PARIS : most young people like to spend some time in Paris, but your programme needs to be very well planned in advance, otherwise you may well find that you waste a great deal of time in queues! We strongly advise that you consider asking us to make reservations for the principal sites and monuments you wish to visit at least three months before your arrival in Paris. This is particularly important if you wish to go to Versailles, to the top of the Eiffel Tower in mid-summer, to the Louvre, the Orsay Impressionist Museum, the Sainte Chapelle. Specific planning and early reservation will help you maximise your time in Paris. When you register your interest with us, we will provide you with a "shopping list" of suggestions around which your programme can be built.

NORMANDY - or rather the greater Normandy area from the Seine Valley to the coast, round to the Mont Saint Michel, down to Bayeux, Caen and Rouen - offers a wide range of lovely places to visit, all full of history, fascinating things to see and do, from a Camembert producer to the Bayeux tapestry, from Monet's garden to the town of Honfleur so beloved by the Impressionist painters, to the beaches and cemeteries of the 1944 Normany Landing, the spectacular World Heritage site of the Mont Saint Michel (and nearby St Malo) to the Peace Memorial at Caen and Jeanne d'Arc's history close to the glorious cathedral of Rouen!

PROVENCE. From Rouen you can go direct right down France on the world's fastest rail train, the TGV, at over 300kms/hr, to one of the most pleasant cities in France at the heart of one of the loveliest and most popular regions, Aix-en-Provence. Roman and medieval history, fountains and wonderful markets, great painters Cezanne and Van Gogh, natural environment - from the Camargue to the lavendar fields, to Marseille for fish soup and the Count of Monte Cristo...The bird sanctuary near Stes-Maries-de-la-mer is unforgettable! Of course, if you are in Aix during the (European) summer, there are many opportunities for all sorts of cultural happenings - music festivals, popular folklore spectacles, exhibitions, excursions - there is no time for young people to get bored!

From Aix, you have a number of options - go across the Languedoc to Perpignan and then into Spain (Barcelona is an absolutely fabulous city!); or take the train from Marseille to Florence or Rome; or if your group is "all French" and wants to remain in France, then the Côte d'Azur is the obvious destination.

The FRENCH RIVIERA. Based in Nice, you can easily radiate out to visit Monaco/Monte Carlo, Eze, Antibes, Cannes, Menton, the perfume capital Grasse, as well as the fabulous sites of Entrevaux, Vence, and Saint-Paul-de-Vence. They are all not-to-be-forgotten places! For a day-off from culture, why not an excursion to the magnificent Gorges du Verdon? An additional attraction if you are interested in painting - Renoir, Chagall, and Matisse are major attractions in Nice, while the Modern Art Museum in Nice is one of the finest in France.

INTEREST GROUPS & HOME STAY GROUPS. Many schools may have only a small number of students who wish to benefit from a home stay with a French family in order to "try out" their French, while there may be many others who would benefit from a general cultural and historical tour of France (and Spain/Italy), and who could therefore visit another region while waiting for the "French group" to meet up with them again. We are perfectly used to making arrangements for school tours in this way, and stress that we are at all times concerned to ensure that the families participating in the home-stays do so because they are keen on the cultural exchange and not on any financial reward!

ACCOMMODATION.  We are happy to arrange anything you wish! Hotel, Youth Hostel, International Student Hostel, Home-stay (where possible). In Paris, our preference is always to accommodate all our student groups in the Mije hostels in central Paris (Maison Internationale de la Jeunesse et des Etudiants). We have been using their facilities for nearly 25 years, and have never received any complaints.  There are many excellent Youth Hostels throughout France, some requiring many months of advanced booking but offering excellent value for money. We are quite happy to arrange any/all hotels you wish for your group.

TRAVEL IN FRANCE. In Paris, depending on how long you stay, we prepare a "carte orange" for each member of your group (unlimited bus, metro, RER travel in Paris), or provide carnets of RATP tickets if your stay is of short duration. For trips outside Paris (eg Versailles, Chartres, we provide you with tickets as required). All airport and station coach transfers are arranged. Travel through France - either by train or coach, we can make all your arrangements. And if you want us to make arrangements for hire car hire or minibus (up to 9-seaters, the legal limit in France without special licence), we can do this also for you - feedback from contented schools suggests that it is cheaper this way than reserving directly from abroad.

SCHOOL TRIPS TO FRANCE CAN BE FUN!  For a selection of relaxing and educational ideas and destinations which we believe to be worth your while considering building into your programme, please visit our School Tours programme with this title : School Trips to France can be fun!

OTHER EXAMPLES OF ACTUAL TOURS AND COSTS CAN BE FOUND IN THE SAME SECTION : SCHOOL TOURS AND HOME STAYS ON THIS WEBSITE

PLEASE CONTACT US BY EMAIL!  So that we can discuss together your proposed school tour to France, we invite you to contact us by email, or ask your travel agent to do so on your behalf. It is only through such discussion that we can offer you a completely personalised school tour programme which will meet all your own requirements. As soon as you register your interest, Annie, who acts as Advisor, Programmer and Co-ordinator for all our school programmes, will be in touch with you, or your travel agent, to discuss the next steps.

cpederf@cpederf.com