Unique Provence and Lavender field tours

Picture the scene: a clear blue sky, a warm breeze playing over your skin. The contented drone of bees and the heady, intoxicating smell of lavender. A glass of chilled, local rosé and a refreshing dip in a pool after a day of glorious touring. It’s hard to imagine anything more relaxing and picture perfect, but this could be your reality. For nine days, unique and exquisite tours of Provence take you not just to the lavender fields and farms of Provence, but also to some of the most beautiful and historic sites to be found in the south of France.

Have you always dreamed of visiting France, but felt it was too daunting to plan a trip or choose what to visit on your own? Are you worried that a package tour will be impersonal and that your time will be spent travelling, rushing and not savouring local sights? Discover Trip USA France. They specialise in small group tours with an English-speaking guide who really knows and understands the places you’re visiting. You’ll have time to relax and enjoy each of the many fascinating sites you visit, making memories that will last a lifetime.

Hand-picked sites in a lavender special

Choose a nine-day lavender special starting in sunny Montpellier to really soak up the atmosphere of this idyllic area. Exploring the Provence and Occitanie region, this trip takes place in July, when the lavender fields are in full bloom. The landscape here has a gentle purple hue at this time of year, and the seductive scent of lavender infuses the local towns and villages. There is something truly magical about Provence when the lavender flowers are at their peak.

Making memories

The highlight of your trip to the area is a chance to pick and distil your own lavender. The tour will take you a number of gorgeous lavender fields including the exquisite, high altitude plateau of Sault where the cool breeze carries the aroma and where you’ll enjoy lunch in a secluded villa in the countryside overlooking Mont Ventoux. You’ll also stop at the famous Abbey de Senanque where the monks cultivate lavender, and visit a local lavender farm to harvest some lavender by hand and then make your own bottle of essential oil at a distillery. The perfect memento to take home with you. The day will also include an authentic Provençal lunch in the heart of the local countryside.

Enjoy the history of France

Your tour to Occitanie and Provence will take you to quaint villages and some of the most fascinating historic sites in France. The historic walled town of Carcassonne – which was the setting for the 1990s film Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and has been the setting for many other films since. You’ll also visit the imposing Roman aqueduct at Pont de Gard and the UNESCO-listed town of Avignon, with its famous bridge and Palace of the Popes.

The winding medieval streets of the hilltop village of Les-Baux-de-Provence are also on the itinerary, and this lovely village will steal a little of your heart! And you’ll Gordes, the prettiest perched town of Provence, Van Gogh’s Arles and the St Paul de Mausole Asylum in Saint-Remy de Provence, where the painter lived and painted for a year.

Immerse yourself in local culture

Your stay includes breakfast and lunch every day as well as four evening meals. Your guide will give you plenty of information to make a meal selection on other evenings to really make the most of your surroundings. Your lunches include a barbecue in the heart of the Camargue on a ranch that is home to the black bulls and white horses for which the area is famous.

On another day you’ll follow in the footsteps of pilgrims to the beautiful village of St-Guilhem-le-Desert along the famous Santiago de Compostela trail in the morning. After a restaurant lunch overlooking a dramatic rocky gorge, you’ll enjoy an afternoon picnic in the grounds of medieval Chateau Exindre and learn to play the gentle traditional French ball game, pétanque.

Beachside beauty

You’ll spend six nights of your stay at the boutique hotel of Les Coquilles in the picturesque seaside town of Palavas-lès-Flots. Just a few steps away from the Mediterranean Sea, the hotel is also close to the town, so that you can spend your free time relaxing on the beach, shopping or enjoying local bars, restaurants and even the town’s casino.

Air-conditioned luxury

Enjoying the summer heat is a real bonus of this tour, and relaxing outside a café or restaurant on long, warm evenings is a must, but you want to know that you can sleep comfortably in a cool room. Each of the three hotels you’ll stay in during this tour is fully air-conditioned as well as having free WiFi and its own unique character and ideal location. Your transport throughout the tour will also be air-conditioned.

Heart of Provence

La Maison des Ocres will be your home for two nights. Surrounded by lavender fields and set in the gorgeous sun-kissed village of Roussillon, the hotel has a pool, perfect for a dip before dinner and an aperitif of chilled, local rosé. Your last night of the trip will be spent in the comfortable Ibis Styles hotel just half a mile from Montpellier airport. With a pool, gym and brasserie restaurant on site, you’ll have the chance for a good night’s sleep before heading home.

And we must mention the farewell dinner which will be held in the walled city of Aigues-Mortes from where the 7th and 8th crusades departed in the 13th century. You’ll dine in a beautiful 16th century mansion, a gourmet meal that fulfils your dreams of wonderful French cuisine. And a guaranteed cherished memory of a truly exquisite tour of Provence.