Tailored luxury France tours & events

Marie, we are back to Monaco and I’m writing to you to say thank you for a great day we spend at Vougeot. All our friends are absolutely happy with the experience at this beautiful countryside of Bourgogne. The Citroen driving is definitely something, that we never tried before and it was so much fun! All our group and me personally would like to thank you Marie for a wonderful journey 😊 We plan to visit Bretagne in the end of May for my husband birthday, would you be interested to organize another trip for us? Hope you've got back home safely, maybe we could meet in Nice for a coffee sometimes 😉

Best regards,

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you and llaria for all your hard work organizing our trip to France. As I mentioned earlier, from the moment Bruno greeted us in Paris to when we (sadly) departed his and Aurzelle’s  (she was soooo much fun with her interesting, delightful historical facts) company , our France experience was truly fantastic and a  most memorable one! I cannot express enough the wonderful time we had in every aspect: from the delicious food (I have many pictures) and fabulous restaurants (cannot pick just one J),  to the educational wine tastings (cannot pick a favorite but Chateau Beauregard with Victoria (?) was delightful); our balloon ride was breathtaking;  the special, private, sunset dinner with Jean Max (excellent service!); another delightful, surprise tour (and champagne toast to our anniversary) at Chateau de Gizeaux and most of ALL : the wonderful French citizens that were so helpful (we actually had a patron in a store ask if we needed help translating!) and patient as we desperately  tried to  communicate in your language. We have been to Europe many times over the years (mostly Italy), this being our second trip to France and I must admit this was a trip in the top “2”!!! Again, I cannot thank you both enough especially after our slight “incident” with Mike’s back issue (the  pharmacist was both patient and helpful to guide us in therapy). Beautiful memories!

Best Regards,

Used in the proposal of Mont-Michel.
Marie-San from exclusive France tours has been very kind from her first contact, she was flexible on the schedule and the budget to best meet my requirements.
In the preparation phase, we were able to communicate with you immediately by phone and email despite the 7-hour time difference. Mrs. Christèle, our guide, and the photographer Mrs Pauline were also professional and very kind, and I was able to make a proposal that was very satisfying as a result. If you would like to succeed in the proposal during a trip in France, we recommend exclusive France tours.

Highly recommend. I am not easily impressed, but Marie managed the impossible throughout our entire Champagne experience. She was able to secure private and exclusive access to prestigious houses, which is a privilege reserved only for major distributors and celebrities. Each visit was unique, exclusive, educational and delicious. Looking forward to working with her to explore the rest of France.

Marie,

I wanted to thank you for this Eductour which allowed us to discover the Burgundy high places, to live moments of rare emotion (the ULM...) and magic (the evening with chefs) and to meet a wide range of partners.

Contacts taken during the appointments were very interesting. The organization on the theme "la Grande Vadrouille" was successful with playful epics across the vineyards... (although we came back home exhausted- but happy with such a rich, extensive and hectic programme!).

Thank you again!

Marie Tesson had created for us in November 2017 a tailor made journey around vineyard in the Burgundy region.

Our clients from different cultures and backgrounds but all of them with high expectations were absolutely delighted.

Ms. Tesson did a great job, her knowledge, her skills and her capacity to listen and to adapt were key factors for the success of our journey.

I highly recommend Ms. Tesson to any client who wishes a high quality event.

My wife and I contracted Exclusive France Tours, owned and operated by Marie Tesson, for a private tour from July 13th to August 2nd this year after a three-month selection process from among six serious France-based tour operators. We started with a list of the cities and towns we wanted and where appropriate, identified the specific sites that we wanted to see in the locations. For some of the locations identified, she asked what we wanted to see and do, since she had her own perspective on which French locations were must-sees vs. could pass over. Which was the reason we agreed to delete Troyes, Grenoble, Amiens, Beauvais, Chartres, and Rouen. She also reasoned that Lille was out of the way and was impractical to include. She insisted, and rightly so, that we needed to visit Chinon, Sarlat, Bayeaux, Fontevraud, St. Emilion, Colmar, Amboise, Calanques de Cassis, and Luberon, and spend more time than planned at Marseilles. She also asked a lot of questions herself – was seeing as many cities as we could very important? Which were our top 10 shouldn’t miss? How important was culture? History? Art and architecture? Food and wine? Hands-on workshops? What was our philosophy on accommodation? Walking and trekking? And of course, budget range, all questions that I appreciated.

It was Marie’s quickness to respond, candor, forthrightness, and exceptional enthusiasm to show off the best that France had to offer that clinched it for us. There were many examples. She asked if he could reverse the sequence of the tour as I first designed so that we could hit Mont St. Michel at one of those rare high-tide days of the year, which was certainly not to be missed. She also proposed that we walk across the beach to get to Mont St. Michel rather than taking the easy drive then wait to be ferried by one of the slow shuttle buses – it was indeed an experience to explore the flora and fauna of the bay including the famed quicksands. She suggested two nights in Beaune from which to do Meursault, Fontenay and Colmar rather than splitting hotels between Beaune and Dijon, which made more sense than my original design.

Marie took charge of the project from day 1 and it was a labor of love for her. It was just unfortunate that while we were there, she had to be in the United States to accompany her son but she kept tabs regularly on how the tour was going. We were given a Merceds Benz Viano for the entire trip. But given the logistical constraints, since we were changing guide-drivers after Nice on the way north, Marie had us fly from Nice to Lyon. Which was still ok rather than drive for 4+ hours or take a slow train. From Paris to south of France, from July 13th to 25th, we were assigned Pierre, a tour operator owner himself, and from Lyon back to Paris, from the 28th to August 2nd, we were with Cecille. They drove safely and well, never once had anything close to an accident, helped with all the hotel check-ins, looked for roadside toilets when we needed it, identified appropriate snack and quick-lunch stops, helped take some pictures, and assisted with some of the explanations of the sights we were about to see or had just seen. Pierre especially had a lot of additional information that he was very willing to share, and he was our ‘local guide’ for Bayeux, Avignon, Arles, Roussillon, Beynac, Senanque, Nice, and Monaco.

All the local guides that Mare had arranged were top-notch. Some were American or British which made it so easy to understand their English. Without exception, the guides were all enthusiastic, loved what they were doing, conveyed their infections enthusiasm to us, and never kept looking at the time. Some actually went way over the budgeted time period, in their desire to share more things with us. Specifics – Romain shared with us much of what he had grown up with in the Mont St Michel area; the Mont St Michel Abbey tour with Cecile was lively; the American Aurzelle was with us for two full days as she deftly and expertly guided us in Chinon, Tours, Chenonceau, and Amboise; Marianne was very enthusiastic in showing off St Emilion and Bordeaux; Cathy recognized our religiosity and made sure we saw everything in Lourdes; Jean Yves was great in showing off Carcassonne and Toulouse; we loved Sophie in Nimes; Laurianne was very knowledgeable and knew all the places in Marseille; smart-looking Anne showed off the best of Lyon; Baptiste was very eager to show off Beaune – but admittedly whose English was probably the most difficult to understand; Kim, a fountain of knowledge re all things Dijon; Cristopher, the Brit, was very thorough in explain the beauty of Vezelay; Heidi, the American wine critic who was a perfect match to show off Colmar and the Alsace wine region towns; and Christine who confidently toured us around Nancy, Verdun, Reims, and several Grand Est champagne houses.

The accommodations we agreed to were also of high standard with great locations. We were booked at the only B&B inside Mont St. Michel, La Tete Noire, otherwise it would have been one of the ordinary motels outside; Oceania in Tours was well-located; Madeleine in Sarlat was right at the edge of the Old Town; Hotel du Chateau was just outside the citadel; St. Louis in Avignon was a former religious cloister and had a lot of atmosphere; the best of the lot was undoubtedly Intercon Hotel Dieu in Marseille; Mercure in Nice wasn’t grand but had a great view of the Promenade; Royal in Lyon was right at the corner of the Bellecour square and the suite provided was magnificent; Maison des Tetes in Colmar was actually one of the city’s historical attractions; Les Haras in Strasbourg was equine-themed but was a bit far from the island city centre; our cottage in Le Cep in Beaune was memorable with great woodwork.

We had also arranged pre-paid gastronomic lunches at high-rated Michelin-starred restaurants during the trip. All the meals that Marie arranged were exceptional – L’Orangerie in Chenonceau; Grande Maison in Bordeaux; Franck Putelat in Carcassonne; L’Auberge at St. Remy; Mirazur in Menton; Maison Lameloise in Beaune; and Le Millenaire in Reims. We loved Bordeaux’s Pierre Gagniere, Carcassonne’s Franck Putelat and Menton’s Mauro Colagreco the best, and liked St. Remy’s Fanny Rey the least.

As far as travel logistics went, we were happy with the Mercedes Benz Viano that was provided. For transport from hotel to the Nice airport and from Lyon airport to hotel, Marie had arranged Mercedes limos, which was nice.

Marie Tesson listens, internalizes what she’s heard, crafts well-thought out itineraries, isn’t afraid to suggest alternatives, and communicates earnestly with her clients. For our ‘Tour de France’, she has consistently gone beyond my expectations and I rate her new baby, Exclusive France Tours, a 10 out of 10.

What a trip! The honeymoon was wonderful, and planned incredibly well, we can’t think of anything wrong.

The detail on the itinerary was perfect and the guides were outstanding. Everyone was very knowledgeable and easy going. The special tours and lunches were just that, very special. Lots of memories to keep!

Thank you again for helping me plan a successful honeymoon.

I look forward to the next trip. We will contact you for any France trips in the future.

Thanks!

Dear Marie and Emeline,

Thank you both for all of your help with this itinerary you have both been amazing we cannot believe how we have been able to organise everything that G. requested at such short notice. Your team has been amazing. I will certainly advise our lifestyle team to use your company for any future requests. We appreciate all of your help. As Julia said we can’t wait to see pictures and hear from G. how it all went!

I want to thank you for your love and support in making it possible for us to have the most amazing proposal day. Thank you for helping me in making this a very special and memorable day in our life. Everything went very well and we are extremely happy!

We are now celebrating in the French Riviera and reminiscing how prefect everything was!

I just wanted to drop a note to say thank you so much for our wonderful tour. We all enjoyed every minute of it. In fact we were struggling to pinpoint what was our favourite moment as it was all perfect.

Christine was such a lovely and knowledgeable person with great humour, she kept us entertained and we now know a lot of French history. So fascinating 😊

And Vincent was just wonderful, he attended to our needs perfectly and we enjoyed his company too.

So definitely 14 very happy ladies who didn’t want to return home. (The weather was fabulous too!)

Many thanks again!