2025 CHAMPAGNE + BURGUNDY + ALSACE TOUR
June 2nd-11th 2025
( 10 days/ 9 nights )
SUMMARY ITINERARY
The tour starts with a Dover to Calais DFDS ferry crossing
Our afternoon ferry from Dover arrives in Calais around 4.00 pm and it is then less than 50 miles to our chateau hotel near Bethune
The following day our tour starts with two night in France's Epernay region, the centre of the Champagne area, two nights in the Beaune region, the wine centre of Burgundy, three nights in the beautiful Alsace region in eastern France and one night in Echternach, in Luxembourg, a stone's throw from the German border.
On the last day we drive to Calais to catch the car ferry back to Dover.
DATES: JUNE 2nd-11th ( 10 days/ 9 nights )
COST PER PERSON: £2,995 based on two people per car, sharing a hotel bedroom
PLEASE NOTE: The above fees are based on £1 sterling =1.15 euros but may be subject to a surcharge, at the time of receiving your fees, due to the uncertainty of predicting future sterling to euros conversion rates.
To reduce the risk of a surcharge you can pay in euros
The costs include the following:
- Accommodation in stylish hotels, ( 9 nights)
- 3-course dinners each night ( 9 nights)
- Continental breakfast daily
- Rally plates
- Comprehensive road books with daily itineraries and detailed route notes
- Michelin atlas of France with highlighted route
- Copy of DK's Eyewitness travel guide "France"
- Services of a CCTI Tour Director throughout the tour
- DFDS daytime car-ferry crossing Dover to Calais return, with VIP lounge access. ( there is a £200 reduction/car if you do not need the DFDS ferry service )
NOT INCLUDED ARE THE FOLLOWING :
- Lunches, snacks, coffees, etc.
- Drinks with dinner including bottled water, coffee, wine, alcohol, etc.
- Entry to places of interest
- Autoroute tolls
DRAFT TOUR ITINERARY
Day 1 Monday 2nd June
Afternoon ferry from Dover to Calais
Then drive from Calais to Bethune ( 50 miles )
Our tour starts with a 1.00 pm DFDS ferry crossing from Dover to Calais.
You will have priority status so will be first to board and disembark and once on the ferry, you have access to the Premium lounge where there are complimentary beverages and snacks.
Arriving in Calais, we then drive 50 miles south to our Chateau Hotel, near Bethune
Dinner is in the hotel's gourmet restaurant
Day 2 Tuesday 3rd June
Bethune to L'Epine, Chalons en Champagne (155 miles )
We leave Bethune, take the motorway and head southeast for 95 miles to Laon, our morning coffee stop.
In Laon, you can visit the cathedral
Our lunch stop is a hotel a few miles south of Laon overlooking a lake.
After lunch, we visit the war memorial in nearby Cerny La Laonnais.
Our afternoon coffee stop is the Marfaux War cemetery.
In the afternoon we arrive in Epernay and drive along the Avenue de Champagne, where we will return tomorrow morning.
Our 4* hotel is in L'Epine just east of Chalons-en-Champagne. It overlooks the main square where the Basilica is located
After drinks in the hotel's champagne bar, dinner will be served in the hotel's restaurant.
Day 3 Wednesday 4th June
A day exploring Epernay and the Avenue de Champagne
Today we drive into Epernay with an option to visit some of the champagne houses on the Avenue de Champagne
Day 4 Thursday 5th June
L'Epine to Meursault, Beaune ( 218 miles )
Leaving our hotel, we drive south on country roads for 80 miles to Chailley, our morning coffee stop.
Our lunch stop is the charming wine town of Chablis.
Our afternoon coffee stop is 40 miles away in Fontenay where we visit Fontenay Abbey.
We arrive in the wine village of Meursault, near Beaune, where our chateau hotel is located. Our hotel, Chateau de Citeaux overlooks the village and vineyards
Dinner, tonight, is in the hotel's Bistro
Day 5 Friday 6th June
Meursault, local excursion ( 16 miles )
Today we explore the wine region around Beaune.
Our morning coffee stop is Chateau de Savigny. in Savigny less Beaune just a few miles north of Beaune. The chateau is home to a number of museums including a unique collection of Abarth Sports and Racecars, Classic Motor Cycles, Fire Engines and airplanes.
We then return to Beaune, our lunch stop where, after lunch, we explore this charming town.
Afterwards, we return to our hotel in Meursault.
Dinner tonight is in the gourmet restaurant in Chateau La Cueillette
Day 6 Saturday 7th June
Meursault to Riquewhir, Alsace ( 195 miles including )
Leaving Meursault, we take the motorway east via Besancon and Belfort to Cernay where we leave the motorway.
From Cernay we drive into the mountains along the Route des Cretes a 90 km road in the Vosges Mountains in Eastern France, which passes through the Parc naturel régional des Ballons des Vosges
Our lunch stop is a ski resort before arriving in Riquewihr, one of France's most beautiful villages in the Alsace region, where our hotel for the next three nights is located.
Dinner tonight is in the hotel's restaurant
Day 7 Sunday 8th June
Riquewihr, local excursion ( 30 miles )
Our morning coffee stop is Eguisheim, one of France's most beautiful villages.
Next, there is an option to visit the French National Automobile Museum which houses the Schlumpf Classic Car Collection in Mulhouse.
The National Automobile Museum houses, arguably the most beautiful automobile collection in the world with more than 450 exceptional cars. In 1957, the Schlumpf brothers bought a former woolen mill where they installed their entire collection a few years later.
For those not visiting the Schlumpf Museum, our lunch stop is the nearby charming town of Colmar with its "Petite Venise" canal quarter
We then return to our hotel for dinner in a local restaurant
Day 8 Monday 9th June
Riquewihr, local excursion ( 20 miles )
Today we visit several of France's most beautiful villages, including Hunnawhir, Kayserberg, and Ribeauville.
Kayserberg
Riquewihr
Day 9 Tuesday 10th June
Riquewihr to Echternach, Luxembourg ( 186 miles )
Leaving Alsace, we take a scenic mountain route northwest to Schirmeck where we visit the Memorial Alsace Moselle which commemorates the 2nd World War, during which this region was the only one to be annexed to the Third Reich.
Afterward, there is an option to visit the nearby "Site de concentration de Natzweiler-Struthof" the only German Concentration Camp located on French soil.
We then drive via Chateau Salins and join the motorway just south of Metz which takes us north to Luxembourg.
Our hotel, for the last night of the tour, is in the countryside in Echternach just a stone's throw from the German border.
Day 10 Wednesday 11th June Echternach to Calais ( 260 miles )
We leave Echternach and drive on country roads to Durbuy, our morning coffee stop. After coffee, we continue to Huy where we join the motorway west for 90 miles to the French border.
Our route then continues on the A6 motorway network for 60 miles to Calais where we catch the late afternoon ferry to Dover.