2025 France

Join us on a visit to Bordeaux and its surrounding wine country, followed by a stay in the Dordogne region of southwest France.

Bordeaux is the world capital of wine. Its historic center is on the UNESCO World Heritage List and it is home to the just opened Cité du Vin, a large modernistic wine museum located on the banks of the Garonne River. We will taste wine in the celebrated district of Saint Emilion.

In Dordogne we will be located in the charming village of Sarlat. The Dordogne is a region of rivers, forested hills, chateaux-studded countrysides, and beautiful medieval towns and villages, ten of which figure on the list of “the most beautiful villages in France.” The area is a history-lovers paradise with some of France’s finest prehistoric cave art, medieval and Renaissance castles and manors. Taken together, this incredible inventory of sites provides living history from 400,000 years ago through struggles between France and England in the Middle Ages up to the Renaissance. We will learn the history by visiting a number of sites that make this region a cradle of civilization.

The incomparable history and the exquisite beauty will be topped off by savoring some of the best known cuisine in France.

See more details below and use the REGISTER NOW button above to join us.

Why Visit Bordeaux and Dordogne?

• Enjoy the comfortable elegance of three nights in Bordeaux at the Bordeaux Hotel and four nights in Sarlat-la-Canéda at the Plaza Madeleine Hôtel
• Experience Les Eyzes-de-Tayac-Sireuil, where the first known bones of Homo sapiens were discovered, and enjoy a guided tour of the National Museum of Prehistory
• Stroll through the streets of Sarlat-la-Canéda and see the 16th century cathedral of Saint Sacerdos and the sublime Romanesque design of the Chapel of the White Penitents
• Let your jaw drop at an identical reproduction of the Lascaux cave in the International Center 
• for Cave Art of Montignac-Lascaux.
• Traverse an elaborate series of stone walls, parapet walks, watchtowers and passageways at the fortified Château de Beynac.
• cruise aboard a 19th century gabare, a traditional wooden barge, toward the medieval Château de Castelnaud
• Visit several UNESCO World Heritage sites:
  • Bordeaux, with its architectural marvels, including the Grosse Cloche, Place de la Bourse and Monument aux Girondins
  • Rocamadour, nestled in one of the most dramatic settings of any village in the world
  • Saint-Émilion, an integral part of the history of Bordeaux and the region, plus a special wine and cheese tasting at a country vineyard
  • Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley, including Cap Blanc rock shelter, showcasing the life-size frieze of horses and bison sculpted in limestone, and Rouffignac cave, the “Cave of a Hundred Mammoths”

Our intention with each tour is to provide an itinerary that introduces you to key elements related to your destination or the educational theme, while also providing some free time for you to pursue your own interests or have some down time. The balance can vary from day to day, and from tour to tour.

This tour starts and ends in Bordeaux. You can view – and download or print – the most up-to-date itinerary here.

You’ll get the most out of study travel if you research what to do during your free time. This allows you to reap the benefits of group travel, while also customizing the tour to your interests and activity level. Read more about How to Be an Independent Group Traveler.

Sharon Lane-Getaz, Professor Emerita of Statistics and Education, retired from St. Olaf College in 2023 after 15-years. (She was an IBMer in her previous life.) Sharon loved teaching. She particularly enjoyed when the proverbial light bulbs lit up over students’ heads, the “aha” moments. Sharon is known in the Statistics Education community the p-value researcher. A
simple idea that is often mis-understood, maligned, and over-used. Lane-Getaz is most proud of mentoring statistics students in the CIR — the Center for Interdisciplinary Research, the POSSE program — which brought under-represented students to campus — and the dataSTEM program that supported low-income students’ persistence in STEM courses. Another memorable and enlightening experience during their years at St. Olaf was accompanying Mary Carlsen and 24 students on a tour of social realities in South Africa. Sharon is still new to retirement life. She is taking her time to map out her future but wants it to include travel (no surprise there), gardening, and getting more involved in local theater.

Betsy Lane-Getaz has been a nurse/nurse practitioner, healthcare educator and administrator since 1985, working in primary care, reproductive and sexual health; she retired at the end of 2022 after 12 years in college health at Carleton. Although she started on the liberal arts route and completed 2 years at Middlebury College, after a 5 year higher ed hiatus, she obtained a bachelor’s degree in nursing at the University of Maryland at Baltimore; and 5 years later, a master’s in nursing at the University of California, San Francisco. While working on the periphery of mainstream medicine for 25 years, she yearned for a more holistic view of health and healing and pursued a postgraduate certificate from the University of Minnesota in Integrative Health and Wellbeing in 2007. She continues to teach, and be inspired by students’ responses to a secular mindfulness meditation curriculum at Carleton. She enjoys long walks, learning about medicinal plants, foraging, meditation and painting.

Betsy and Sharon were best friends in high school in Bridgeton, New Jersey. They married in 2000; their daughter graduated from St Olaf in 2022.

Expect to be charmed by the quaint villages of Bourdeaux and the Dordogne!

This tour requires you to be able to walk a great deal each day, at a moderate pace. Walking tours are at least 1½ to 2 hours, often over uneven pavement or on unpaved paths, stairs, and hills, and require a great deal of standing. Good balance is required. The tour is not recommended for travelers with difficulties walking. Movement between cities will be by air-conditioned private motor coach, and for all excursions and transfers where coaches are involved, travelers have to board coaches with 3-6 steep steps.

You should be capable of walking a mile or more at a time and up to five to seven miles per day, often over uneven terrain, of climbing stairs that may not have handrails, of climbing in and out of various types of transportation, of keeping pace with an active group of travelers on long days of traveling,of dealing with the emotional highs and lows that can occur when experiencing different cultures, and be a considerate member of the group (prompt, courteous and flexible).

Any participant who has demonstrated an inability, in the opinion of the tour leader, of keeping up with the group or of safely participating in program activities may be prohibited from participating in certain activities.

You will be responsible for carrying your own luggage throughout the tour. Traveling lightly is highly recommended.

Inclusions and exclusions vary by tour, so please read the following information carefully. We try to strike a balance between nickel-and-diming you once on the tour and allowing you some freedom in your price point (for meals, for example). A variety of modes of transportation tends to be pricier than a single bus throughout the tour. Highly rated guides are essential and should command higher wages.

The tour price is $6,150 per person, based on double occupancy. For single occupancy, add $1,000. (Single spaces at this price are limited. Email us to see what remains available.) 

Inclusions: discussions led by Sharon and Betsy Lane-Getaz; a full-time tour director; accommodations; breakfast daily and group meals as listed on the itinerary; complimentary coffee, tea and water are served with all meals plus wine, beer and soft drinks at lunch and dinner; admissions for group activities; complimentary Wi-Fi access; ground transportation during the tour, plus transfers and luggage handling abroad for participants who book their air through Gohagan & Company; complimentary bottled water in your room and on excursions; use of a audio headset during guided excursions; gratuities to group guides, drivers, and meal servers; $250,000 flight insurance policy for each participant ticketed on flights by Gohagan & Company, and some limited medical coverage while overseas.

Exclusions: Airfare to and from France is not included. Participants are solely responsible for all expenses not specifically included in the tour fee. Examples of excluded expenses are: international airfare, airport transfers if you are not on the recommended flights, any passport and visa fees, any recommended immunizations or vaccinations, baggage and trip cancellation insurance, alcoholic beverages, including at group meals, laundry, dry cleaning, phone charges, room service or other items of a personal nature, expenses incurred during free time or non-group activities, lunch and dinner, unless specifically included on tour itinerary.

This schedule is based on payments St. Olaf College must make to tour vendors to guarantee group rates. We highly recommend that you purchase additional trip cancellation insurance at the time of registration to recover your payments should you need to withdraw from the tour.

Deposit due:                          $500 upon registration
Refund if you cancel:          $400 until August 9, 2024.
If the deposit is made after August 9, 2024 there is no refund.

Interim payment due:        $3,000 on or before August 10, 2024
Refund if you cancel:          $1,500 if you cancel before April 25, 2025

Balance due:                         April 26, 2025
Refund if you cancel:         None, unless the tour is full and your place can be resold

Cancellations must be in writing.

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Carefully read the Go Message, including information on booking your flights.

See the Terms and Conditions and Release and Waiver.

Review the latest information on recommended immunizations, visit the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Check your passport: ensure that it has at least 6 months’ validity past the program return date. Should you need to renew, visit the U.S. Department of State for instructions.

Take time to Prepare for your adventure by checking out a variety of resources, including frequently asked questions, general health information, included travel insurance, safety overview, and more.

Book your flights — see the Go Message above, and take a look at our tips on Booking Your Flights.