France 2026

After our first trip to Paris in 2022, we knew we wanted to return so when we began planning a trip with friends to visit the champagne region, we knew we need to share Paris with them.  Because of its location near the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe and the Trocadero, we decided to return to stay at Le Dokhan's in the 16th arrondissement.  It’s a smaller hotel with lots of charm that comes through with its Picasso drawings in the lobby, Louis Vuitton themed elevator and the first champagne bar in Paris!   

After arriving in Paris and getting settled we walked down to the Seine River, we took a one hour sightseeing cruise to get a better view of the city from the water and enjoy the beautiful weather.  We have found this to be a great way to see a city and learn about new places to explore - especially on a first day when you are jet lagged and need to stay awake!  For dinner that night, we ate in a traditional French bistro near the hotel, Bistrot Blandine, that ended up being pretty good. 

After getting a full nights sleep we headed out for a private guided tour (Tours by Locals) of the Louvre where we learned a lot about its history and several of its most popular pieces of artwork. There is still so much to see and we look forward to another visit to see the art that isn't on the first timers visit list. Our son and daughter-in-law recommended Bakus, a wine bar they loved and suggested  it for after the Louvre. As we walked to it, we realized we had also been there the last time we were in Paris, we just couldn't remember the name!!! We got a great table outside for drinks and snacks to revive us after the morning tour and just enjoyed life sitting there! It is definitely going to stay on our list of places to return. That evening we headed to the Eiffel Tower where we had arranged for tickets to coincide with sunset.  The setting was beautiful looking out at the skyline of Paris enjoying champagne and macarons (available to buy at the top!) with friends and we even witnessed two people get engaged right next to us! Dinner may have been wine, strawberries, cream and chocolate sauce at Carette...yummy!

For our second full day, we headed out on a private guided tour (Tours by Locals) of Versailles, the royal chateau of the French royalty dating back to the 17th century.  Learning about the history of Versailles and its importance in French culture as well as world history (the Treaty of Versailles was signed there to end WWI!) was very interesting.  Later that evening we had dinner at Bistrot des Tournelles - a highly recommended restaurant and a difficult reservation to obtain, but with some diligence, we got a reservation! A small bistro with a small menu, it was definitely worth the effort!

During our first trip to Paris, we were unable to tour the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris because it was closed following a terrible fire in 2019 so we were excited to visit it and experience the beautiful architecture and stained glass windows.  We arrived to find a very long line that thankfully moved very quickly and once we entered the church we realized that mass was being held - what a great experience to see in all its beauty while also experiencing the church during service!  After leaving Notre Dame, we headed to Sainte Chapelle just a few blocks away where we were able to get tickets (we would recommend getting them ahead of time for both these churches to avoid lines).  This continues to be one of our favorite churches because of its unbelievable stained glass - you can spend hours admiring it!  After taking in the beauty of these amazing churches we strolled along the Seine and took in the Paris culture and its people enjoying the beauty of their city on a gorgeous spring afternoon.  That evening we enjoyed dinner at Bistrot des Fables, a Michelin recommended restaurant where the steak frites was perfection!

For our final day in Paris, we began our day with a wonderful morning walk along the Seine taking in the sights before stopping for coffee and breakfast. Later, we headed off to the Montmartre neighborhood in the hills north of the city center. It is known for being home to several artists including Picasso, Van Gogh, and Toulouse-Lautrec with its winding avenues and hills and near its top is the Basilica of Sacre Couer.  We spent time touring the church and similar to Notre Dame we visited during mass.  It was beautiful with panoramic views of the city.  After our visit, we walked through the Place du Tertre, an open-air art market where we bought artwork to bring home to remember our visit.  For our last night in Paris, we had dinner at Monsieur Bleu - an outdoor restaurant overlooking the Eiffel Tower.  What a great way to round out an amazing trip to Paris!    

One note about transportation...we did use Uber and were able to request a van, making for comfortable rides, since we were 4 adults. But the metro is safe, easy to use and is cheaper! We just didn't use it this time.

After arriving in Bayeux from Paris via train, we grabbed a taxi to take us to our AirBnB and found our driver to be a huge help in recommending restaurants and sights.  He gave us his contact info in case we needed a ride later, and we did contact him for our return trip to the train station. It was only a 15 minute walk, but it wasn't flat and we had luggage, so it was nice to have the return set up.

Since we were staying at an Airbnb in Bayeux and it wasn't check in time, we stored our luggage through Bounce, which ended up being a wine store! We dropped all the bags and headed off for a 15 minute walk to to the Museum of the Battle of Normandy before it closed. Seeing the details and relics  of the Battle of Normandy before we set off on our day tour helped us with the insights of D-Day and the days after. 

At a more leisurely pace we returned to the center of Bayeux, taking in the sights. It  is a beautiful little town that primarily serves tourists like us that are visiting Normandy to see the D-Day sights from WWII, however it also has a beautiful cathedral that dates back to 1107.  We spent some time walking through and around the cathedral and taking in its history and architecture.  It is always hard to understand how something that large and grand could have been built nearly 1000 years ago.   

The following day we headed out for a day long private tour of Normandy,  hosted by Overlord Tours, picking us up and dropping us off at our Airbnb.  Our guide Jean did an amazing job of helping us to see and understand the events of those days and what impact they had.  We elected to start our tour at the Normandy American Cemetery with its nearly 10,000 grave sites of the American soldiers who gave their lives during the D-Day landings.  The place is so solemn - its helps you get a full appreciation of how many people died there.  We then headed to Omaha Beach where we could walk out on the pier to better experience what landing on the beach during D-Day might have been like.  Our stop at Point du Hoc Ranger Monument gave us the opportunity to see the remains of several German bunkers and machine gun posts as well as massive craters from the aerial and naval bombardments from the Allied forces.  After lunch in Saint Mere Eglise we learned about the significance of the battle that took place there and the resilience of the Allied forces (especially the Airborne paratroopers - one of which landed on the church steeple and lived!).  Later we stopped to see the location of the Battle of LaFiere bridgehead where Allied forces defended the only bridge to protect the Contentin peninsula.  Our next stop was to the location where Easy Company captured and disarmed the German long range guns (as portrayed in Band of Brothers).  To finish out the day we visited Utah Beach with its wide flat beachfront - highlighting what the forces that day would have been facing as they tried to take the beach head.  We appreciated Jean's depth of knowledge and him packing the day for us. The entire day left us grateful and appreciative of the sacrifice and determination of so many.  

Leaving Bayeux, we headed back to Paris via train to head to our next destination - the Champagne Region!

NOTE: We wanted to see the Bayeux Tapestry but the museum is undergoing renovations until October 2027, so the Bayeux Tapestry is not currently on display.

NOTE #2: We love having an Airbnb on at least a portion of our trip...it's a great time ti get laundry done! In our short 2 night stay, we managed to get all of our laundry done and dried for 4 people...and the towel warmer makes a great drying rack!

After arriving in Reims (pronounced like France without the F) by train from Bayeux via Paris, we had to wait about 30 minutes for the car rental office to re-open after lunch - a good reminder to stop and relax a bit so we grabbed a coffee and sat back.  Getting the car was not an issue - we arranged to have a couple drivers and also opted for the insurance  coverage on the car as a precaution.  

We made our way out of Reims and through the French countryside to the little town of Campillon where we stayed at the Royal Champagne Hotel and Spa.  The hotel was a bit of a splurge with amazing views of the vineyards and the broad valley of the Marne River with Epernay at its base and several smaller hamlets and villages dotting the countryside. It was a perfect location to enjoy a morning stroll or run through the vineyards and the delicious breakfast at the hotel.  What an amazing way to start or end the day looking out on the beautiful valley of vineyards and towns! And being greeted Bonjour Madame/Monsieur everywhere would be easy get used to!!!

After arriving, we got settled in our room looking out on the countryside and headed to the outdoor Abyss Bar at the hotel where we enjoyed a dinner of charcuterie and fromage with drinks enjoying the views followed by dessert and champagne in our room that evening!

Veuve Cliquot has become one of our favorite champagnes to drink and celebrate with so we chose to tour their cellars in Reims on our first day there. We were glad we got tickets because the tour was full. The tour was great, learning about the turning of the bottles, the chalk cellars and the disgorgment process was very interesting!! And of course, the tour ended in their gift shop where we picked up a few things for gifts and some champs for ourselves of course!  

After that we stopped for lunch at a fun little restaurant we had heard about from our kids called Alba. The food was great and the atmosphere was really fun.  Following lunch we walked through the amazing Reims Cathedral, where 33 Kings of France were crowned, and then in a few other smaller Champagne houses in the area - there are plenty to choose from and we wanted to get a taste of a few smaller ones we had not heard of. Along the way we agreed that it might be fun to experience sabering the top off a champange bottle so after some quick research we came across the Caroline Dufour Champagne house where we were able to not only try our hand at sabering a bottle but we also found that their champagne was excellent!  It was a cute little place, it was like being in someone's home and we enjoyed talking to a couple from London and Caroline Dufour, herself. After our day in Reims we headed back to the hotel where we enjoyed some relaxing time by the indoor and outdoor pools along with some champagne of course!  

We knew ahead of time that the next day was May 1st which is a national holiday in France, so we had limited options for our day. We took a drive through the countryside and ended up in Epernay where we enjoyed a nice lunch at the restaurant Sacre Coeur, which had been recommended by the hotel (and was open).  Epernay is the home of the Avenue de Champagne  with many larger and smaller champagne houses that offer tastings. Given the holiday, most of them were closed but we were able to visit Moet and Chandon for a tasting. We had pre-scheduled a tour and tasting at the Leclerc Briant cellars (we later learned that these are owned by the same people who own the hotel).  We had a very energetic and knowledgeable tour guide! She was working on the holiday and she took the liberty of opening some great bottles for the tasting, including an old vintage and a bottle that had aged in the ocean! We finished the night with a fabulous dinner at La Bellevue restaurant at the hotel.  

The next day we did not need to catch a train until later in the afternoon so we set out in the morning for another drive through the countryside to take in more of the amazing vistas of vineyards, forests and small towns and villages.  The views were stunning and taking it in from the car allowed us lots of opportunities to just set out on our own and explore!  

Our whole trip was planned around the Champagne region and it did not disappoint!!! And we will hopefully be back soon!

We easily returned the car and got on the train headed to the airport (CDG) to finish the rest of our trip.

1. Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa
2. Morning walks along the Seine
3. Driving through vineyards of the champagne region
4. Experiencing the D-Day sites of Normandy
5. Sunset champagne and macarons at the top of the Eiffel Tower
6. Train rides through the Paris countryside
7. Sabering a champagne bottle!!!

Lodging

Paris: Le Dokhan's, Paris Arc de Triomphe

Bayeux: Airbnb in Bayeux

Champagne region: Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa

Transportation

Train: Saint Lazare to Bayeux

Bayeux to Reims Train: Bayeux to Saint Lazare, taxi to  Gare de l'Est,  Gare d'lEst to Champagne-Ardenne TGV 

Train: Champagne-Ardenne to  Paris CDG 

Paris: Uber

Bayeux: Taxi, Private Tour w/ tranportation

Reims: Sixt Rental Car (at Champagne TGV station)

Paris Restaurants

Bistrot Blandine

Bakus

Carette

Bistrot des Tournelles

Bistrot des Fables

Monsier Bleu

Champagne Restaurants

Alba (Reims)

Royal Champagne Hotel: Abyss Bar & Le Bellevue 

Sacre Bistro (Epernay)

Paris Excursions

Louvre: Tours by Locals (Victoria B)

Versailles: Tours by Locals (Romain G)

Normandy  Excursions

Overlord Tours (Private tour  w/ Jean)

Champagne Region Excursion

Veuve Cliquot Cellar Tour & Tasting: One Quality, The Very First

Sabering: Champagne Caroline Dufour

Leclerc Briant Tour & Tasting: Discovery Experience

Champagne House Tastings

 Champagne Pol Couronne

Champagne Thienot

Moet & Chandon

Brut Bar

Paris was the perfect place for a spring break getaway.  With so many distinct Parisian neighborhoods, we decided to split our stay in half between the 16th (near the 8th) arrondissement and the Latin Quarter (5th). 

Starting our stay in the 16th and being so close to the Eiffel Tower made for magical views and walks along the Seine at night and closer to the touristy destinations. We ended our trip staying in The Latin Quarter, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Paris, packed with universities, shops and cafes. Exploring it seemed less touristy and more normal, if you count cobblestone streets and old churches as normal.

 The museums in Paris are incredible - there is no way that you can see everything they have to offer in one trip but we packed in as much as we could with our visits to the Louvre and the Musee de Orsay.  Again, using an Airbnb tour, we saw the highlights of the Louvre but we will need to go back! We did a quick run through of the Musee de Orsay, but saw the Van Gogh's and Monets, of course.

From museums to the catacombs to Versailles to shopping, we packed a lot into the 5 full days in Paris. We enjoyed two fancy nights out at the spectacular Paris Opera House for a ballet and an opera capped with drinks at The Ritz!

All of these sites in Paris were amazing but just being in the city and soaking up its charm, eating the amazing food and seeing its people was the real fun.  

1. The Eiffel Tower - especially at night!
2. Coffee and croissants in the park
3. The beauty and grandeur of the Louvre 
4. Versailles castle and grounds
5. Seeing a ballet and a play at the opera house
6. Musee de Orsay
7. Drinks at the Ritz

Bonus: Brie, Baugette & Rose on our balcony

Lodging

Le Dokhan's, Paris Arc de Triomphe

Hotel La Lanterne & Spa

Transportation: Taxis,  Metro, RER Train to Versailles and LOTS of walking!!!

Restaurants

Cheese, baguette, meat, fruit, wine...they all have their own stores!

Enjoy picking everything out for your own meal!

Definitely lots of great restaurants, but we winged it this trip.

We will go back and have more recos!