Exchange in Marseille
France | 15 days / 13 nights
DAY 1: USA | FRANCE
- Fly overnight to Marseille, France.
DAY 2: MARSEILLE
- Bienvenue en France! Upon arrival in Marseille, a Forum Representative will greet you at the airport and help you transfer by private bus to your partner school.
- Meet your exchange partner and host family at the school.
- Enjoy your first evening with your host family and get to know them over dinner.
DAY 3: SUNDAY WITH YOUR HOST FAMILY
- Spend a relaxing day with your exchange partner and host family.
DAYS 4 & 5: EXCHANGE PROGRAM
- Attend school with your exchange partner.
- Dinner and evening with your host family.
DAY 6: DAY TRIP TO AIX-EN-PROVENCE AND ARLES
- After breakfast, meet your Forum Tour Manager at your partner school and board your private bus for a day trip to Aix-en-Provence and Arles.
- Upon arrival in Aix, follow your Tour Manager on Sur les pas de Cézanne, a walking tour that follows in the historical footsteps of Paul Cézanne.
- Then, open the door of Paul Cézanne’s studio and enter the artist’s private world.
- Continue on to Arles, a Provençal city famous for its Roman ruins and association with Van Gogh.
- Meet your specialist local guide for a tour of Les Arenes, an extraordinarily well-preserved Roman arena in the heart of the city.
- In the afternoon, learn about the life of Vincent van Gogh, who developed many of his masterpieces in Arles.
- Visit the Espace van Gogh, the former hospital where van Gogh stayed after cutting off his earlobe.
- Return to Marseille for dinner with your host family.
DAYS 7 & 8: EXCHANGE PROGRAM
- After breakfast, attend school with your exchange partner.
- Dinner and evening with your host family.
DAYS 9 & 10: WEEKEND WITH YOUR FAMILY
- Enjoy your final weekend with your host family.
DAY 11: DAY TRIP TO AVIGNON
- After breakfast with your family, meet your Forum Tour Manager and board your private bus to Avignon.
- Upon arrival, meet your local guide for a tour of Old Avignon, a walled medieval city shaped like a rhombus.
- Visit the impressive Palais de Papes, the largest Gothic palace in the world from which seven popes reigned before the Great Western Schism.
- Later, board your private bus to Pont du Gard, the highest of all elevated Roman aqueducts, and embark on a kayaking adventure!
- Return to Marseille for dinner with your host family.
DAY 12: MARSEILLE | PARIS
- This morning after breakfast, say a fond “Au revoir!” to your host families and board the high-speed TGV train to Paris.
- Meet your Forum Tour Manager at the train station in Paris and transfer by private bus to your hotel to drop off your bags.
- After some free time for lunch, stroll down the most famous avenue of the capital, the Champs-Elysées. Climb to the top of the Arc de Triomphe to admire the view, then visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
- After, walk through le Trocadéro and enjoy the best views of the Eiffel Tower.
- Then, board a glass-topped Bateau Mouche for an evening cruise on the Seine River.
- After dinner at a local restaurant, enjoy a night stroll through “la Ville Lumière.”
DAY 13: PARIS
- After breakfast at your hotel, explore the Musée du Louvre, the world’s largest art museum, featuring masterpieces like Da Vinci´s Mona Lisa.
- Enjoy some free time for lunch.
- In the afternoon, take a guided tour of the Palais Garnier, the famous Parisian opera house and inspiration for Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera.
- Enjoy traditional French cuisine at a local restaurant.
DAY 14: PARIS
- This morning, visit the magnificent Musée d’Orsay and its extensive collection of 19th-and 20th-century art housed in a beautiful former railway station.
- After, see the iconic Cathédrale Notre-Dame.
- A short distance away, enter the Sainte Chapelle, a stunning example of Flamboyant Gothic architecture built by the pious Louis IX.
- In the afternoon, follow your Tour Manager through the Quartier Latin. See the Sorbonne University, the Palais du Luxembourg and the Jardins du Luxembourg.
- Later, head up to the highest point in Paris, Montmartre (known locally as La Butte). Climb the steps to reach the Sacré-Coeur, Montmartre’s hilltop church and most famous landmark.
- Enjoy a farewell dinner and music show in Montmatre.
DAY 15: PARIS
- After breakfast, board your private bus with your Forum Tour Manager and transfer to the airport for your return flight home.