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TRIP NOTES
Highlights of Provence
A guided walking holiday through one of the most beautiful regions of France 9 days / 8 nights
WALKING
GUIDED GROUP
2
MODERATE
Prices per person
Sharing a double: $3765 Single room: $3015 20 Min age 9 Days / 8 Nights - counting International Travel to Marseille (MRS) Departures (dd/mm/yy) 2/Sep/2017 16/Sep/2017 7/Oct/2017 19/May/2018 9/June/2018 23/June/2018 1/Sep/2018 15/Sep/2018 7/Oct/2018
Highlights Enjoy delicious local cuisine
ocated on the Franco-Italian border, on the edge of the warm Mediterranean Lnickname sea, Menton is a delight for any visitor. It is easy to see how it earned its ‘The Pearl of France,’ combining a city of gardens, seaport, beach resort and a paradise for hikers all rolled into one! With the Alpine chain dropping into the sea at the level of French/Italian border, it is also an ideal location for an Exodus guided walking holiday. Many of the trails start directly from the town and gain altitude in a short distance, offering some of the finest views of the French Riviera.
Stay in a comfortable 3-star hotel 5 days centre-based walking Well marked trails and paths
Although the pace of the walks is leisurely and there is plenty of time to rest and enjoy the views, we place this itinerary at the tougher end of the leisurely/moderate scale due to several of the walks heading to or decending from hilltop villages. You should expect some ascent and descent and read the daily itinerary carefully. The terrain and type of path track will vary from manmade paved tracks to tarmac. All walks take between 4 and 6 hours including lunch stops and require a moderate level of fitness. Altitude maximum 1300m, average 700m Number of days walking - 5 Pace - Approximately 4-6 hours walking per day Terrain - Low altitude; good paths, some rocky sections Day 3 Day 5 Day 7
11.0km/6.8miles 11.0km/10.6miles
All breakfasts
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Activity level 2 - The pace of the walks is leisurely, so we have plenty of time to rest and enjoy the views. During the days with walking included, the terrain and type of path track will vary from man made paved tracks, tarmac to forest trails. All walks take between 4 and 6 hours including lunch stops and require a moderate level of fitness. Public transport can be subject to delays and some waiting at bus stops should be expected.
13.0km/8.1miles 9.5km/5.9miles 11.0km/6.8miles
Explore local markets and villages
Altitude maximum 4200ft, average 2000ft
Is this trip for you?
Day 2 Day 4 Day 6
See the beautiful Verdon Gorge
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TRIP NOTES
Day 4 | After a private transfer in the morning to the lovely village of Quison, today’s walk will take us to a superb walkway along the lower Verdon Gorges. This walkway follows an old canal previously used to carry drinking water to Aix en Provence. The views of the Turquoise Verdon are truly amazing. The walk continues up to the chapel Saint Maxime, an ideal spot for lunch. Distance: 9,5 km Ascent: 400 m Day 5 | Today is free to either relax by the pool, visit the nearby shops or take a bus trip to the beautiful town of Aix en Provence.
Short itinerary
Day 1 Arrival in Marseille and transfer to your Hotel St Greoux les Bains. Day 2 Follow the Verdon river and ascend hill for views over Lake Esparron. Arrive for lunch in village of Saint Martin before walking to the plateau of Pauron. Day 3 Bus transfer to Forcalquier, known for having the best outdoor market in Provence. Ascend from town with views across the Mourres plateau, a site of geological interest with its mushroom shaped limestone. Day 4 Transfer by private bus to the lovely village of Quinson. Follow a walkway along the lower Verdon Gorge with views of the sparkling turquoise waters. Day 5 Free day in Greoux les Bains; optional visit to Aix en Provence. Day 6 Take the bus to MoustierSte-Marie. Climb the ridge of L’Ourbes with views over the lake of St Crois. After reaching the top descend via old Roman road. Day 7 Walk direct from the hotel to the Valensole plateau, a spectacular area in summer for seeing fields of lavender.
Day 8 Transfer back to Marseille and transfer to your hotel Day 9 Transfer to the airport In detail Day 1 | Arrival in Marseille. Transfer to your Hotel in Hotel St Greoux les Bains and overnight. Day 2 | Today we walk directly from the hotel following the banks of Verdon River before gently climbing a hill to follow the ridge with spectacular views of the turquoise waters of the Esparron Lake. From here we head to the pleasant village of Saint Martin de Bromes where we stop for lunch. Leaving the village we will climb up to the plateau of Pauron on a good GR track (Grande randonnée). Distance: 13km Ascent: 434m Day 3 | In the morning we take a private transfer to the bustling hilltop town of Forcalquier. One of the largest of its kind in France, the weekly market is bursting with both new and tradional French goods including olive oil, breads and cheeses. After time for exploring the myriad of stalls, we head on to the see the Mourres Plateau. A site of geological interest the plateau is covered with strange limestone concentrations that sometimes look like faces, which is how the area earned its name, ‘Mourres’ meaning faces in Provencal. Distance: 11km Ascent: 372m
Day 6 | After a private transfer in the morning to Moustiers St Marie we climb up to the craggy ridge of l’Ourbes with great views over the lake of St Croix. After crossing the summit and descending to a dry riverbed the terrain becomes more open before the final descent to Moustiers on an old Roman road.On our return journey we take a slight detour to enjoy an alternative view of the Verdon Gorge. Distance: 11km Ascent: 505m Day 7 | Leaving on foot directly from our hotel we head to the Valensole plateau. The surrounding countryside is beautiful, especially in the spring when the almond trees are in bloom. In the summer, aromas of lavender and thyme waft through the air confirming the fact that Valensole is one of the most important producers of lavender in Provence. Valensole comes from the Latin ‘vallis’ and ‘solis’ meaning the valley of sun. We return to Greoux following a pleasant track alongside the ‘Laval’ stream. Distance: 11km Ascent: 281m Day 8 | Free morning in St Greoux les Bains with an afternoonn transfer to Marseille. Overnight. Day 9 | Transfer to the airport
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Sharing a double: $3765 Single room: $3015 20 Min age 9 Days / 8 Nights - counting International Travel to Marseille (MRS)
What is included All breakfasts All accommodation (see below) All transport and listed activities Tour leader, assistant guide and support driver throughout NOT INCLUDED: Visa and passport fees (if applicable) Travel insurance Soft drinks and alcoholic beverages other than those for special events and celebrations Personal expenses such as laundry and on board communication (telephone calls, faxes, and e-mail service) Fuel surcharge may be applied for all bookings
GA UG G
Most people want to carry certain items with them during the day while walking, for this we recommend a med backpack or small close fitting daysack.
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Prices per person
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TRIP NOTES
& what to bring
Recommended Walking Clothing Traditional or lightweight walking boots with good ankle support and a strong sole. Waterproof/windproof jacket (preferably Gortex) and over trousers. Hat and gloves (even for August). A warm 2 season jacket or sweater/fleece. Water containers or Thermos Flask to contain 2 litres of liquid. Day sack of 25/30 litre capacity. Sun hat, sun screen and lip salve. We also advise using dry flow wicking clothing rather than cotton as it dries much quicker and is more comfortable when trekking. Walking poles Swimwear (optional)
o I wish to occupy a single room o We wish a double room with* o one large bed o two separate beds
Desired departure Print full name as on passport 1:
Print full name as on passport 1:
Street address, city, state (if applicable), and country:
Cancellation Policies
if cancellation is given
A deposit of $650 due with reservation. Between and up to 9 weeks of departure, we will forfeit any nonrefundable charges made by the providers, plus a charge of $650. Between 8 and 6 weeks of departure, we will forfeit any nonrefundable charges made by the providers, plus a charge of $800. No refunds will be made, if your cancellation arrives within 5 weeks of departure, unless new participants take over your seats. Cancellations should be by email and must include a noticed acknowledgment from Fit and Travel. Group should have 4 to 6 participants to operate.
Accommodations - The Hotel des Alpes
is a family-run hotel is ideally located in the pretty Provencal village of Greouxles-Bains. All rooms have en suite facilities, air conditioning, Wi-Fi connectivity and hairdryer. The hotel has an outdoor heated swimming pool with an adjacent restaurant serving delicious local specialties.
Phone: Email: Passport number 1: Expiration date: Date of birth: Passport number 2: Expiration date: Date of birth: Next of kin name and phone:
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TRIP NOTES
IE SEMINARS
Who are we and what we do Fit and Travel is a travel coordinator, which, in this case, oversees and combines the operation of several travel service providers worldwide to be able to offer this program. We aim for faultless administration from your first encounter with us to the end of the holiday, and beyond. Personal service is a feature. And if anything does go wrong, we will put it right. We want you to come back again and again – as most of our clients do. Counter to attitudes widespread in the travel industry, we never forget our clients are responsible adults, deserving of respect and courtesy at all times. We strive to provide the kind of attentive service we ourselves would hope to receive. This is not just about having our Client Manager or Director available to assist promptly with enquiries and bookings; we also enjoy building long-standing relationships with individual clients. This enables us to respond to, or even anticipate, individual preferences, and to develop an evolving awareness of our clients’ requirements as music competition travellers.
First rate lecturers | All our tours are accompanied by expert sport guides, lecturers – art historians, archaeologists, musicologists, historians – selected for their scholarship, communication skills and companionability. They are the key ingredient of our tours, and we select them with great care. Though their scholarship is unimpeachable, their ability to put their learning across is equally important. Their brief is to enlighten and stimulate, not merely to inform. We use the term ‘lecturer’ because it emphasizes their primary role. They are also leaders in that they have charge of the tour. They are not guides — though some of what they do might constitute guiding — because being professional academics, writers and curators, the nature of the information they supply is significantly different from that which is usually provided by conventional tour guides. The lecturers are accompanied by a manager — one of our select team of professionals, or a member of our office staff. Care for our clients | we aim for faultless administration from your first encounter with us to the end of the tour, with personal service as a hallmark. And if anything does go wrong, we will put it right or compensate appropriately. We want you to come back again and again — as most of our clients do. Financial security | our clients’ money is fully protected by bonds deposited with third parties and supervised by the Civil Aviation Authority and the AITO Trust. We are a brand of and IE SEMINARS limited which is a registered company at both, the Chamber of Commerce of Florida and the Warsaw Travel Trade Union in Poland CST#2064856-20 and UBN#601246745 | No. 2003-027931047344 with VAT registration number PL895764958B01
Over the years, we have instituted changes born from this understanding, and will continue to do so. We encourage you to tell us what developments you would like to see so we can enhance the prebooking experience. By law, you book directly with Fit and Travel to ensure full protection by bonding. Everything to this point is handled by us (Fit and Travel) through our office as we guide you through the booking options which are straightforward. We aim for faultless administration from your first encounter with us to the end of your holiday and beyond. Personal service is a feature, and if anything does go wrong, we will put it right or compensate you appropriately. Unlike other attitudes held in the travel industry, we never forget our clients are responsible adults who deserve respect and courtesy at all times. These are some of the general elements that make travel with Fit and Travel Tours so unique. Value for money | the price covers nearly everything, including wine with meals (where applicable) and most tips. Some other tips will be calculated and collected prior to the tour and will be distributed on your behalf to the providers, freeing you of these calculations during your holiday. Meticulous planning | the planning of every tour involves thorough research and meticulous attention to detail. Special access is a feature of many tours. The work of planning a tour does not cease once it is published in the brochure. We are continually making slight adjustments to take into account changing circumstances, especially if travelling to Italy. Small groups | the average number of participants on a tour is around 20. The maximum on most is 25, but some have a lower limit. Travelling in comfort | the hotels we use are usually rated as 4-star, with most of the rest being 5-star. We select our hotels with great care. Nearly all the hotels we use have been visited — and often stayed in — by a member of our staff.
Responsabilities Neither Fit and Travel Travel Services, Limited., or the person or entity promoting this tour, and its affiliated entities and its and their employees, shareholders, officers, directors, successors, agents, and assigns (collectively “Fit and Travel” and “Fitbit”), own or operate any person or entity which is to or does provide goods or services for these trips. Because Fit and Travel do not maintain control or operate the personnel, equipment, or operations of the suppliers it uses and as such Fit and Travel” and “Fitbit assume no responsibility for and cannot be held liable for any personal injury, death, property damage or other loss accident, delay, inconvenience, or irregularity which may be occasioned by reason of (1) any wrongful, negligent, willful or unauthorized acts or omissions on the part of any of the suppliers or other employees or agents; (2) any defect in or failure of any vehicle, equipment, or instrument owned, operated or otherwise used by any of these suppliers; or (3) any wrongful, willful or negligent act of or omission on the part of any other party not under the supervision and control of Fit and Travel” and “Fitbit. Additionally, Fit and Travel waive any and all liability for losses or expenses due to sickness, lack of appropriate medical facilities or practitioners,weather, strikes, theft or other criminal acts, war, terrorism, computer problems, acts of God, or other such causes. All services and accommodations are subject to the laws of the country in which they are provided. Fit and Travel reserves the right to make changes in the published itinerary whenever, in their sole judgment, conditions warrant, or if Fit and Travel deems it necessary
for the comfort, convenience, or the safety of the tour. Fit and Travel reserves the right to withdraw any tour at any time. Fit and Travel reserves the right to decline to accept any person as a member of the tour, or to require any participant to withdraw from the tour at any time, when such action is determined by the tour manager to be in the best interests of the health, safety, and general welfare of the tour group or of the individual participant. Fit and Travel” and “Fitbit do not accept liability for any carrier’s cancellation penalty incurred by the purchase of a nonrefundable airline or other ticket to the tour departure city and return or otherwise. Baggage and personal effects are the sole responsibility of the passenger at all times. Passengers may be photographed for the promotional purposes of Fit and Travel. Payment of the deposit to Fit and Travel constitutes acceptance of these terms and conditions. I agree that any dispute concerning, relating, or referring to this contract, the brochure or any other literature concerning my trip, or the trip itself, shall be resolved exclusively by binding arbitration according to the then existing rules of the American Arbitration Association in Florida. Such proceedings will be governed by and in accordance with substantive Florida law. The arbitrator and not any federal, state, or local court or agency shall have exclusive authority to resolve any dispute relating to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability, conscionability, or formation of this contract, including but not limited to any claim that all or any part of this contract is void or voidable. We are a brand of Fit and Travel Travel Services Limited.
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TRIP NOTES
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beyond ‘Take only photographs, leave only footprints.’
Responsible Tourism
Thirty or more years ago a movement started amongst wildlife tourism businesses to ensure that tourism and tourists weren’t destroying the wildlife that visitors came to see. They called it ecotourism. Welcome as this agenda was, it had three major flaws: it focussed only on nature based tourism; it failed to acknowledge that local people live in the places we visit and must also benefit from tourism; and finally, that without any requirement for evidence of real achievement it could be exploited by ‘greenwashers’ keen to jump on the ecotourism bandwagon. When we started talking about responsible tourism, the prevalent terms were ‘ecotourism’ and ‘green tourism’. Our idea for responsible tourism was that it should encompass all types of tourism (not just nature based) and that it should deliver ‘better places to live in and to visit’ – with the emphasis firstly on creating better places for local people, and secondly for tourists. We also committed to being transparent and evidence-based about how we are seeking to increase the benefits of tourism to local people and places, in an effort to eliminate the greenwashing that had undermined ecotourism. Of course, the impacts that tourism creates locally do not just result from hotels and transportation – but from tourists themselves and how they act and behave. For this reason we decided that tourists had to somehow be part of the process of thinking about and feeding back on the impacts of their holidays and the policies of our holiday suppliers. Finally, one expression we never use is ‘sustainable tourism’. Much as we try to improve the benefits of tourism to local people and conservation, many of our holidays require an international flight with its associated CO2 emissions. We wish there was a cleaner alternative to aviation fuel, but there isn’t and this puts tourism in an almost uniquely difficult position. Travelling this way isn’t sustainable, but 10 percent of the world’s population (including many in developing countries where tourism is growing fast) depend on the industry. We are left encouraging you to travel responsibly when you do decide (or need) to travel by air, but not encouraging you to think it is sustainable. At one time we supported carbon offsets as a solution to this problem, but later changed our thinking and our policy on this.
Important Information In booking this trip you should be confident in your ability to participate in all activities described in these Trip Notes. If you have any doubt about your suitability you should call us and ask to speak to one of the experts on this itinerary. Although our leaders are well trained to deal with different capabilities, if they have any concerns about someone’s ability to safely partake in an activity, or their impact on other people’s enjoyment, we authorize them to take necessary action which, in some circumstances, may involve asking someone to miss that activity. Although rarely enforced, by booking this trip you agree to section 16 of our Booking Conditions which clearly states that our leaders have the authority to do this. In these circumstances we will ensure anyone sitting out is safely provided for and offered alternative options where possible. Refunds will not be provided for activities missed and customers may be liable for additional costs incurred. The information in these Trip Notes is given in good faith. Where differences exist between the Trip Notes and our current brochure or website, the Trip Notes supersede the brochure and website. All holidays can be subject to unexpected changes; in order to enjoy them you should be prepared to be flexible where necessary. Occasionally, as stated in our brochure, it may not be possible to follow the itinerary as planned. This may be for a variety of reasons climatic, political, physical or other. In these circumstances we will make the best possible alternative arrangements that maintain the integrity of the original itinerary. As fuel prices, airport taxes and exchange rates fluctuate, and airlines manage their rates to match demand, it is proving harder than ever to guarantee our Flight Inclusive prices. Although we endeavor to keep our website as accurate as possible, daily fluctuations mean that our Flight Inclusive price may be out of date. We liaise closely with them and adhere to their travel advice. For up to date advice on all countries. Should there be any change to advice prior to or during travel, we may have to cancel or curtail a tour at short notice, or re route an itinerary part way through. Prices and exchange rates were correct at the time of publication. The most up to date prices can be found on our website. © Fit and Travel Ltd. FIT AND TRAVEL is a brand of and IE SEMINARS limited which is a registered company at both, the Chamber of Commerce of Florida and the Warsaw Travel Trade Union in Poland CST#2064856-20 and UBN#601246745 No. 2003-027931047344 with VAT registration number PL895764958B01
