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french The Art of Intelligent Travel Organising Exterior of Chateau Les Crayeres THE ART OF INTELLIGENT TRAVEL ORGANISING AS OUR NUMEROUS repeat clients over many years know, the attractions of France as a holiday destination remain countless; from the olive groves and lavender beds of Provence to the granite cliffs of Brittany, from the familiar rusticity of a Norman inn to the grandeur of a turreted chateau-hotel in the Dordogne, from a gastronomic feast created by a Michelin-starred chef to a simple wild mushroom omelette in a village auberge. Whether you are looking for a touring holiday, a short break or a long, leisurely stay in an exquisite hotel, France offers you abundant choice. With French Expressions you benefit from our twenty-five years of experience in constructing successful ‘itineraries’ and holiday combinations, often suggesting the less familiar and off-the-beaten-track areas that nevertheless have gems of hotels and countless local attractions. To the ‘old favourites’ we started with in 1989 we have added new finds and now offer what we believe to be the most comprehensive range of the very best hotels throughout France. Our tailor-made holidays and the personal service from a true independent specialist allow you to enjoy France to the full, at outstanding value for money. Savour France with French Expressions. Marcelle Hoff Owner and Joint Managing Director PHONE 01392 441240 FOR RESERVATIONS AND FURTHER INFORMATION 3 french Calais Lille NORTHERN FRANCE Cherbourg Le Havre Rouen NORMANDY Reims PARIS Strasbourg BRITTANY ALSACE Rennes Dijon Angers Tours Nantes LOIRE VALLEY BURGUNDY BEAUJOLAIS BERRY FRENCH ALPS Lyon AUVERGNE BORDEAUX REGION RHONE VALLEY Bordeaux DORDOGNE TARN AND LOT Avignon Aix en Provence GASCONY Toulouse PROVENCE OTE DAUR Biarittz Nice BASQUE COUNTRY LANGUEDOC Marseille ROUSSILLON Perpignan CORSICA 4 Contents WHO WE ARE 6 OUR HOLIDAY OPTIONS 7 French Expressions offers you the very best TOURING HOLIDAYS 8 hotels in a vast range of regions throughout PROVENCE 16 France, from Normandy to the Pyrenees, and Ancient land of lavender beds and olive groves. from the Basque country to the Alps. Ideal for touring holidays or long, lazy stays in good CÔTE D’AZUR 28 quality hotels as well as short breaks, perhaps for Bordering the Mediterranean, beaches and hills, palm trees ,and mimosa. a weekend away or a special occasion. CORSICA 36 Mountainous and rugged, with turquoise seas and golden beaches. TARN AND LOT 40 Land of Toulouse-Lautrec and the Cathars. Combination of art and history. LANGUEDOC-ROUSSILLON 43 Cherry-tree clad hills, vines, mountains, and a long sandy coastline. AUVERGNE 48 Mediaeval architectural gems in a picturesque mountainous landscape. DORDOGNE 51 Turreted houses of golden stone, river valleys and rolling hills. BEAUJOLAIS AND RHONE VALLEY 54 Exquisite scenery of vines and golden-stone villages. Strasbourg BASQUE COUNTRY 57 Unexplored corner of southern France, coast and mountains. BORDEAUX AND COGNAC COUNTRY 60 Home to noble wines and great brandies. Explore at your leisure. LOIRE VALLEY 63 Majestic rivers and regal castles. Ideal for touring and short breaks. BRITTANY 70 For sunsets, seascapes, and sandy shores. An excellent long stay destination. NORMANDY 74 Familiar, cosy, easy to reach. Continually popular. FRENCH ALPS 81 Picturesque lakes and mountains, from Geneva to the Mont Blanc massif. SHORT BREAKS AND OVERNIGHT STAYS 85 For brightening up a short trip or brief stopover en route to your final destination. PARIS 89 Proud and romantic, an ever-popular capital city. HOLIDAYS BY AIR 92 CAR HIRE 93 HOLIDAYS BY RAIL 94 HOLIDAYS WITH OWN CAR 95 GENERAL INFO 96 5 WHAT FRENCH EXPRESSIONS IS ALL ABOUT AND WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU French Expressions is an independent specialist tour operator owned and run by Marcelle Hoff and Martin Garland, who set up the company in 1989, offering tailor-made holidays to France with flexible, personal service. We have grown over the years so that we now also offer holiday programmes to Italy, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, New Zealand and luxury hotels around the world, including Asia and other European destinations. We also have a range of special interest programmes including Spa and Family Holidays. Independent specialist operator How we price your holiday We are an independent specialist tour operator, owned and run by All our holiday arrangements have been designed to afford you Marcelle Hoff and Martin Garland. We pride ourselves on being maximum flexibility and freedom of choice. We include travel an independent specialist, which means that we interpret your arrangements, whether it be flight, ferry or tunnel crossing or rail demands and requirements more closely to provide you with the travel as well as many nights' hotel accommodation as you want, holiday you want. We want to ensure a successful match between in as many different places. client and holiday and we work very hard to make sure of this. So, for any further information or to make a reservation, just Special Offers phone us on 01392 441240. We have negotiated for many of the hotels in this brochure to provide special offers for our clients. These may range from free Personal Service and Professional Solutions room upgrades to flowers and wine for honeymooners. Details Personal service remains the foundation stone of our company. are to be found on the relevant hotel pages. We put together our holidays ourselves, with our clients in mind. We know the hotels personally and we have written every word in Our Price Guarantee this brochure ourselves. Contact with French Expressions means We guarantee that once you have made a firm booking with a contact with the people who know these holidays, who will share deposit payment, there will be no increases in the price of your their personal thoughts and experiences with you. We work hard holiday due to currency movements. If, for any reason, there have to give you the holiday you want. We pride ourselves on being a been changes in the price of the holiday you want, you will be professional company, providing you with the speed of response, advised at the time of booking. accuracy of information and level of detail you demand. We also aim to offer the right solution to your needs, tailored for you Full Financial Protection personally. Full financial protection is offered when you book a holiday with us. Our air holidays are ATOL protected by the Civil Aviation Flexible Arrangements Authority. Our ATOL number is 3076. As a member of the In order for you to receive the holiday you want, we provide Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited (ABTOT), as much flexibility as possible. You choose the departure day, Expressions Holidays has provided a bond (licence number 5263) the duration, the type of hotel, the number of hotels, the room to protect non-flight packages commencing in and returning to the type, the board basis, method of travel, and class of travel. Our UK and other non-flight packages excluding pre-arranged travel to arrangements, whilst inclusive of travel and accommodation, and from your destination. Please refer to our booking conditions allow you ‘time-off’ in between, for example, if you want to visit for full details. We are also members of ABTA (W1080) and AITO friends or explore on your own for a while. We can quote you for (the Association of Independent Tour Operators), an organisation accommodation only but you will find that the more arrangements of some of Britain’s best specialist tour operators. we can include for you, the better value the holiday will be. 6 OUR RANGE OF HOLIDAYS, HOTELS AND TRAVEL OPTIONS Our passion for showing you the richness and diversity of France, and for offering you the right holiday solution without compromising your independence, means that we offer you an almost limitless choice of holiday types, range of different hotels and travel options. Chateau de Vigiers, Dordogne Our Range of Holidays Our Hotels A French Expressions holiday is as simple or as complex A stay at one of our hotels is at the heart of a French as you want it to be. From a stay in just one place to Expressions holiday. Our hotels have been personally touring the length of France or combining one or more selected to offer you high standards of comfort, service and diverse regions, French Expressions caters for your wishes. cuisine. Some of our hotels are renowned for their charm and character, whilst others provide rest and relaxation STAYS IN ONE HOTEL amid an atmosphere of luxury and style. Stay in just one place for as many nights as you want. Ideal for a short break, a special occasion or a long, relaxing holiday. STAYS IN TWO OR MORE HOTELS Stay at two or more hotels in the same region, perhaps one on the coast and the other in the country, or combine regions. Any number of combinations are possible. A perfect way of combining sightseeing with relaxation somewhere completely different. TOURING HOLIDAYS A touring holiday is a popular way of seeing the diversity of France in one go. It is quite amazing how much can actually be visited in the space of ten to fourteen days. Take one of our suggested Touring Holidays or ask us to put together a tour for Bastide de Tourtour, Provence you based on the hotels and regions in our brochure, allowing a different number of nights in each place, combining coast and countryside. You can even ask us to book places that are not Our Travel Options featured in our brochure, just ask for a tailor-made quotation. The options we provide reflect the diversity of the range of holidays to France that we are offering.