Final-year school trip to Languedoc: Montpellier, Aigues-Mortes, Nîmes, the Pont du Gard, Sète, the Canal du Midi and the Cité of Carcassonne (8 days)

Day 1: Departure from your school and overnight stop in Burgundy

• Departure from your school early in the morning, at the time agreed with you.
• Daytime drive via Luxembourg, Lorraine and Dijon (about 600 to 700 km depending on your school, 7.5 to 8.5 hours excluding breaks).
• Our drivers drive for a maximum of 3 hours, then take a 30-minute break, day and night.
• Arrival in the late afternoon in the Mâcon or Beaune area: check-in at the hotel for the overnight stop, dinner and a quiet evening.

Day 2: The Rhône valley and Montpellier

• Departure after breakfast via the Rhône valley (about 380 km, 4.5 hours excluding breaks).
• Arrival in Montpellier in the early afternoon and lunch at your own expense.
• Place de la Comédie, the lanes of the Écusson, the Promenade du Peyrou and the triumphal arch, then the Antigone district.
• Check-in at the accommodation in Montpellier or on the coast (Palavas-les-Flots, La Grande-Motte) for three nights, dinner and supervised evening.

Day 3: Aigues-Mortes and L’Espiguette beach

• Drive to Aigues-Mortes (about 40 min), Saint Louis’s fortified town in the middle of the lagoons.
• Visit to the Tour de Constance and walk along the ramparts (on request).
• Discovery of the Aigues-Mortes salt marshes, their pink waters and flamingos, by little train (on request), then lunch at your own expense.
• Supervised free time on L’Espiguette beach, at Le Grau-du-Roi.
• Back to the accommodation, dinner and supervised evening.

Day 4: Nîmes and the Pont du Gard

• Drive to Nîmes (about 55 km, 50 min).
• Visit to the Nîmes Arena, the best-preserved Roman amphitheatre in the world (on request).
• The Maison Carrée, the Jardins de la Fontaine and lunch at your own expense.
• Drive to the Pont du Gard (about 30 min) and visit to the site and its museum (on request); supervised free time on the banks of the Gardon.
• Back to the accommodation, dinner and last evening by the sea.

Day 5: Sète, the Canal du Midi and Carcassonne

• Rooms vacated after breakfast and drive to Sète (about 40 min).
• Up Mont Saint-Clair for the view over the Étang de Thau and the sea, then a walk along the Canal Royal.
• Lunch at your own expense, then drive to Béziers and stop at the nine Fonseranes locks on the Canal du Midi.
• Drive to Carcassonne (about 1 hr) and check-in at the accommodation for two nights, dinner and a quiet evening.

Day 6: The Cité of Carcassonne

• Up to the medieval Cité, its two rings of walls and its 52 towers.
• Visit to the Château Comtal and the wall walk along the ramparts (on request), then the Basilica of Saint-Nazaire.
• Lunch at your own expense, then the Bastide Saint-Louis, Place Carnot and the Canal du Midi port.
• Dinner, then a supervised walk at the foot of the illuminated Cité and last evening.

Day 7: Drive to the overnight stop

• Rooms vacated after breakfast and departure around 8.30 am.
• Daytime drive via Narbonne, Montpellier and the Rhône valley (about 460 to 530 km, 5.5 to 6.5 hours excluding breaks).
• Lunch at your own expense on the way.
• Overnight stop in the Lyon or Mâcon area, dinner and a quiet evening.

Day 8: Return to your school

• Departure after breakfast and daytime drive back to Belgium (about 600 to 750 km depending on your school).
• Regular breaks on the way.
• Lunch at your own expense on the way.
• Arrival at your school in the evening.