Dear Burgundy & Provence Participants,
If you have not yet purchased airline tickets—here's the link to your flight update.
Santana’s Paris PreTour

First off, let’s save each of you some money and guarantee your reservations during this summer’s Tour de France weekend in Paris. How can we do that? The fabulous group hotel Robert found for us in Paris for our 2021 & 2022 Paris PreTours has agreed to give us exceptional rates on reservations placed now through Friday April 7. Although our new favorite hotel in Paris is happy to host our return, rooms in Paris are already filling fast for this summer’s Tour de France weekend. Right now we have enough rooms blocked for everyone in our group. After we release unused rooms back to the hotel, however, rates go up AND availability can’t be guaranteed.

Prices for new PreTour Reservations will increase by $500 after April 6. At that time reservations are also subject to availability at our PreTour Hotel. Save money by reserving today!
To get the best “bang for the buck” most of you will choose to depart the US on July 21 to arrive in Paris on the morning of Saturday July 22. If you haven’t been to Paris before, arriving earlier is a marvelous idea. If you follow my recommendation to arrive in Paris by Saturday July 22 for a three-night stay, you’ll be able to assemble your bike (or accept an optional rental bike) before our welcoming dinner that includes instructions for Santana’s early morning ride on Sunday---which is the day Tour de France arrives in Paris.
If, on the other hand, you don’t care about joining us for a morning of cycling and photography on the closed-to-traffic finishing circuit of Le Tour (which includes the Arc de Triomphe, Place Concorde, and Champs-Élysées), flying into Paris on Sunday morning for a two-night stay would still allow you to arrive downtown in time to witness the late-afternoon arrival of the pro peloton for the final 90 minutes of a three-week spectacle.
Participants who opted-in for the VIP Tour de France Espace Rive Gauche Tickets will join us along the final stretch for a spectacular afternoon celebrating the world's best cyclists. The peloton will pass directly in front of us twice per lap during their final eight laps of the finishing circuit. Although our grandstand is within eyesight of the Awards Stage, you can watch the Jumbotron to get a clearer view of the ceremonies. Accessible from our seating area is a relaxing at-the-curb café-like pavilion with free-flowing champagne and wines plus non-stop service of a constantly changing assortment of gourmet tapas and desserts. This area, perfect for mingling, has a number of LCD monitors that mirror the Jumbotron’s view. All riders will pass directly in front of this patio eight times, sometimes close enough to touch your fingers.
Information and reservations for Santana’s exclusive block of VIP Tour de France tickets was already sent out, but we do have a few tickets remaining. Please note: the VIP Tickets are not included in the Paris PreTour, but are a very special optional add-on that makes this weekend in Paris unforgettable.
After breakfast on Monday morning, we’ll hop on our bikes for a short but colorful warm-up ride through the streets of Paris. After a little sightseeing we’ll ride through the gates of Versailles Palace. On Mondays the larger tour groups are absent, making it the perfect time to enjoy a spectacular lunch in Versailles’ Royal Gardens. After lunch we’ll make our way across Paris for an iconic Eiffel Tower + Bikes photo-op.
We’ll return to our Paris hotel time to tuck our blanket-wrapped bikes (and heavy luggage you won't need until embark) into trucks for their overnight trip to Macon, where the first ride of our cruise starts the following day. Your final evening in Paris is open, which allows you to create a custom set of magical memories.
At Tuesday morning’s breakfast most of us will arrive in cycling clothes. A few minutes later a trio of buses will arrive to take us to the Paris departure point for the TGV ride to Macon. A short while later we’ll arrive in Macon to begin our ride. Today’s route traces the elegant Saone river for 22 miles to reach embark in Tournus, where our luggage and bike boxes will already be waiting for us onboard the Amadeus Provence.
If you’re only able to carve out time to arrive 1-day early, you’ll want to arrive at CDG before 11am on July 24 in order to reach the hotel for bike-building by 2PM. Built-bikes and heavy luggage will be loaded onto the trucks at 4pm. As we will not have time for bike building in Macon prior to our ride to Tournus, if you would like to do the 1-night option, you need to arrive at our hotel by 2pm on July 24. 

We will not be offering “a la carte” TGV tickets from Paris. If you plan to arrive early, but do not wish to join Santana’s PreTour, we will meet you, your bikes, and your luggage at embark in Tournus.
QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

  • Best Value 4-Night Paris PreTour — leave the US by July 20 to arrive at CDG on July 21 (airport greetings until 6pm) and you’ll enjoy an extra night in Paris before the PreTour festivities begin.
  • Best Value 3-Night Paris PreTour — leave the US by July 21 to arrive at CDG on July 22 where our team will greet flights arriving before Noon. If you arrive by Noon, you’ll enjoy all of the PreTour content detailed above.
  • 2-Night Paris PreTour — leave the US by July 22 to arrive at CDG at any hour on July 23. No airport greetings or shuttles on this day. If you arrive in the morning you’ll be able to stow your luggage at the group hotel before watching the final laps of the Tour de France.
  • 1-Night Paris PreTour — leave the US by July 23 to arrive at CDG on July 24 by 11am (or your bikes and luggage won’t make it onto our overnight truck to embark). No airport greetings or shuttles on this day. You will need to make your way to the hotel (address will be provided) by 2pm for the hosted bike-building session. You’ll miss the Tour de France, Versailles, photo sessions, and two days of cycling. A missed connection or delayed luggage on this day will make it difficult and expensive to get your belongings to embark.
  • Santana will not be offering “a la carte” TGV Tickets — the only way to join our TGV from Paris to Macon and our bike ride to embark is by joining any of the Paris PreTour options listed above.
  • Not Recommended - Embark day Arrival in GENEVA — Geneva is hours closer to our ship’s embark than Paris. You’ll leave the US by July 24 to arrive at GVA on July 25 before 11:15am. Late arrivals or delayed luggage on this day will make it extremely difficult and expensive to meet the ship for our cruise embark. 
  • Reaching embark on your own — Tournus is a small Saone River town that’s a 65-minute ride on the hourly train from Lyon. From Tournus train station it’s a short taxi ride to embark (address & map will be provided in a later update). If you are not joining one of Santana’s PreTour options, or meeting us at the French Exit of GVA Airport by 11am, this will be how you will reach our embark. Ship-side bike building will take place from 2pm to 4pm. Embark will be at 4pm on July 25, the Amadeus Provence leaves the dock at 5pm.
  • Disembark Day — Earliest shuttle will leave the ship for Marseille’s MRS Airport in time to check-in for a 8am flight on August 2. Do not schedule a flight that departs before 8am. If you would like to go to MRS Train Station (or any other local destination) the front desk of the ship can arrange a fair-priced taxi for you.
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Reminder: Prices for new PreTour Reservations will increase by $500 after April 6. At that time reservations are also subject to availability at our PreTour Hotel. Save money by reserving today!