Monaco and Perched Medieval Villages - private & Guided Tour

This was supposed to be a small group luxury 10 hour day tour. Unbeknown to us the tour was actually two halves with my partner and I the only people on the first half, to the medieval villages. As it was only us we asked if we could visit Grasse but not do the perfume factory and the guide agreed. But then took us to the factory - we thought we were just parking there but were then taken off for an hours guide and to the shop. To be fair we did enjoy this, but it wasn’t what we had agreed with him. But we then saw none of Grasse. We then spent 30 minutes in Gourdon which is a wonderful village and had enough time for a quick coffee. We were told we were going to have a photo stop at Tourettes sur Loup but then he refused as he said he couldn’t park anywhere. Next stop at St Paul de Vence where we had enough time to grab a sandwich and see the village. He said several times ‘it’s a long day’ and we felt like we were being rushed round. He then needed to go into Nice to collect the other 6 joining the group and to collect a power cable from home. As Nice is so busy this added a lot of time. He didn’t seem to then cope with 8 guests, lacked organisation when we went to the next stops and it was the group telling him where to meet and asking about how long we had at each place. As we were so late for the last stop, we only had ten minutes to enjoy the garden at the top of Eze. Rather than drop us at a place such as in Monte Carlo he made us go into the car park with him. He didn’t seem to know what he was doing. Shame as this had the potential to be a great tour. We did enjoy the places but the guide spoilt the experience due to the lack of it that he had.

Our driver Michel was terrific. Super knowledge and so friendly. We thoroughly enjoyed the visits to some of the villages in Provence like Eze. But Gourdon was special. We would have liked more time there but overall the outing was well worth it. Michel even took us around the F1 Circuit in Monaco which was great.

This was definitely the highlight of our trip. Out guide, François Xavier (FX), was absolutely phenomenal. He has so much knowledge on the history of France and is very personable. I have done many tours and FX is by far the best tour guide I have ever had. The villages were so beautiful and Monaco was awesome! Highly recommend this tour.

+10

FX was our tour guide and he was excellent, friendly and very knowledgeable. He brought us to the beautiful sites of the French Riviera. I would highly recommend him and this tour company. Thank you for an excellent day!!