landmarks we visited were amazing, but I would not recommend this particular itinerary or tour to others. The same places can be visited with more breathing room in the schedule and better choices for overnight accommodations.