Bus Tours starting and ending in Paris
 

My wife and I will be in France during April and May 2011 and are looking for one or two 7-8 day bus tours to various parts of Europe that will originate and terminate in Paris. A few days ago I found one that was for 7 days to Italy,, but I failed to bookmark it. Any suggestions. I know I can drive, but we are both rather elderly and thought having someone do the driving for us would be a way to go.

Here's a 9 day river cruise in France. I met two women who had just taken this tour and raved about it. It's not a bus tour and it's not 7 or 8 days but it's the only one I know of.

The nice thing about the river cruise is that you sleep on the boat and don't have to switch hotels every night or two.

http://www.gct.com/Trips/2010/The-Se...-to-Paris.aspx

I wouldn't drive myself (I'm not comfortable renting a car in a foreign country) but I would look into self-planning trips you can do using the trains. You could head to Switzerland or the more northern parts of Italy for a week easy enough. That's not tough to plan.

I do also like the river cruise idea.

We are in our 70's and have no problem driving in France. We'll be doing it again next spring.A river cruise would be nice though if it were going somewhere that interested me

That's a good question. I'm sure there are lots of things like that which you could find at a Paris travel agency. There is one inside Bon Marche dept store, I know, which is a branch of a major international company, Carlson Wagonlit, although they have other locations. The problem is that for bus tours to/from Paris, the clientele will likely mostly be French and thus the language may be only in French. Do you speak French fairly well? That would really help. FOr example, I found this agency that does have some, such as to Spain and Belgium, but even the website is only in French
http://www.fram.fr/voyage-autocar.htm

It seems they go lots of places, Ireland, Germany, etc.

Now I do know one that does lots of local trips and does cater to all kinds of tourists, so will have English language tours, Cityrama www.cityrama. com
I took one of their day trips by bus and it was excellent. They do have some for 3-4 days within France that could be good -- such as to Normandy.

I know you'd want to set this up ahead of time if you aren't going to be in Paris a long time, though. I'd suggest you contact the closest French Tourism office in your country and ask them. I also think the cruise sounds like a good idea, and also considering going by train is another good option.

sorry this is the correct link for Cityrama tours

http://www.pariscityrama.com/

I would almost be 100% sure they would be in French, is that OK?
What happens to your accomodations when you leave?
Why not go to 3 locations and stay there, instead of coming back, going by train or plane?

Take a look at this tour company - they have some interesting tours. The flights originate in London but perhaps they can book a flight from Paris to whatever city the tour begins in.

http://www.martinrandall.com/

gfclint, I would assume that most English speaking tours in and out of Paris have destinations in France. Two popular intineraries are the north westerly Normandy - Loire route or the southern Provence/Riviera destination.
Enjoy France...