La Rochelle and the Vendee by Rail Tour

I had wanted to have a look at this part of France for some time and this tour was a good way of doing it. Fontenay is small but the hotel was great - comfortable rooms, lovely restaurant, good bar and excellent staff. The trips involved a lot of coach travel but it was worth it - and I enjoy travelling through the countryside. Karen (leader) was attentive and knowledgeable. ...more ...less

Very good tour overall. Minor niggles-market day Wednesday in Fontenay didn't amount to much. Would have liked more time in Saintes. Two hour walking tour of La Rochelle was maybe too long, given the need to find lunch afterwards. On the Saturday we visited Nantes it was very busy-might be better on a weekday. Hotel food-starters and sweets were very good, main courses less so. Staff kept breakfast well supplied even when very busy. Karen combined efficiency with a light touch and inspired confidence. ...more ...less

Excellent trip. We had some wonderful visits arranged with plenty of spare time to do our own thing. Our tour manager was very informative about the locations we visited and handled problems she experienced very professionally. My only criticism of the trip would be that the day spent in Fontenay le. Comte would better arranged for the weekend market day as there was little to do in the mid week day we went there. ...more ...less

The hotel, whilst excellent, was just too far away from most of the places we visited resulting in long coach journeys at the beginning and end of each trip which cut down the amount of time available for the main event of each day. We did appreciate the historical tour of the chateau at Cognac but it was too long and the tasting not worthwhile. Because of the length of the chateau tour/tasting we did not see anything of Cognac itself which given the long effusive write up in the tour notes was worth exploring. Few people on the trip seemed to really enjoy the chateau tour/tasting and most would have preferred to have seen Cognac itself. The best trip was to the rope making tour which everyone enjoyed and we found most interesting. ...more ...less

We cannot praise the tour manager, Helene, enough. She was always cheerful, ready to help and an excellent 'shepherd' of the flock. Overall, we enjoyed this short break. However, we have a couple of thoughts to give you on it. The hotel was a very nice hotel, and we had a comfortable room and enjoyed using the swimming pool. However, we found the food, excellent in its way, rather too 'presented' for every day eating. We realise that Fontenay did not offer many other places to eat in the evening, so half board was a good option, but we longed for some normal green vegetables or salad. We wondered whether basing the tour in La Rochelle might avoid this problem, and could be just B&B with the opportunity to find more variety in evening eating. This leads on to our next thought. The visit to La Rochelle was excellent, but rather rushed. If based there, people could visit Ile de Re if they wished - the bus trip there to St Martin did give a flavour of the island but was a long bus ride for relatively little return. Starting from La Rochelle might also make the day to Saintes and Cognac not quite so long. We enjoyed the wine tasting but the visit to the Cognac producer was less so, simply because for the price there is less variety in the wine tasted. We realise that some bits of the tour had to be rescheduled and this might have impacted on the length of time given to each place, but Helene explained to us and we were aware that things may not have been exactly as wished. But overall, an enjoyable outing. ...more ...less

A good overall enjoyable trip.