Validity: Departure from Paris on Wednesday, Friday
Price includes: return train journey, single night in B&B at Bonnets Rouges or 2** hotel, lunch day 1 and 2 and programmed visits.
Not inclusive : Personal expenses, drinks
Day
1 : Paris – Bourges
6.45 am Meet at Gare Austerlitz to take the Corail train, departure 7.06 am
for Bourges, arrival 8.57 am.
Meet at the tourist office, distribution of your personal welcome pack.
Check-in at the Bonnets Rouges, a picturesque 17th century guesthouse ideally located in
the historic town centre.
Lunch in town centre.
In the afternoon a guided (or non-guided) tour of the Cathedral Saint-Étienne, listed by Unesco as World Heritage site, and/or tour of the Old City on foot or by mini train-(March to November).
The medieval city is full of artistic, historical and cultural importance. Walk past sumptuous merchant houses, down narrow cobbled lanes, past Renaissance hotels and along Gallo-Roman ramparts.
Free time for dinner.
In the evening, freely discover the « The Light nights of Bourges » a captivating sound and light show that takes you for an hour’s walk starting from the Jardins de l’Archevêché (Archbishop Gardens) where a film projected onto the Gallo-Roman wall retraces the history of Bourges, once called Avaricum « city of water ». (Show is free and opens at nightfall, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in May, June and September ; Daily July, August.)
Night at the Bonnets Rouges guesthouse.
Day 2: Bourges - Paris
Breakfast at guesthouse
You will visit the Palais Jacques-Cœur, magnificent 15th century gothic civic building built on the Gallo-Roman ramparts.
With its lavishly sculptured façades and very innovative architecture, it symbolises the success of the superintendent of King Charles VII. Jacques Cœur was an adventurer, a skilled merchant and also a great communicator who signed everywhere his presence with his emblem «a heart and a shell» and whose
motto « with a courageous heart nothing is impossible » travelled through the centuries to present day.
Wine tastings in the Cave des Beaux Arts (open daily except Sunday). Your multilingual host (French, English, Dutch, German) introduces 800 of his own exceptional selections with humour and passion, inviting you to discover many subtle, petullant and aromatic flavours.
Lunch in the Marais followed by a visit to the Marais de Bourges – the Bourges marshes (free time to visit), « A Garden in the City » -- 135 hectares of green and tranquil marshland in the heart of the city.
Free time to wander and shop in the pedestrianized streets of Bourges.
Meet at the station at 5 pm for a 5.35pm departure to Paris, arrival around 7.30 pm.