Optional Excursions
Here's a list of optional excursions you can enjoy during your vacation. Whether it's a special dinner, a local show or a special behind-the-scenes glimpse into an historical site, optional excursions are a wonderful way to enrich your vacation even further. Plus, they give you flexibility. We include the must-see sites and experiences, and we also understand that people take interest in different activities and may want to craft a more personal vacation by hand-picking optional excursions that appeal to them.
Availability is subject to sufficient participation, weather conditions, seasonal suitability, days of operation, group interests, and general feasibility for your vacation. The approximate value listed gives you a good, general idea of what you can expect to pay but may vary once you are on your vacation. Some information provided might be in a foreign currency; you can use our online
currency converter for exchange rate information.
CITY: ArlesAn Afternoon Visit To Nimes The Mediterranean climate of Nimes cultivates, above all, the art of living well. The sun shines 300 days a year, and when the last rays descend, the terraces become lively with conversation and the city is jubilant. From the market place to the arena, from the Jardins de la Fontaine to the discreet courtyards of private mansions, friendliness is the rule, whatever the weather. It is here that Roman and contemporary architecture meet in a symbiosis that is unique to the Mediterranean area. Accompany your local expert on a discovery tour through centuries, relax in the Fontaine Gardens and encounter the full range of savoir vivire of southern French.
Approximate value: EUR €38 per person
CITY: AvignonAfternoon Excursion To The Pont Du Gard And The City Of Uzes No other building in southern France is as famous as the Roman Aqueduct of the Pont du Gard. After a photo-stop, we continue towards Uzes, set in the severe yet charming garrigues countryside, overlooking the Alzon Valley. Take your time to stroll this charming city before your local expert accompanies you back to Avignon.
Approximate value: EUR €36 per person
CITY: LyonThe "Traboules" And The Silk Of Lyon Perhaps you have heard about the "traboules" of Lyon. But do you know the meaning of the word? And have you ever "trabouled" through Vieux Lyon or the slopes of the Croix-Rousse? This tour will tell you all about the famous hidden passageways and the city's efforts to preserve them. The passageways were used mostly by the silk weavers to protect their goods from rain while crossing the city. The "Maison des Canuts" the silk weaver's museum or a workshop, are well worth a visit, and as the guided inside visit will be narrated by authentic "canuts", this place offers a fascinating insight into the silk industry
Approximate value: EUR €34 per person
Le Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrive Beaujolais wine is merely fun, not quite distinguished. But the countryside is lovely: rugged hills and winding roads, villages with ancient stone churches, forest ridges touched at sunset by tendrils of fog. It's like the wilder parts of Napa, but with church bells and chateaux. This excursion is not only about wine tasting, it is about the origin of wine , the golden stone hills, as the inhabitants call them, when the yellowish sedimentary rock glows in the evening light of a near sunset.
Approximate value: EUR €39 per person
CITY: MaconCormatin - Palace Of A Fairy Tale Time Cormatin is one of those secret sites that you find only if you leave the beaten track. It is an impressive but intimate water castle that stands in a beautiful park. Fireplaces, ceilings and paneling, tapestries and furniture of the period add to this evocation of life during the time of the "Three Musketeers". The drive there itself familiarizes you with the beautiful countryside of this part of France, where white Charolais cattle graze peacefully and where villages take on picture-book aspects with flowers in the front yards and narrow lanes, and where people still have the time to stop and chat.
Approximate value: EUR €35 per person
Chardonnay & Maconnais Wine Tasting Hardly any other white wine is so popular world-wide than the Chardonnay. This area located between Lyon and Macon is home to a whole variety of this fine and buttery white variety. But also the landscape has a lot to offer - rolling hills, covered with vineyards along the banks of the river Rhone, every now and then dotted with one of the countless castles of France. Explore the home of the Chardonnay grapes and taste some of its famous product of recent years.
Approximate value: EUR €39 per person
CITY: NiceGrace, Glamour, Glitter - An Evening In Monaco Two words which evoke a magical dream world. Monte-Carlo. We will try to help you discover the many facets of the Principality of Monaco. Monaco's exceptional location, between mountain and sea, its gardens, all qualities which make it the ideal destination for a romantic evening in an unforgettable setting. In 1997, Monaco was dressed up to the nines for the 700th anniversary of the Grimaldi Family Dynasty. We will start our evening with a dinner overlooking the bay of Monaco, and old Monte Carlo
Approximate value: EUR €85 per person
CITY: ParisMona Lisa's Smile And The Louvre Museum Your guide will bring to life the most celebrated treasures of the impressive Louvre Museum, including the famous 'Mona Lisa', the masterpiece of Leonardo da Vinci. Built originally as a royal fortress in the middle ages, Francois I's chateau was then linked to the Tuileries palace by the Grande Galerie, forming a huge complex, and in 1793 the Central Arts Museum was opened to the public. The Louvre holds 35,000 works of art divided into eight departments: paintings, prints and drawings, sculpture, decorative arts, Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities, Egyptian antiquities, Near Eastern antiquities and Islamic art.
Approximate value: Please check back later per person
An Evening At The Moulin Rouge The Moulin Rouge Theater is the epitome of French cabaret shows. Enjoy a dinner at the Moulin Rouge before you admire the colorful show "Feerie" featuring more than 100 artists and dancers, and more than 1000 costumes
Approximate value: EUR €159 per person
The Artist's Quarter Of Montmartre Join our local expert on a short walking tour of the lanes and squares around Sacre Coeur Church. Admire a spectacular view over the roofs of the City of Light and love. Listen to the stories, and admire the artwork of the artists at Place du Tertre where some of the French impressionists started their career. There is free time before your local expert provides a short orientation of the city on the way back to the hotel.
Approximate value: EUR €41 per person
Please note that some amenities, features and enhancements are only available on 2011 river and small-ship cruise departures.