Perfume Making, Private Cooking Classes & Pampering Spa Days: A Week on the Cote d’Azur
Harriet and Kate L are here to help give you the inside track.
You'd be hard pressed to find a better region of France for a week of luxury pampering, eating the best (yet healthy) food and drinking some delicious wine than on the Cote d'Azur, so why bother trying?
Itinerary at a Glance:
- Dine in Michelin-starred restaurants
- Blend your own perfume with the help of an expert parfumier
- Enjoy a through pampering in one of our favourite luxury spas
Why Book with Original Travel?
When To Travel
All of the holidays we create are completely tailor-made to you
Day 1: Heading to Nice
Your two-hour flight to Nice will leave the UK (several airports have direct flights) in the morning. Alternatively, you can use this French road trip as one part of a longer road trip itinerary, that starts in the UK.
After you have cleared customs and collected your luggage, you will pick up the keys to your hire car and hit the road. It's a half an hour drive to your first hotel, heading west along the coast and then slightly inland. You will arrive just in time for a late lunch, after which we highly recommend spending the afternoon soaking up the sunshine by your hotel's pool. To kick off your holiday in style, we have booked you a table at a Michelin-starred restaurant for dinner tonight.
Day 2: Perfume Making
This morning you will make the short drive to Grasse, stopping off to take the obligatory lavender field Instagram shots, before you visit perfume school.
After a lesson in the basics of perfumery, including the architecture of good perfume - base notes, top notes etc. - and how to create a harmonious, round formula, you will be let loose to discover the different base products and perfume-making techniques for yourself, combining the two to create your own personal fragrance using over 127 notes - though not all at once! The experts describe the basic principles of achieving a harmonious, round formula. You will then be free to execute your concept and follow your imagination for your own perfume. Then, you will take your creation home in a personalised perfume bottle with the name you have chosen for your design.
Day 3: Cookery School
After breakfast this morning, you will have a private cookery class. Depending on your interests - be they patisserie or otherwise - the chefs at your hotel will guide you through the making of a sumptuous dish, which you will then enjoy for lunch.
The rest of the day is yours to enjoy as you like, we highly recommend making a trip into Cannes and spending the afternoon soaking up the atmosphere, popping into a few shops and enjoying an ice cream and cocktail (or two) on the beach.
Day 4: Spa Day
As today is the last day at your inland hotel, we have booked you into the salubrious spa for a day of thoroughly spoiling pampering. Following a consultation with your therapist (of the spa variety), you will spend some time relaxing in the gardens while they prepare your treatments.
After a through pampering, including ridding muscles of knots and pores of blackheads, and suitably relaxed, you will have the rest of the day to relax. We highly recommend snoozing by the pool all afternoon, iced rose in hand.
For your final dinner this evening, we have booked you the chef's table in the kitchen at your hotel's Michelin-starred restaurant, allowing you to watch the intricate ballet that is dinner service, and to sample some of the chef's favourite dishes.
Day 5: Drive to St Tropez
After breakfast this morning you will hit the road for the drive west, down to the coast and your next hotel. The journey will take roughly and hour-and-a-half, so you will arrive just in time for lunch.
This afternoon, we recommend heading into St Tropez for an afternoon on the beach. Our handy and detailed destination Dossier has a list of some of our favourites. For dinner this evening, give our excellent local Concierge a call and they will hook you up with one of the best tables in the house at one of their favourite restaurants.
Day 6: Pool Time
Today is sadly the last day of your holiday, so spend it as you like. We recommend heading down the coastal path to any one of the wonderful - and often deserted - beaches and secret coves that surround St Tropez and passing the day napping and frolicking in the sea.
Alternatively, we can arrange for a day of messing about in boats, with a private yacht charter for you, complete with delicious picnic lunch and expert skipper.
For your final dinner and sundowners this evening, take a taxi into town and enjoy the best drinking, dining and dancing that the most famous seaside town in Europe has to offer.
Day 7: International Flight
Today you will make the hour-and-forty-minute drive to Nice in time to check in for your flight home. We recommend factoring in a good couple of hours for lunch in town.
Depending on which two-hour flight we've booked for you, you will arrive back in the UK between late afternoon and mid-evening.
All of the holidays we create are completely tailor-made to you
A Rough Idea of Price
This Itinerary
If you would like to book the itinerary mentioned above, with economy flights, during mid-season and staying in our preferred room category at our preferred hotels.
From
£2,525pp
Bare Necessities
If you would like to pare back the above itinerary by travelling at non-peak times, staying in a standard room and removing some or all of the guided activities.
From
£2,400pp
Bells & Whistles
If you are looking for something extra special, we can discuss with you upgrading your accommodation, flights or activities.
From
£3,030pp
Harriet and Kate L are our experts for this itinerary and as seasoned travellers they have the inside track on the most memorable adventures.