Tours in Provence

[sondi 14]

We will be in Marseilles for one day on our cruise and have been corresponding

with several companies about a tour to the Provence area while we are there.

Has anyone had any experience with Taxi Durand, Revelation Tours, or

Provence Sightseeing companies in that area. We would like to know what

others have experienced with any of them before we book.

Thanks for any help you can give.

[dkcruiser]

Review of our provence private shore excursion: I challenge you to find better prices too!

 

PRIVATE EXCURSION FROM MARSEILLE PORT

 

For Marseille and the surrounding countryside of Provence you would be hard pressed to find a better driver/guide than Tania of Provence Tours (http:/provencetours.free.fr or provencetours@free.fr). Notice I say driver/guide; this is because she not only drives you in a comfortable mini-van that can take up to 6 people, she has a great wealth of knowledge about the region’s history and culture. She took us to the former Roman city and later one of Vincent Van Gogh’s favourite haunts,Arles, the castle and town of Tarascon, scenic and medieval Les Baux de Provence, and the great ruins of Abbaye de Montmajour. For each place Tania would show us important sights and give interesting information and, if there was time, allow us to run around on our own. Instinctively she seemed to know when we needed to be guided and when it was more suitable to just discover on our own. We found her very friendly, fun, flexible (she included what we were looking for), and her English was excellent. Perhaps best of all are her reasonable rates. If your ship docks at Marseille and you don’t want to try seeing the region on your own, then have a look at her website. We highly recommend her.

[Leejnd4]

HOLY MOLY! I just checked her prices, and they are HALF what we were quoted by Michel at Revelation! This sounds wonderful. I have read some wonderful reviews of Tania as well.

 

Sondi, interested? We may be able to interest some of the people who are joining us on the Monte Carlo tour as well. Her van only holds 7 people instead of 8 in Michel's so we can only take 2 or 3 more people, but even if we don't find anyone, it's only 78 Eu per person just for the four of us for an 8-hour trip. She also does 4-hour trips.

 

I'll post this info on our roll-call thread. :)

 

Thanks for suggesting her, David!

 

LeeAnne

[Petoonya]

LeeAnne,

 

A question for you on some info that you posted a little before Christmas on visiting Cinque Terre. You said that when you go to Portofino that you would "skip right over" to Cinque Terre. Can you tell me how I can do that...visiting on a different ship also in May.

Thanks!

[Leejnd4]

Petoonya,

 

Yes, that is my intention, although I don't have concrete plans yet. I would like to first stop in Santa Margherita, as I haven't been there yet and it's very close to Portofino. From there I'll take a train to the Cinque Terre. I haven't looked into train timetables yet, that's still on my list of things to do. I'll check into that soon, and post a new thread with that info.

 

Cinque Terre is the only place I intend to visit on this cruise that I have already been to. I've been all over Italy, but on my other two Italian ports of call (Livorno & Civitavecchia) I'm making a point of going off-the-beaten-path to areas I haven't actually seen before. But the Cinque Terre -- ahhhh, I just can't miss an opportunity to be there again, even though this will be my fourth time there!

 

LeeAnne

[CrusinFloyd]

We used Catherine at http://www.provence-travel.com for our day in Marsielle. We were able to visit Aix-en-Provence, Lourmarin, a couple of perched villages(Bonniex and LaCoste) and she arranged a short stop for a wine tasting at a local winery. She also made reservations for lunch at a lovely little place in Lourmarin. I think we were the only tourists there, the rest of the people were locals and there was even a birthday party going on at one table. She is highly knowlegable of the area and history and I would highly recomend her.

[Leejnd4]

Thanks, CrusinFloyd! I will check her website out.

 

One question for any of you who've been to the area: my cruise stops in Marseille on a Sunday, when I understand many places are closed. Can you tell me if it still be worthwhile to do this type of tour on a Sunday?

 

LeeAnne

[ClaudiaF]

we used Louisette Durand ( of Taxidurand) and she was great.

http://Http://www.taxidurand.com

Picked us up in Marseille and spent an incredible day.

Highly recommend her !