Live-guided Small-group trip for 4 to 7 people to 3 top Loire Valley Castles: Chenonceau, Amboise and Chambord. Tickets included. Mercedes Minivan with adjustable seats, Hotel Pick up offered. Duration of 13 hours, longer as usual. We bring You to the local Wine producer for Wine tasting where You can get explanations how it is being made for centuries and taste local wines.
Minivan drives faster than a normal bus. You save up a lot of time,
More Loire Valley Castle Experiences in Small-groups and Private by Clewel Travel.
Posted By : Cynthia_H
The three chateaux were very interesting, especially the third one. Our guide, Valentin, was very informative and enjoyable.
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Posted On : 2024-05-17 03:30:28 
Posted By : Adam_D
We booked this trip weeks before we flew to Paris. At 10pm the night before we were to go on this trip at 730am the next day, they canceled us. They told us since only 2 of us booked, they couldn't only take us. They should have never confirmed our trip and took our money, if they never had enough people to move forward with it. While a refund is in progress we were incredibly disappointed in how this was handled. They should make note that this is a trip that can cancel anytime, if not enough people join.
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Posted On : 2024-05-07 18:09:44
Posted By : MaryBeth_P
Olga was great! We really had a great experience even with the rain all day. Loved the three castles all were different but learned a lot about each castle and the history of them. . Driver was great!
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Posted On : 2024-05-02 14:09:42
Posted By : MaryAngela_B
The 3 castles were each remarkable in their own way.
Our guide was lovely but very soft spoken so we had a hard time hearing her!
Wine tasting was not offered on our tour!
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Posted On : 2024-05-01 16:30:36
Posted By : Gail_F
We had the most extraordinary journey! It was more than just going to visit beautiful castles and driving through incredible countryside with brilliant green grasses and wildflowers everywhere. Our guide was generous and informative and a pleasure to be with! The end of our day was a double rainbow...sort of summed it up!
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Posted On : 2024-04-29 10:43:07
Posted By : 786deannew
Our family of four took a trip of a lifetime to Paris in March 2024 for 10 days. Our youngest daughter had dreamed of seeing the castles in the Loire valley so was obviously on our must do list. We booked a full day (13 hour) live guided small group in a minivan for our family. We decided as it was a once in a lifetime tour we would splurge (over $400.00 per person).
The evening before the tour we got an email from our guide Cyrus saying he would pick us up at our Air B&B between 7:40 and 7:50 AM. We had previously provided our Air B&B address.
We were waiting outside our apartment at 7:35 and after waiting for 25 minutes I called the number listed in the website. Cyrus answered and let me know that the other two people on our same trip had not arrived and he had been waiting for them for 20 minutes. He said he was now ON HIS WAY and would be “5 minutes”. After waiting for another 15 minutes I called two more times before he answered. He just kept saying “it’s not possible, it’s not possible” before he hung up. Our family walked to a main intersection of our street out of desperation and saw a guy frantically walking around looking at the buildings for an address. I asked if he was Cyrus and he said yes said our address was “non existent”. My husband asked him if he used google maps and we pointed to the address on the side of the building our Air B&B was on. Cyrus rudely stated he’s “not a taxi driver”. I can guarantee our address existed as we had to use it for Uber while in Paris with no issues.
Regardless, we followed Cyrus to his van parked several blocks away. He was flustered and stressed the entire walk. I asked him if the other people he had previously referred to had not shown up, he said they had.
We got in the van and nobody else was there. I asked if we could sit closer to the front because my girls get motion sickness he gruffly said “no, we have others getting in”
We did one stop at the Intercontinental hotel (where nobody got in) then made our way to the Hilton where we picked up our other two guests. When they got into the vehicle you could see by their demeanour they were very unhappy.
Finally an hour and a half late we made our way towards the Loire Valley. The day was already going to be a long day and then knowing we were starting late was not a nice way to begin the day.
We had our first rest stop to use the bathroom and we had a chance to speak to the two guests that were picked up after us. They said they had been waiting for Cyrus for over an hour. They tried to cancel the trip but were not allowed. When they contacted the company to let them know they were still waiting for their ride to arrive the dispatcher stated that Cyrus told them he had picked everyone up already and were on their way. Complete lie.
First we visited Château de Chambord. Cyrus was frustrated when we weren’t “keeping up”. We were three steps behind and had just got off a long van ride. It was a totally unnecessary and rude comment.
The chateau was beautiful and we enjoyed it. We then drove to the town of Ambrois for lunch. We arrived at Ambroise at 2:00 and had only 30 minutes to order and eat lunch. Ambroise is a cute town and it would have been nice to have had a little time to look around. Next was Château d’Ambroise then Chenonceau. Both beautiful castles. Last stop was finally wine tasting 6:30-7:00 at Guillaume and Mathieu PLOU. Very nice winery with very personable staff.
We finally made our way back to Paris and arrived by 9:30. At drop off Cyrus loosely “apologized” for the start to the day but took no responsibility for lying with no admission that he left his house late or whatever the issue was. We are very understanding people and if he had been honest and said he had a problem we would have been much more forgiving. Instead he chose to lie and make a very awkward situation where it did not need to be. We did not find Cyrus to be very personable. It’s so unfortunate as your guide can make or break a tour.
I would like to advise anyone doing a tour with Cyrus from Clewel Travel that he is unreliable and not knowledgeable. Overall we were disappointed and feel like this had a negative impact on our trip.
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Posted On : 2024-04-22 21:56:49 
Posted By : Angie_G
The chateaus and wine tasting were fantastic. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and provided loads of commentary and information. However there was over an hour late start because he could NOT read the address of the hotel for pickup and would NOT listen to the name given him or read it on the chat despite three confirmations. Then since no number was provided to call him I had to track him down via Viator. After being more than an hour late he wanted to cancel our tour (the highlight of our Paris trip) because I was “upset”. I would highly
Recommended this tour, this guide just needs someone else driving that pays attention to details like location.
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Posted On : 2024-03-26 04:11:08
Posted By : Laura_P
I love history, I have read a lot about French History and about its kings. This tour did not disappoint! Olga and Roman were amazing guides. The castles we visited were beyond beautiful, Olga was so knowledgeable about them all. Lunch was perfect. The wine tasting was the best way to end the tour! I would do this tour again tomorrow!
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Posted On : 2023-11-21 14:09:03
Posted By : Joseph_B
Diana was an amazing guide, very knowledgeable about the history of the castles. There wasn’t a confirm on the hotel pickup, but they arrived to get us at the day and time that was ordered, and dropped us off that night. It was a good way to get out of the city.
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Posted On : 2023-11-13 04:05:03
Posted By : Gary_M
Our tour guide Olga was fantastic very entertaining the driver was very good and the Mercedes Van comfortable
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Posted On : 2023-11-04 12:46:54
