What a Southern France trip actually costs in 2027

Per person, with your own room, breakfast and the trains between the three cities, nine days from Nice to Avignon to Paris starts at $2,615 on our 2027 dates. A more comfortable version, with a better hotel and two of the extras, comes to $3,500. Flights are on top of both.

Every price on this page that is ours is read live from the trip we have on sale when you load the page. Where a figure belongs to someone else, we name them and the day we checked it. We sell this trip, so weigh the comparisons with that in mind.

The short answer

The lowest column is a complete trip. The hotels at that level are in the middle of each city, breakfast is included, and the free days are the same free days everyone on the trip has.

The four hotel levels, on both dates

The price is per person with your own room. Two people travelling together can share a room at any level and each pays less; the sharing column is what each of the two pays.

14 to 22 May 2027

11 to 19 June 2027

The two departures are priced from each hotel's own rates for those nights, so they differ. A level that fills can move to another hotel of the same standard, and its price follows that hotel. When no hotel at a level has a room left, the level shows as sold out here rather than at an old price.

Everyone on a departure is on the same trip whichever level they book. The group, the trains, the free days and the app are the same at every level; what changes is the building you sleep in.

What the price includes

• Eight nights at the level you choose: three in Nice, two in Avignon, three in Paris, with breakfast every morning.
• The trains. Nice to Avignon on day four and the TGV from Avignon to Paris on day six, with reserved seats and the tickets in your app.
• Your Guide, in the app. Your Route day by day, maps, our recommendations for each city and the Your Group chat. The assistant in the app answers at any hour, and people at Guideless cover 8 AM to 10 PM in your local time while you travel.
• The free things the group does together. A morning jog on the Promenade, sunset on Castle Hill, a walk round the ramparts after dinner in Avignon, a run along the Seine. They cost nothing and nobody takes a register.

There is no guide on this trip. Nobody walks you round a museum or tells you where to be at nine. The group exists in the app and in the same cities: it opens as soon as you book, and in person it starts with an optional meet-up on the first evening in Nice.

What costs extra

These are the extras on sale for this trip, each with its own price. You can add them when you book or later in the app, or not at all.

The boat is sold as the whole boat because that is how the operator sells it: you book it for your group or not at all, and the price does not depend on who else signs up. An extra we resell is never priced above what its seller charges you direct.

Not included at all: flights, lunches and dinners beyond the extras above, museum and attraction tickets, and travel insurance, which we recommend and which is yours to arrange.

Food and drink: what things cost

Meals are the part of the trip we do not price, so here are the everyday numbers. These are typical prices in each city as collected by Numbeo, with dollars at the European Central Bank's rate of 1.1188 dollars to the euro on 13 October 2026.

Wine is the bargain: a mid-range bottle from a shop is about €6 to €8 ($7 to $9) in all three cities, and supermarkets sell it.

On the Paris figures, eating at a simple place twice a day comes to about €33 ($37) per person. Lunch at a simple place, your half of a three-course dinner for two and one beer comes to about €58.50 ($65). Over eight days that is roughly $300 to $525 on top of the trip, plus breakfast where your level does not include it.

Sources: Numbeo for Nice (updated 2 October 2026), Avignon (2 October 2026) and Paris (13 October 2026); the European Central Bank's reference rates. All checked 14 October 2026. Numbeo's figures are averages of prices its contributors report, not a menu, and Numbeo marks some of Avignon's as estimated because fewer people contribute there.

Flights

You fly into Nice Côte d'Azur and home from Paris, Charles de Gaulle or Orly, so search for the two one-way legs together as a multi-city ticket rather than a return. Tram line 2 runs from both Nice terminals to the centre in about 25 minutes. In Paris the RER B reaches Charles de Gaulle in about 45 minutes; metro line 14 reaches Orly directly from Châtelet in about 25 minutes. Allow time to reach the station and your terminal, and check RATP's airport links for live service.

What a guided tour of the same ground costs

Three published tours cover much of this route. These are the operators' own prices, per person, before flights, as their websites showed them on 5 October 2026.

Sources: Go Ahead Tours, Intrepid's France trips and Best of France, Rick Steves My Way France, all checked 5 October 2026. Their prices change; theirs are the current ones.

What a guided tour gives you that we do not: a person beside you who sorts out problems on the spot, dinners and sightseeing already arranged, and a group that moves together. Go Ahead's tour is the closest match to this route and the clearest example. If you want every day planned and someone to follow, that is the better product and we would say so.

What it costs you: the schedule. The coach leaves at a time, and a free afternoon is the gap between two things on the itinerary. On this trip the days are yours and the logistics are done.

What it costs to do it yourself

Entirely possible, and on price alone usually less than buying it from us.

• The trains. Trainline advertised Nice to Avignon from £39.14 and Avignon to Paris from £14.23 on 5 October 2026 (Nice to Avignon, Avignon to Paris). Those are the lowest advance fares; a reserved seat on a chosen train, bought nearer the date, costs more.
• The hotels. You can book any hotel on this route yourself. Our price for a level is usually more than the same hotels would cost you on their own websites, and that difference, with the trains, the app and the support, is what we charge. There is no separate booking fee on top.

What doing it yourself costs instead of money is the work and the responsibility. You choose three hotels in three cities, watch for the train sales to open, and if a train is cancelled on the day, the rebooking is yours. You also travel without a group, which some people want and some do not.

Paying, and changing your mind

A deposit holds your place, and the balance is due about 60 days before departure. If you cancel, the refund on these departures is 90% at 90 days or more before departure, 70% from 60 to 89 days, 40% from 30 to 59 days, 20% from 15 to 29 days, and nothing in the last 14 days. An extra can have its own cutoff, which it shows before you buy it.

The trip runs from two travellers, so it does not wait on a minimum group to go ahead. Every trip is for travellers aged 18 and over.

Frequently asked

Is the South of France expensive?

The hotels are the big cost, and they are what we price: eight nights with your own room and the trains start at $2,615 per person. Day to day it is less than its reputation: a meal at a simple restaurant is around $17 to $20, a pint $4 to $8 and a good bottle of wine from a shop under $10 (the table above).

How much money do I need per day in France?

On this trip, with the hotels and the trains paid, plan on about $37 a day for food eating simply and about $65 with a proper dinner and a drink, at Paris prices. A single metro ticket in Paris is €2.50 ($3) and a bus or tram ride in Nice €1.70 ($2).

Why do the two departures cost different amounts?

Each is priced from the hotels' own rates for those nights, and hotel rates move with the season and the week, most of all in the grandest hotels. The trains, the app and the group are the same on both.

Can I travel alone?

Yes. Your own room is the price we quote, so travelling alone costs no supplement. Sharing is an option for two people booking together, never something we arrange between strangers.

Do I have to do anything with the group?

No. The first evening, the morning jog and the ramparts walk are there if you want them, and nobody minds if you come to one and skip the rest.

What happens if a train is late or a hotel has a problem?

Message us in the app. We can see your trip, your route and today's trains, and we sort it out.

Related

The trip itself is Southern France. For each city: Nice, Avignon and Paris. For the general question, guided tour, do it yourself, or Guideless sets the three side by side, and what a Norway trip costs does this page's job for the fjords.

Our prices on this page are read live from the trip on sale: per person, own room unless it says sharing, for the 2027 departures. A level that sells out, or an extra that is withdrawn, stops showing a price rather than showing an old one. Prices quoted as another company's are theirs, as published on the date given; check them on their own sites.