From Stonehenge to Carnac

(B)= Breakfast, (L)= Lunch, (R)= Reception, (D)= Dinner

Tuesday, May 28, 2024: Depart HOME

Wednesday, May 29: Arrive London, ENGLAND | Transfer to Salisbury, Wessex | Salisbury walking tour | Salisbury Museum | Welcome dinner
Arrive at London’s Heathrow Airport (LHR), where you will be met and transferred as a group at 12:30pm to our hotel in the historic city of Salisbury. The hotel’s main building is a 13th-century riverside coaching inn, and it is a short walk across the meadows to Salisbury Cathedral. This afternoon, take a guided walking tour of Salisbury, including a tour of the Salisbury Museum with its Director. In the evening, enjoy a welcome drink and dinner at our hotel. Overnight at the 4-star Legacy Rose and Crown Hotel for three nights. (R,D)

Thursday, May 30: Devizes | Old Sarum | Salisbury
Take a morning drive to Devizes, where we will take a guided tour of the Wiltshire Heritage Museum with its Director. Its archaeological collections span the Neolithic through medieval periods, and include finds from Stonehenge and Avebury (which we visit on May 31st and June 1st, respectively). After an independent lunch in Devizes we return to Salisbury. En route, stop to visit Old Sarum, site of the ruins of an Iron Age hill fort, William the Conqueror’s 11th-century castle, and Salisbury’s original cathedral. The balance of the day is at leisure. (B)

Friday, May 31: Salisbury Cathedral | Durrington Walls | Woodhenge | Walk to Stonehenge | Salisbury
This morning we take a guided visit of the 13^th-century Salisbury Cathedral.  After an independent lunch we drive to Durrington Walls, site of a henge (circular structure) and the largest Neolithic settlement in northern Europe, where a local expert will join us for the rest of the day. After visiting the adjacent Neolithic site of Woodhenge, we embark on a walk through the Stonehenge landscape, including a view of the burial mounds of King Barrow Ridge. Our journey culminates at the Stonehenge Visitor Centre, where the exhibition includes almost 300 artifacts and human remains from the site. From there we will be driven to Stonehenge itself, a ring of standing stones dating from 3000–2500 B.C., a UNESCO World Heritage Site (together with Avebury and associated sites), and one of the most iconic of all archaeological monuments. Permission for special access has been requested and, if granted, our guide will lead us through the stones themselves after the Centre has closed. Return to Salisbury, having a light supper en route to our hotel. (B,D)

Saturday, June 1: Avebury | West Kennet Long Barrow | Silbury Hill | Ferry from Portsmouth to France
Check out of our hotel this morning and drive to the village of Avebury, where we meet up again with our local expert to visit Avebury’s unique Neolithic henge, comprising three circles around the village, including the largest prehistoric stone circle in Europe. Continue on to the West Kennet Long Barrow, one of Britain’s largest and most accessible Neolithic chambered tombs, before taking the short walk to Silbury Hill, Europe’s tallest, manmade, prehistoric mound. After an independent lunch in the area, drive to Portsmouth to embark our overnight ferry to Brittany, France. Dinner tonight will be aboard the ferry in the highly-rated, French-inspired dining room. Overnight aboard the ferry. (B,D)

Sunday, June 2: Arrive Saint-Malo, Brittany, FRANCE | Champ Dolent menhir | Tressé | Saint-Malo: Walking tour, PM at leisure
Disembark the ferry this morning and drive to the nearly 30-foot-tall Champ Dolent menhir (single, prehistoric standing stone), the largest in Brittany; and to the megalithic burial chamber at Tressé. Take a walking tour of the walled port city of Saint-Malo, followed by an independent lunch and afternoon at leisure to enjoy the town. Gather this evening for dinner at our hotel. Overnight at the 5-star Le Grand Hôtel des Thermes. (B,D)

Monday, June 3: Mont-Saint-Michel | Vannes
Check out of our hotel this morning and drive to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Mont-Saint-Michel. After a guided visit of this imposing, Gothic-style Benedictine abbey and an independent lunch, continue on to the village of Vannes and check-in to our hotel. This evening we have dinner at the hotel restaurant. Overnight at the 4-star Best Western Plus Vannes Centre Ville for three nights. (B,D)

Tuesday, June 4: Vannes | Kernours | Locmariaquier | Vannes
Today, a local expert will accompany us on our site visits. After an orientation tour of the splendid medieval town of Vannes, we take our motorcoach to Kernours and visit its extremely impressive tumulus and “elbow”-shaped dolmen, followed by the tumulus of Mané er Hroeck. Then we drive to the megalithic site of Locmariaquier where, after an independent lunch, we see the fully restored Table des Marchands and the fragmented Grand Menhir Brisé, unique for what would have been its original height of 59 feet. We return to Vannes, where the evening and dinner are at leisure. (B)

Wednesday, June 5: Gavrinis | Carnac: Museum of Prehistory, Le Menec, Kermario, Kerlescan | Vannes
Meet our local expert again for today’s site visits. Drive to Larmor-Baden, from where we take a boat to visit the impressive tumulus of Gavrinis, a cairn of large stones in a stepped pattern that resembles a squat pyramid. Return by boat and drive to Carnac, where lunch is on your own. Carnac is home to some of the world’s most famous megalithic sites, dating to the Neolithic period (ca. 4500–2000 B.C.). Visit Carnac’s Museum of Prehistory and then its famous alignments of Le Menec and Kermario, a huge field with dolmens (megalithic tombs) and more than 1,000 menhirs in ten lines; and Kerlescan, the smallest but best preserved of these sites. Return to Vannes and gather this evening for dinner at a local restaurant. (B,D)

Thursday, June 6: Essé | Chartres
Check out of our hotel this morning and drive to Essé, where we visit the impressive dolmen at La Roche aux Fées (Fairies’ Rock). Continue on to Chartres, stopping en route for lunch at a local restaurant. Upon arrival in Chartres we check-in to our hotel and have the balance of the day at leisure. Overnight at the 4-star Best Western Premier Grand Monarque Hôtel. (B,L)

Friday, June 7: Chartres Cathedral | St.-Germain-en-Laye: National Archaeology Museum | Farewell dinner
Make a morning visit to 12^th-century Chartres Cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and masterpiece of French Gothic art. Drive to St.-Germain-en-Laye, and enjoy lunch on your own. This afternoon we explore St.-Germain-en-Laye’s National Archaeology Museum, the vast collection of which ranges from the Paleolithic to the Merovingian Gaul (11th century A.D.) periods. Here, we also take a guided tour of the famous Salle Piette collection of prehistoric artifacts.  Afterwards, we check-in to our hotel and gather later this evening for a farewell dinner in our hotel’s restaurant. Overnight at the 4-star Maison du Val. (B,D)

Saturday, June 8: Fly home
Transfer this morning to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) for flights homeward. (B)