Provence Tours

[Q52]

Has anyone used Tania Kucharski Dubrevil of Provence Tours for excusions out of Marseille? She is offering me a good price for a private tour of Les Baux de Provence and I am looking for a reference from an experience cruiser.Thanks.

[PIC-2 psychologist]

Q52,

 

Could do you way better at 7pm on 25 May, but here goes! Our port stop in Marseille is narrow 8:30am (not 7:00am as in our first 3 Italy ports) to 6:00pm (not 7:00 pm, etc.) and I was responsible for selecting guide/driver and itinerary for this port (on a Sunday). It was obvious from reading multiple postings to get away from Marseille.

 

Also read of the glories of Les Baux (go to their web site and review: http://www.lesbauxdeprovence.com/us/index.html) the various realities is this is a minimum 1 hr drive from port, the views great, the medieval "structures" are rooms carved into stone, and the crowds (in season, or on weekends) are enormous. Also strongly recommend you review your options at this web site: http://www.provencebeyond.com.

 

We will leave Marseille at 8:30, make a mad dash for Les Baux to see the view and hear about it, will continue through Glanum (its on the way, if major monument ruins not covered in plastic, stop), go to St. Remy (6 miles) do Circuit Van Gogh, locations re Nostradamus, perhaps a very quick picnic lunch or similar food at store with tables, then on to Avignon (11 miles) for I think a drive around (guide thinks maybe a visit to Palace of Popes, I think at most a short walk around) and then a mad dash back to the ship to be there sometime between 5:00 and 5:30.

 

If you want to know how this worked out, email me 9 June. If you have left for Europe already, sorry. If you want an alternative and your date is not 25 May, we have booked Alain Lesomptier at Ventoux Decouvertes (http://www.ventoux-decouvertes.com) -- please mention my name (David Lachar).

 

Good luck,

David

traveltoports@yahoo.com

[Destin Mom]

Great itinerary plan PIC2. For those going to Les Baux and touring Le Chateau, tell anyone with kids there is an exceptional treasure hunt game- pick up the booklet when getting your tickets. There are letters hidden all throughout the ruins and clues in the booklet for finding them. Our kids loved it (they were 4 and 5 at the time). We saw teenagers and some adults doing it as well. Great way to see the ruins while keeping everyone entertained...part of culturespaces program in Europe. (We did the culturespaces theater activity in Orange as well but it was not nearly as good as Le Chateau des Baux).

 

Palace of the Popes in Avignon is huge. We picked up audio headsets and did a self guided tour- took about an hour.

 

We spent a week in Provence last June (returning for a week this summer). The crowds were not nearly as bad as we feared and in some places, there was no crowd. Have a wonderful trip!

[Leejnd4]

Q52, to answer your specific question: we used Tania on our tour of Provence a couple years ago. She did a fine job. She wasn't quite as good as the tour guide we had out of Nice (Michel of Revelation Tours) but she was also quite a bit less expensive. Her English is a bit heavily accented and not always easy to understand, and she wasn't nearly as entertaining as Michel - she was much quieter, and more of a driver than a guide, at least in comparison to Michel (but then he's in a league of his own - the best private guide we've ever had - anywhere!). The van was quite comfortable, and her driving was safe. We were very happy with the job she did.

 

She even went beyond the call of duty -- we were in Lex Beaux on Mother's Day, and I was on this cruise with my mother. At my request, Tania made lunch reservations for us at a lovely little restaurant at the top of the village, and arranged for them to have a spectacular bouquet of flowers handed to my Mom by the waiters during lunch! The look on Mom's face was priceless - it was one of those never-to-be-forgotten moments. :)

 

Lex Beaux is a beautiful place - I especially loved the way the structures are built into the stone of the mountain.

 

You'll have a great day with Tania - at a very fair price.