The free days: how one group works across four hotel levels

A group of strangers on different budgets can travel together without anyone feeling sorted into a lower or higher tier. On our nine-day Southern France trip the days are the same for everyone, and the hotel is the only thing that differs. This piece explains why we built it that way and what it looks like day by day.

We sell this trip, so read this as the reasoning of the company that built it. The trip page is here.

One Route, four hotel levels

There are four hotel levels on the trip: Explorer ("Well-located hotels"), Classic ("A better room, same streets"), Premium ("Design-led, in the best part of town") and Elite ("The best room on the route"). Choosing one changes the hotel and the price. It changes nothing else.

Everyone follows the same Route: three nights in Nice, two in Avignon, three in Paris. Everyone takes the same reserved-seat trains: Nice to Avignon on day 4, Avignon to Paris on day 6. Everyone has the same free hours. What the levels mean in detail is on the FAQ.

Own-room prices per person are $2,615 at Explorer, $3,300 at Classic, $5,295 at Premium and $9,110 at Elite. Two travelers can share a room and each pay less: $2,265 each at Explorer, $2,950 at Classic, $4,895 at Premium and $8,510 at Elite. Three cannot share a room.

The reason for keeping the days identical is simple. If the itinerary itself were tiered, the group would split into several smaller groups that never meet. With one Route, the only thing that separates two travelers is which door they walk back to in the evening.

What is the same for everyone

The price covers eight nights at the hotel level you chose, with breakfast, and the trains the route needs. It also covers Your Guide, which is the digital itinerary in the app: Your Route day by day, maps, our recommendations, Your Group chat and support.

There is no tour guide on a Guideless trip: nobody from the company travels with the group, and nothing about your day is decided for you.

A Guideless trip runs even if you are the only person on it, there is no guide and no group cost to reach, so your trip going ahead is never a question of whether enough strangers book it.

For how big the groups are, see the FAQ. Your Group is the other travelers on your departure and their chat, and the chat opens as soon as you book. Departures on sale are 14 to 22 May 2027 and 11 to 19 June 2027.

The free days are where the group forms

Most of the itinerary is deliberately empty, and that is the point of the design.

• Day 1, 16:00 to 19:00: Explore Nice. Walk to the water. It is ten minutes.
• Day 2: Old town and Cours Saleya market from 10:00, then the Promenade from 14:00. Rent a bike, swim, or do nothing.
• Day 3: A coastal day trip from 09:00. Villefranche, Èze or Antibes by train: pick one, or stay and swim.
• Day 4: Explore Avignon from 15:30. The Palais des Papes, the bridge, Place de l'Horloge.
• Day 5: A free morning, and a free evening from 18:00.
• Day 6: First evening in Paris from 17:00. Walk the river. Eat late.
• Day 7: Paris, all day, with recommendations organized by neighborhood.
• Day 8: Paris, again, from 09:00 to 19:00.

Nothing here depends on your hotel. A traveler in an Explorer room and a traveler in an Elite room have the same hours, the same streets and the same choices. Whether you spend them alone, in pairs or with others is up to you. Nobody organizes it for you, and nobody leads you to a particular spot.

Live Moments: the free, optional things the group does together

Live Moments are free and optional. They are in the itinerary, and you turn up or you do not. There is no sign-up and nothing is charged.

1. Day 1, 20:00 to 22:00: First evening, together. An optional meet-up at 8 pm at a bar in the old town. Come and go as you like; the app shows who is coming. It is unhosted and not included in the price, and anything you order there is yours to buy.
2. Day 2, 07:30 to 08:30: Morning jog along the Promenade. Out along the Promenade des Anglais at 7:30 and back for breakfast, at whatever pace you like, or walk it.
3. Day 4, 20:30 to 21:30: Evening walk around the ramparts in Avignon. A slow loop of the old walls after dinner, an hour, no agenda.
4. Day 7, 07:30 to 08:30: Morning run along the Seine. Down to the river at 7:30 for a flat, easy few kilometres before Paris wakes up.

These are things a person on any budget can do, because they cost nothing and need no booking. A jog or a walk asks only that you turn up. That is how a group that booked different rooms ends up on the same trip.

Optional extras: where spending can differ without splitting the group

Some things cost extra, and they are all optional. Nothing below is included in the price, and you add or skip each one.

• Boat day along the Riviera (day 2, 10 am): the whole boat from the old port to Villefranche and Cap Ferrat, with swim stops, up to ten people. Priced for your group as one unit: $1,345.
• Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine afternoon (day 5, 2 to 6 pm): a driver-guide from A la Française takes up to eight people by minivan to two wineries for guided tastings. Per person: $110. Lunch is not part of it. It runs once two people are booked.
• Dinner at L'Ambassade d'Auvergne (day 8, 8 pm): a table for whoever adds it, on the restaurant's Bougnat menu of three courses. Per person, with no minimum: $43. Drinks are ordered at the table.
• Private airport transfer (day 1): your own car from Nice airport to the hotel, priced for your group as one unit: $45.
• Extra night in Paris (day 9): one more night in the same hotel, breakfast included. Per person: $355.

In each case the app shows who from Your Group is in, where that applies. Someone who skips the wine afternoon has a free afternoon in Avignon and meets everyone again in the evening. Because these are added one at a time, a person decides on each of them separately and the rest of the days stay shared.

Most meals, museum and attraction tickets, flights and travel insurance are not included either. Insurance is covered on the travel insurance page, and what you get back if you cancel is on the cancellation page.

Why we do it this way

There are three reasons.

First, the hotel is the one thing people tend to want to choose differently. Some want the best room on the route. Some want a clean, well-located bed and more money for dinner. Both are reasonable, so the hotel is where we let the choice sit.

Second, the things that make a group a group are cheap and short: a walk, a run, an evening loop of the walls. We put those in the itinerary as free Live Moments rather than charging for a hosted event.

Third, free time is the honest alternative to a schedule. With no tour guide, nothing about the day is decided for you. The group appears because people choose, again and again, to be in the same place at 7:30 in the morning.

If you want to see how this compares with other ways of doing the same ground, there is a fair comparison of guided, do-it-yourself and Guideless, and a cost breakdown for this trip. The trip's from price is $2,615.

The full day-by-day Route and the departures are on the Southern France trip page, and more reasoning is in the guides.