EF Ultimate Break France: Castles, Coasts & Croissants Review

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Review

France is more than Paris, in the same way the US is more than DC. Everywhere has its stereotypes and tourist traps, but they also have their hidden gems if you’re willing to explore beyond your FYP. EF Ultimate Break Castles, Coasts and Croissants trip is perfect for anyone looking to go on that exploration.

This trip will take you to places you’ve only seen in your dreams. In Paris, I got to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle from the water, witness a church service in Notre Dame by pure luck, and feast on the best food I’ve ever had the privilege of eating. I then got to smile at the Mona Lisa and walk the same halls as Marie Antoinette. During our stopover in Ouistreham, I stood in awe at the beauty of the sunset over the ocean; a painting done by God himself hung in the sky for us to enjoy just for that evening. 

In Normandy, I got to shed tears and pay my respects to the thousands of soldiers who fought and died on the same beach I then stood on, staring out at the same ocean, wondering how they must have felt as they approached this very beach. I cried again during the flag-folding ceremony at the American Cemetery, there among the sea of stone crosses and Stars of David, hearing Taps play as they lowered the flag.

Then I climbed the hundreds of steps to the top of Mont-Saint-Michel, in utter awe of the abbey still standing proudly after enduring hundreds of years of history. I stuck my feet in the freezing English Channel and then in the warm sand of Saint Malo, after eating the freshest, most delicious oysters I’ve ever had. 

In the Loire Valley, staring up at an actual castle at Château de Chenonceau, feeling like royalty as I strolled the halls and gardens, I wondered about the lives of the castle’s many inhabitants all those years ago, how the halls must have looked when Catherine de’ Medici walked through them. 

Finally, returning to France, packing my suitcase as a wave of sadness washes over me, because this magical trip is over, leaving me with the conviction that I must return one day. Saying goodbye to new friends, making resolutions to stay in touch with each other and to plan our own EF trips, reuniting us with our lovely tour guide, Magda, for whatever adventure may come next. 

Tips for Castles, Coasts & Croissants:

PLEASE do yourself a favor and activate the international data roaming plan for your phone! Being able to use maps and communicate via WhatsApp with your group is the saving grace. Especially when you’re lost and late for your meetup, or when you’re trying to navigate a new town. 

If you take this trip in the summertime for the love of God, BRING SUNSCREEN! Even better than that, use an umbrella! I had a tiny UV-blocking umbrella in my purse, which was a lifesaver on our hottest days of the trip. If you wait to buy sunscreen until you’re in France, don’t be surprised if the Pharmacie wants 20-30 Euros per bottle.

Be advised: almost none of the restaurants/shops or museums have air conditioning. Some of your hotels may have a less-than-stellar AC system as well. Bring either a hand fan or a folding fan to help keep yourself cool during the day. You will sit in a beautiful restaurant and sweat, so if they have a terrace or outdoor seating available, take it! 

Magda was a lovely tour guide; she had fantastic restaurant recommendations for every city we went to! She was incredibly knowledgeable about every area we explored, and about France and French culture in general. I highly recommend taking this trip with her! You can check out the most updated itinerary for this trip here.

Optional Excursions for Castles, Coasts & Croissants

I highly recommend opting in for the Seine River Cruise and for Versailles!! 

Our river cruise ended with the Eiffel Tower sparkling at midnight, and it’s something I will never forget. Versailles is truly a sight to behold.

Definitely have your camera at the ready and bring a portable charger. One note: you don’t get a lot of time to spend in the hall of mirrors. Know what photos you want to get, and be prepared to take them quickly. 

• For the River Cruise specifically: if at night, make sure you take a photo of yourself in front of the Eiffel Tower with your flash on!! That way, you will be well-lit, and the Tower will still be visible in the background.

Ultimate Plus vs. Essential

This trip is perfect for anyone who feels “too old” to do the “Essential” level trips, staying in hostels. I’ve tried an essential trip, and can safely confirm that I am firmly an Ultimate Plus girl. Best of all, in a hotel you get your own bathroom (my biggest complaint when staying in a hostel). The hotels we stayed at were comparable to mid-level hotels you’d find in the US. While nothing to write home about, they were always close to public transportation. That way we could head out and explore during our free time. 

I tried the “essential” level trip at age twenty-eight, and can safely say my trio who went on the trip together were amongst the oldest in our group. On this ultimate-plus trip, more travelers in our group were in their mid-to-late twenties and early thirties. 

Travel

Does EF Ultimate Break include flights?

You as a traveler can choose to have EF book your flight, or to book it on your own. For this trip, EF booked our flight, and we ended up on the German airline “Condor”. We were the last flight to arrive for our tour (after a layover in Frankfurt, Germany). We were in danger of missing the trip to the welcome dinner (even without delays). 

Next time I’ll be booking my own flight separately. That way I’ll have more time in the location first day. Otherwise you miss everything the other travelers got to do in their free time. It is worth noting that my other two EF trips, the flights they booked were perfect. It’s just this time it wasn’t ideal for us. 

How do you get from one part of the tour to the next?

In my experience, you take a bus from city to city, or a train if it’s farther away. We also end up using local transport both as a group and on our own. Meaning the trains, think of it like taking the Subway in New York. In that vein, put your MetroCard in your Apple Wallet! It will save you time as you tap into the underground.

This is a trip where you are on the bus a LOT. It didn’t bother me, because bus time was universally accepted as nap time amongst our group. Didn’t sleep well the night before? Grab a two-hour nap on the way to your next location, gently rocked to sleep by the movement of the bus. When we weren’t sleeping, we used the time to get to know everyone in our tour group, playing games, sharing travel experiences, and stories about our lives back home. 

Travel Essentials for Castles, Coasts & Croissants

• Noise-cancelling headphones will be your best friend on the plane and will certainly help on the bus. I personally use these Sony headphones for air travel. I purchased them before my first international trip with EF in 2022, and I’ve been loving them ever since! They also come with a cord to connect to the in-flight TV. That way, you can enjoy the in-flight entertainment without worry!
• Bring a pillow/blanket for your flight. Our overnight flight included a thin blanket and a not-so-wonderful pillow. Our return flight during the day did not come with a blanket, even though the flight was longer. If you don’t want to deal with a blanket, bring a good jacket and a neck pillow to try to grab some sleep. I also recommend a soft sleep mask to block out any extra light! If you don’t want to buy a sleep mask, use a beanie and pull it down over your eyes. It’ll block out any extra light AND keep your head warm. Win-win!
• Bring a good portable charger, and make sure you have both the input and the output cord! One to charge the device, the other to charge your phone.
• Invest in these multi-usb plugs to maximize outlet space. We all have many devices but hotel rooms tend to have fewer outlets than any of us would like. Combine those USB plugs with these 6-foot long charging cords for maximum affect.
• For Condor Airlines specifically, even if your luggage is carry-on sized, your bag may be checked. They go based on the combined weight of your carry-on and personal item. Thankfully, they checked our luggage all the way to our destination both times, so there was no need to stop at baggage claim during a tight connection window.
• EF highly recommends traveling with just a carry-on and a personal item, and so do I. But, if you decide to check a bag, you will not be alone! On this trip only myself and two other people traveled with a carry-on-sized bag, everyone else checked their luggage. I’ve been using this Hanke carry-on suitcase since 2024, it’s been on countless domestic flights and two international trips, and it’s fit in the overhead bin on every plane I’ve taken it on! If you’re looking for a personal item, I HIGHLY recommend the coowoz travel backpack. I bought it for my first EF trip in 2022 and it’s been on every flight with me since. As long as you don’t overpack it till it’s bursting, it’s fit under the seat on every plane I’ve taken it on (including Spirit Airlines!)

Do people make friends easily on EF Ultimate Break trips?

I took my very first EF Ultimate Break Trip as a solo traveler and made friends from the very beginning! There’s a meeting with your entire travel group on the first day. That’s where I met what would be my little group of solo travelers for the rest of the trip! Many EFUB travelers come in pairs or in a small group, but in my experience, everyone is okay adding a solo traveler to their plans! On this particular trip to France, our group got along incredibly well with each other. It makes conversation on the bus or during meals, or on excursions, extremely natural. 

We had an AMAZING group of people on this tour, and I feel like I genuinely walked away with so many new friends. The vibe was great from the beginning and everyone was so open and welcoming. While some people came on the trip with friends already (like I did) nothing ever felt clique-y and everyone was able to flow and hang out with everyone else quite easily.  

Be open to talking to people you don’t know! A big part of EF Trips are meeting people from all over and sharing incredible new experiences with them. 

Fashion

Do people dress Cute or Practical on EF Ultimate Break?

Our group mainly wore maxi or midi dresses or maxi and midi skirts, or loose, flowy pants/shorts. In france in general, we didn’t see many people in short dresses/skirts/shorts, that just didn’t seem to be the vibe. It’s also worth noting that throughout France, most of the outfits we saw were loose and flowy. Nothing tight (except for at the music festival we encountered in Tours, where people were in standard festival clothing ala Coachella). 

You don’t need a fancy dress for the welcome or farewell dinner, at least in my experience. For both, most of the women in our group were in either sundresses or jeans with a nice top.

Wear comfortable shoes!! Everyone in France wore dresses and skirts with sneakers, without shame! Locals and tourists alike were in comfortable shoes every day, so there’s no reason to stuff your feet into uncomfortable shoes just for this trip. Along those lines: bring bandaids for any possible blisters, and bring nail clippers. Just trust me. 

I brought my trusty Baggu Medium Nylon Crescent Bag to use as my day-to-day bag, and it was PERFECT. It fit not only my essentials like my phone, wallet, external charger and pill case, but also my selfie stick, a 16oz water bottle, a folding fan, a UV blocking umbrella, and my Fujifilm XT30ii. This bag can hold so much while still looking so compact. I highly recommend it for international travel! Plus, it only has one zipper, so you can close it on the Metro and cover it with your arm, that way pickpockets get NO access to any of your stuff. 

Food

What is the food like in France?

If you like fresh seafood, this is definitely the trip for you. I had hands-down the freshest seafood I’ve ever encountered while on this trip (and that’s coming from a lifelong South Floridian). The seafood plate in Ouistraham was incredibly fresh (although I’d never had to take the heads off my own shrimp before, or taken the snails out of their shells), but the oysters in Saint Malo were decidedly one of the highlights of my trip. So fresh you could taste the ocean (in the best way).

“Croissants,” while in the trip title, are not so much part of the trip itinerary; you have to find them on your own. 

French Food Tips for Castles, Coasts & Croissants

You will eat so. Many. Crepes. On this trip. There is a stretch of time in Rennes and Tours where the main meal suggestion will be crepes, and you may have them for three meals in a row (the way I did). They are tasty, but you may get sick of them after the second or third time, so just have backup restaurants in mind, or ask your tour guide for where else they recommend. 

Try the escargot!! We had it on our first night in Paris and ended up ordering it a total of four times on the trip because we loved it so much. It tastes like a mushroom swimming in butter and garlic. I highly recommend at least giving it a try while you’re over there. If you hate it, at least you can tell people you tried escargot in Paris! 

Please note that if you want to order water, you will have to specify if you want sparkling, still, or tap. If you’re getting a glass of water, ask for tap to not be charged extra. Otherwise, they’ll bring you a one-liter glass bottle of water that may cost around six Euros (and it is unlikely to fit in your purse to refill later). 

While you’re in Saint Malo, make sure you get a Kouign-amann–just beware of the seagulls! We witnessed a poor older gentleman get outright attacked by a seagull for his snack.

If you’re a foodie, I HIGHLY recommend using some of your free time to visit La Grande Épicerie de Paris to pick up some goodies before you leave France. For a small fee, you can have your French butter vacuum-sealed to prevent it from leaking in your suitcase. I brought home a block of Le Masion Bordier butter (demi-salted), and it has been one of my favorite souvenirs to date. 

Language

Will I need to speak the local language on EF Ultimate Break?

If I can give you just one bit of advice outside sunscreen and water, learn how to order your food in French. Our waiter at our first dinner on our own in Paris spoke French to us, and after seeing our deer-in-headlights look, asked us if we wanted to practice. I quickly googled some phrases for a refresher, and was able to ask for my food confidently at every restaurant after. 

In some smaller towns you visit, there’s a good chance your waiter will not speak English. Use the Translate app on your phone to communicate. If you’re worried about your pronunciation, you can just show them the screen with the translation on it.

I highly recommend learning how to order your food, how to ask where the toilet is, and how to ask for your check, at a bare minimum. These are the phrases you’ll be using the most over there. And of course, know how to say please and thank you! If you have any allergies or food sensitivities, I would also recommend keeping a note on how to communicate that in French in your phone or on your person. That way, there’s no language barrier where your health is concerned. 

TLDR

Choose this trip if you’re ready to step back in time to places you’d only ever seen on screens. This trip is perfect for history lovers, as you’ll find no shortage of it from Mont Saint Michel, to the D-Day Beaches and Château de Chenonceau. If you’re looking for an EF Trip centered on clubbing or going out, this might not be the trip for you. With the exception of a music festival happening while we were in Tours, our tour group was pretty much in for the night after dinner each day. (Whenever “dinner” happened to be).

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