Tour de France

Tour de France - 3 weeks
Combines 3 of our French (or part-French) routes: Northern and Southern Burgundy, Bordeaux & the Dordogne, the Cévennes, Provence, Champagne, the Loire Valley, Alsace, our “Switzerland” route, and the Basque Country.

On this page, you'll find an overview of the trip, below. Click on the map to see details of cycling in each of the regions. Prices and departure dates are in the Tour de France Table, at the bottom of the page.

	Our Trips
	Overview Map of all of our routes Departure Calendar of our regular trips Guest-Initiated Trips Self-Guided Trips Charter Trips





	What's Included in the Trip Cost Accommodation Meals The Bike (usually) Transport within the Trip A Friendly Coordinator What's Not Included Additional Services you can add to the bike trip. Baggage Transfer Bike-Related Stuff “Access Packages” Reaching and / or leaving your trip.

	Related Travel Services Trip Prices Ready to Sign Up? Info for Trip Members Who Are We? Our Trip Philosophy Where Are We? Contact Us Home

A Certain “Joie de Vivre”

France is a special place, about which few are dispassionate. Her appeal is strongest amongst those who know her best. Some years ago, when the “Economist” did a statistical analysis of “Best Places to Live,” it put her 11th. But when they simply polled their staff, she won hands down.

A strong native culture partly insulates her from Anglo-Saxon influence. This complicates our ability to understand her – when it doesn’t provoke blind rage! But her frequent rejection of our certainties has naught to do with us. Rather, it is symptomatic of the way in which she sees herself, and of the unique prism through which she views the world (philosophy is a required subject in French secondary schools). If the path frustrates most of us, we are no less drawn to the result.

Those who have travelled in rural France will need no encouragement to return. Newcomers will be delighted at what they find. The French countryside is terrifically rewarding. Exploration leads to the roots of a delightful lifestyle.

It is no accident that Blue Marble’s base is in Paris. French culture fits ours in many respects (7 weeks’ paid vacation, for instance) and influences our style of travel even in other countries.

And then there is the food. And the wines! The French table is a deity: the great social organizer, leisure activity, consumer of disposable income. If French gastronomy has such prestige, it is because the French spend their time on it, and inevitably we shall, too. And then cycle through picture-book landscapes to work it off. Well, try to work it off.

Tour de France is an à la carte selection of our French routes. Each departure of the trip includes different itineraries. Some departures also incorporate our Swiss and Basque routes, which visit both France (the Jura and Savoie regions in the first case, the French Basque Country in the second) and her neighbors.

Photo of the Pont du Gard thanks to Tom Albrecht

Back to the regional map

*Tour de France*
2008 Dates	Baggage Services Offered* (optional)	Trip Prices † $US or C	Trip Prices † €	Region Visited
Spring, Early Summer Trips
May 17 - June 6	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,395	2,790€	Bordeaux & the Dordogne, the Cévennes, Provence
May 17 - June 6^#	Daily - Lite	$4,425	2,795€	Bordeaux & the Dordogne, Southern Burgundy, 1D, Provence — Trip Full
May 24 - June 13	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,475	2,820€	The Cévennes, Provence, the Loire Valley
May 25 - June 13^#	Daily - Lite	$4,195	2,650€	Southern Burgundy, 1D, Provence, the Loire Valley — Trip Full
June 1 - June 21	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,475	2,820€	Provence, the Loire Valley, the Basque Country
June 7 - June 27	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,320	2,720€	The Loire Valley, the Basque Country, Northern Burgundy
June 14 - July 4	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,320	2,720€	The Basque Country, Northern Burgundy, Southern Burgundy
June 14 - July 5	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,595	2,890€	The Basque Country, Northern Burgundy, Alsace
June 22 - July 12	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,195	2,650€	Northern Burgundy, Southern Burgundy, Switzerland
June 22 - July 12	Half - Lite	$4,155	2,720€	Northern Burgundy, Southern Burgundy, Bordeaux & the Dordogne — Trip Full
June 22 - July 12	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,320	2,720€	Northern Burgundy, Alsace, Switzerland
June 22 - July 12	Half - Lite	$4,465	2,790€	Northern Burgundy, Alsace, Bordeaux & the Dordogne — Trip Full
June 28 - July 19	Half - Lite	$4,695	2,860€	Alsace, Bordeaux & the Dordogne, the Cévennes — Trip Full
June 29 - July 19	Half - Lite	$4,465	2,790€	Southern Burgundy, Bordeaux & the Dordogne, the Cévennes — Trip Full
July 5 - July 25^#	Half - Lite	$4,465	2,790€	Bordeaux & the Dordogne, the Cévennes, 1P, Champagne — Trip Full
Late Summer, Autumn Trips
August 3 - August 23	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,195	2,750€	Northern Burgundy, the Loire Valley, Switzerland
August 9 - August 30	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,475	2,820€	The Loire Valley, Switzerland, Alsace
August 16 - September 5	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,475	2,820€	Switzerland, Alsace, the Loire Valley
August 16 - September 5	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,320	2,750€	Switzerland, Alsace, Southern Burgundy
August 23 - September 13	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,595	2,890€	Alsace, followed by either the Loire Valley or Southern Burgundy, followed by Bordeaux & the Dordogne or the Basque Country
August 30 - September 20	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,595	2,890€	The Loire Valley, Bordeaux & the Dordogne, the Cévennes
August 31 - September 20	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,450	2,790€	Southern Burgundy, Bordeaux & the Dordogne, the Cévennes
September 6 - September 26	Daily - Half - Lite	$4,450	2,790€	Bordeaux & the Dordogne, the Cévennes, Provence
* At least 4 riders must subscribe to a given baggage service for it to operate (except for Lite, which always operates on this trip). Services already confirmed to be operating appear in bold. If the “Daily” service is confirmed, the “Half” service may no longer be offered to future sign-ups, though it will be provided to those who have previously selected it. See here for a discussion of our baggage services.
† Prices in $ and € do not include precisely the same things. Click here for details, and for prices of optional extras (private single rooms, or baggage services). Prices for “Access Packages” vary depending on the regions of the trip’s start and end. For instance, the first departure, above, starts in Bordeaux & the Dordogne. The Access Package is thus the one you would use to reach Libourne, the start of the one-week trip visiting Bordeaux & the Dordogne. The trip ends in Provence. The Access Package is thus the one you would use to leave Aix-en-Provence, end of the one-week trip visiting Provence.
# A pound sign indicates that one or more independent nights are spent between travel regions. Hotel and breakfast are arranged by us, and included in the trip prices. A number (1 or 2) indicates a number of independent nights. A letter tells you where they are spent. These nights may fall in Paris (P), Burgundy’s capital city Dijon (D), Montbard (a provincial center in Burgundy, M), the Loire Valley's Tours (T), or in Aix-en-Provence (A). So, for instance, a notation 1D indicates that an independent night is spent in Dijon between two regions.