May 27 – June 2
France, Germany and Switzerland
About Our Trips
- At Girl’s Guide we are all about camaraderie & bonding
- We love adventure, knowledge and discovery
- We value kindness, down-time and little luxuries
- We delight in new-found friends, experiences and insight
- We celebrate diversity, in age, background and thought
- We are globally minded
- We don’t shy away from new tastes and smells
- We appreciate good wine, wonderful food (not to mention turn-down service at hotels)
- Discovery excites us
- Meeting new people intrigues us
- A beautiful doorway or a vibrant vista inspires us
- And we always say a big merci for all that life has to offer us
- Meet as strangers…leave as friends
Why women only?
Women traveling together and discovering a new place with a small group (6-12) is a completely different experience than going on your own or with a larger mixed group. Our Solo Trips for Women are not solitary for long. You get on the plane and as soon as you arrive, you’ll be greeted by a bevy of new friends. After our first glass of wine on night one, the stories and laughter begin. By the end of the week, people have made life-long friends. Watching this beautiful connection happen, for me, is the magic of Girls’ Guide to Paris and Beyond.
Do you just go to Paris?
NO, but it all began with a trip to Paris, showing women the beauty and unique sensibility of the City of Light, taking them to places and creating experiences you can’t find in a guide book. But there are so many other wonderful areas of France, so we expanded to create unique, highly-curated trips of small groups of women traveling together through Burgundy, Provence, Bordeaux, the Loire Valley, Normandy & Brittany, Alsace and the Aveyron, a completely undiscovered region of France. Those trips were so successful, ladies asked for more! We’re now going around the world presenting women only tours to: Bali, Italy, Morocco, Ireland, Holland, Spain, Greece, Mexico, Mongolia, Africa, Tahiti, Honduras, Ecuador and the list goes on. We offer luxury tours for women only, these are girls’ travel tours for girls ages 18-88!
What are your trips like?
We try to find the essence of every place we visit. It’s in the food, the wine, the architecture, the natural beauty, and most importantly, in the people. These are luxury trips for discerning travelers. But we’re not chasing luxury for luxury’s sake. We always eat and drink extremely well, but mix it up between local cafes/bistros and Michelin star restaurants. We stay in chateaux and castles, and also farm houses and private homes. We go truffle hunting; we meet with authors and artists; we drink wine with boat captains. These are trips for those ladies who would never be caught dead on a guided bus-driven trip with 30 strangers.
What’s the background of the women who travel?
The ladies who take our trips come from all backgrounds, ethnicities and nationalities. All of our clients either have English as their first language or speak English comfortably.
While others may organize trips based on age, we believe that’s unnecessarily limiting. Our travelers range in age from 23 to 83, with the majority being 40-65. But I’m always amazed at the close connections made between the 25 and the 75-year-old. It’s almost magical. It’s precisely this mix of women from different countries and at different points in their lives that I believe makes our trips so unique and special. Women of all ages know how to bond, and overseeing and participating in that process is what GG2P is all about. This connection and bonding experience is powerful and it feels empowering for all involved.
How many people are on a trip?
Our trips are small, varying between 6 and 12 people with the norm being 6-8. Women’s only travel groups and tour companies are the largest growing niche segment of travel these days.
Do people come solo or bring friends/family?
More than 75% of our intrepid travelers are single women traveling alone. But these are not just trips for single women we also get a lot of mother/daughters, sisters, and close friends as well as women who are married but want some time to themselves. Many come back for their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th trip.
Does everyone have their own room?
All our trips are organized and priced based on single occupancy at all the places we stay. If you’re traveling with a friend/relative, or would prefer to save some money by sharing a room, we can usually organize double occupancy and a reduction in cost. Occasionally, when we stay in private Chateaux properties that are older homes, some might need to share a bathroom. You will always be informed of this beforehand and normally we will offer a price reduction to all those who sign up to share bathrooms.
Can you accommodate my dietary or physical restrictions?
As long as we know ahead of time, we can accommodate almost any dietary restriction. On most trips, we’re moving around so you’ll need to be able to walk a few miles over the course of a day. If you have any concerns just ask us!
I think I want to go! What’s next?
We like to talk to everyone who’s interested in a trip. Information on our website only takes you so far. We want to make sure you get all your questions answered. Plus, this is a very personal experience. Spending a few minutes on the phone is a great way to begin to get to know one another. Once you decide it’s a go, we invoice you 25% of the trip cost as a deposit. The balance is due approximately 2 months before the trip departs. At that time, we hold a group video conference call to talk about the nitty gritty details: train times, transfers, what to pack, what to wear, weather, converters, phone connectivity, WhatsApp and photo sharing, etc.
What’s your cancellation policy?
Because of our up-front costs organizing the trips and pre-paying hotels and other vendors, we can’t give you a refund if you change your mind or your plans change. This policy is the only way we can maintain the small group size and luxurious level of service we provide. If you’re worried about your plans or circumstances changing, you should consider buying trip insurance as soon as you put your deposit down. (See our trip insurance page here or buy your own insurance from a trusted source). Trip cancellation insurance as well as medical and evacuation coverage (see below) is highly recommended for everyone.
In the highly unusual event that Girls’ Guide to Paris & Beyond has to completely cancel a trip, we will refund all payments. If a trip needs to be rescheduled for safety, health or other reasons beyond our control (the 2020 coronavirus being a good example), we will make every effort to reschedule the trip to dates that suit everyone.
RISK-FREE BOOKING STRUCTURE APPLIED TO ALL NEW BOOKINGS STARTING 7/1/20.
If you put a deposit on a trip and it doesn’t go due to health related Covid concerns you will get a total refund. If it’s postponed, we will make every effort to make the new date work for all involved. If you cannot make the new date proposed, you can use your deposit towards any other trip we have on offer in 2021 or 22. If nothing at all works for you, then in most all cases we offer a total refund especially after we resell your spot. We are trying to make it easy and worry-free for people to book during these difficult and uncertain times. Obviously we hope and pray that 2021 will be a much different year than this year. Either we’ll have the virus under control or we’ll have a vaccine and/or good treatments widely available. In case that doesn’t happen, god forbid, we have these fall back options stated above. As of July 2020, France and most all of Europe as well as all of the other places we are traveling to have gotten the virus pretty much under control and are in much better shape than we are in the United States. Once we head in the right direction in the US, other countries will begin letting us in. Keep the faith, stay positive and Wear Your Mask!
What happens if I have a medical emergency during the trip?
When you leave your home country, your health insurance might not travel with you. Prior to traveling, we highly recommend that you purchase travel medical insurance that covers you for the length of your trip. Travel medical insurance is temporary coverage that pays for emergency medical expenses, evacuations, and provides 24/7 assistance to help you when you’re traveling. If you are over 50 years old, we mandate that you purchase travel medical insurance so you and our trip leaders can rest assured that you’ll be taken care of should the unforeseen happen. (See our trip insurance page here or buy your own insurance from a trusted source).
Do I need vaccinations?
Most of our trips do not require vaccinations, but some do. Please review the CDC website for the recommendations and guidance they provide depending on which country you are joining us in. To help build up your immunity, the CDC recommends that you get any vaccinations at least 1 month before you travel.
What documentation do I need to bring?
Don’t forget your Passport. It’s the one item that’s tough to replace. Please be sure you have enough empty pages without stamps in your passport and that it is good for a full 6 months after the date you return from your trip.
Partners
Yes we work with partners, resellers and travel agents. Please contact us at info(at)girlsguidetoparis.com if you want to work with us like Travel Stride does by reselling our trips or like others do who create trips with us, we love to work with other women entrepreneurs and people who specialize in a region and create incredible once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
