Normandy, Brittany & The Loire Valley

Insight Travel expanded the tour group to 39 people including 7 people extending from another Insight trip. Our group was too large for everyone to room in the main Chateau in the Loire Valley. All the solo participants including myself and some other couples were were forced to stay in upstairs garrett style rooms in the annex unconnected to the chayeau. The room had one old floor lamp to try to extend into the room for the only lighting beyond the little lights by the bed. Clearly dangerous wiring and all huge wooden beams under sloping ceilings were a danger warning. There was no fire suppression system not even fire extinguishers. We had to climb a long broken staircase. The manager said not to use the second staircase closest to our rooms which was very long and steep with worn treads. The only window was floor to four feet high with wiring covering the lower portion. Consequently in the event of a fire it would be difficult to climb out the window and jump two stories to the courtyard. Since Insight Travel does not prioritize life safety, it's impossible for me to recommend any Insight trips. That's unfortunate since many of my large group of senior friends are traveling multiple times a year since covid. I'm the first to use Insight and the were curious about the trip. They are astonished by this terrible company decision.

Enjoyed the trip. Probably one too many chateaux/castles visited. Normandy sites excellent. Wish dinners were earlier. 7:00PM or later dinner with an early morning departure is too late for us.

We would have preferred an extra night in St. Malo, and only one night at the chateau in the Loire Valley. We also would have preferred more time in Honfleur, and not only enough time for lunch. Exploring Honfleur would have been more enjoyable and memorable than the visit to the apple farm.

Apologies… this was not the tour I wanted and specified requested from my travel agent. I specifically requested a WW 2 type tour of the Normandy beaches and such. Enjoyed the time with my wife, up every morning before the sun to drive 1-2 hours to see another castle, church, vineyard, or orchard was not in my vacation plans.

I have submitted a detailed e-mail to : guestrelationsna@ttc.com

Not enough time spent in Normandy. could have been better and the tour guide to engage more. didn't give us much time to go thru museum etc.

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

This is a very demanding tour that needs to be better communicated in description of the tour.

It was a very nice Itinerary some of the stops were a bit higher paced than expected. The Hotel’s were great and our tour guide Vanessa was absolutely wonderful. She was extremely knowledgeable and gracefully helped a few of us with issues we had.

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

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, was so passionate about sharing all his information about the stops and the countryside.

This is a fast paced tour with much to see! 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.

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.

Geographically a great circuit, but 2nights each in Deauville and Chateau de la Bourdasiere meant toing and froing for day excursions. They were also remote for eating anything but the 'optional' which were over priced and average quality. These were also the accomodation low lights.

Guide was a little arrogant and unapproachable. Strongly opinionated. He had a very good knowledge of the history and culture of the places we visited. We wouldn't do itinerary with such a large group in future. Places visited were amazing though.

Our tour director was amazing.

The first few days were wonderful, but then the pace slowed down a lot. The final two or three days were just seeing different Chateaus, one of which had zero history or anything interesting about it. The final full day was almost all driving. One day of Chateaus could have been eliminated for more time in Paris or St. Malo. Hotels were of good quality (but occasionally lacking much-needed AC), but breakfast options were sometimes limited, and locations were less than ideal. I love exploring towns on my own in the evenings, and most were a very far walk (45 mn) from anything. It was disappointing that we did not get to go to the Moulin Rouge the final night, as advertised.

Be prepared for not much downtime. Too many chateaus, only need to see one. Spend more time in Saint Malo and Omaha Beach area. Staying at château de la bourdaisiere was not a good experience. It was 90+ degrees outside, we were in the annex second floor with no air conditioning only one window to open. Too rustic. The calvados visit was not necessary.

A very extensive informative itinerary. One is immersed in the French culture and able to experience all that northern France has to offer. The culinary experiences were a delight and the ability to share our journey with like-minded people added a pleasant social dimension to the tour. Vive La France!

It was a great trip, and our guide was fantastic! Normandy was unbelievable!

We covered a lot of ground. Very busy and worth it. More time needed at the Normandy WW2 museum. Loved the hotel choices.

Get to Paris a few days early to get your body clock adjusted, and to account for travel delays. We didn’t. Do we missed Paris, really. Cab rides to 2 touristy sites does not give the city its due.

Wonderful places to visit & excellent guides!!

The primary reason for the trip was to visit Normandy and the D-Day battle areas. We spent one half day there which was very disappointing. Most of the hotels were fine except for the chateau near Tours. The temperatures were in the upper 80'sF and the chateau did not have air conditioning. The meal plan was not considerate to me. There were a couple of places, Deauville, and Tours, were we were several kilometers from the village and limited or no food available at the hotel. It forced us to buy the meal excursion. The tour guides were average. When left in a town at lunch, the tour guide didn't give any suggestions as to where we should eat. At the end of the trip, the Marriott Rive Gauche didn't have their AC working and it was hot in Paris.

This trip needed more time in a few places and a better redtsursnt to experience tge oysters. Hitels were very nice, castle stay did not offer food selection timely. Choices were minimal and amt sparse. A bowl to seeve scrambled eggs for 39 people. Nit to Insights standard.

A VERY MOVING AND MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCE. INSIGHT PUT TOGETHER AN EXCELLENT ITINERARY. WE HAD A WONDERFUL TOUR GUIDE AND DRIVER.

There is a lot of walking and stairs. I think that needs to be stated in the description of the trip.

Great pace. The places were great. Roen was probably my least favorite. Didn't need as much time there- but would have liked more time in Honfleur. Accommodations were great. Food first night was probably my least favorite. Our guide was excellent. Overall, FANTASTIC trip!

My favorite day was at the D Day beaches of Normandy.

Far too rushed. Have previously given my opinion!

Wide range of interesting places visited with two overnight stops of two nights each. An advantage to start and finish in Paris.

Lovely assortment of Paris, little fishing villages, chateaus, history, churches etc.

Great trip that gives a great overview of the area. Important to note that there really isn’t an overview/tour of Paris. If you have never been you will want to add on time pre or post tour and see the main sights. This is a fast paced tour with full days. With the dinners you can count on early breakfast at 6:30-7 am and back to hotel at around 9pm most days. Plan a few days to relax at the end. We did have about an hour most days to freshen up before dinner. Casual attire and good walking shoes.

Great itinerary, width a good blend of historical events, cultural information and charming accommodations.

It was very thorough and covered the high points of the area. The hotels were good and varied, however, older travelers should be aware that, although the bathrooms were fully equipped with plenty of hot water and so on, the tub and shower arrangements were hazardous.

Great tour, well organised and