- Overview
- Trip Includes
- Itinerary
- More Info
- Gallery
PLEASE BE AWARE OF THE EU 10 YEAR PASSPORT RULE & CHECK YOUR DETAILS BEFORE TRAVEL:
THE ISSUE DATE ON YOUR PASSPORT MUST LESS THAN 10 YEARS BEFORE YOUR ARRIVAL DATE IN THE EU AND THE EXPIRY DATE MUST BE AT LEAST 3 MONTHS AFTER THE PLANNED DEPARTURE DATE
The Moselle County of North-East France is quite simply one of the most intriguing stretches of the country. It’s undeservedly unsung and demands to be explored.
At the heart of the Lorraine region (as in Alsace-Lorraine), Moselle is where France bumps into Germany and Luxembourg. So, it’s where worlds – Latin and German – have regularly collided since Attila the Hun and Charlemagne. Most Western European conflict has passed this way, not least the First and Second World Wars. As a result, Moselle actually belonged to Germany for several years in the 20th-century. Frontier fortresses tell no lies.
The consequence is a region with a strong identity, strong accent and strong stories to tell. One of the strongest is the Maginot Line, the line-up of dozens of vast underground forts built interwar to defend France from another German attack. We’re planning to visit the greatest of them, the Hackenberg – it’s really a 200-acre subterranean town - to learn just what a monumental feat they represented. Given the Maginot Line’s reputation, you’ll be surprised, I’m sure.
We’ll be visiting other castles, a fine citadel – and dodging out of the Moselle to take in the Great War battlefield of Verdun, whose name tolls through French history as the Somme does through British. This is a startling visit, a great area of the landscape which has been maintained free of development or anything else which would get in the way of Remembrance.
And the city of Metz itself, where we’ll be based, has an astounding martial past. Caesar, Attila the Hun and Charlemagne were all here. Later, this was the world’s greatest fortress town in the 19th-century – but it’s now been overlain with the glow of civilisation. Parks abound. The Moselle River idles through. (We’re intending to have a little cruise on it). Yellow Jaumont stone building radiates around the centre and the St Etienne cathedral has the planet’s greatest expanse of stained glass. Locals call it “the Lantern of God”.
There are, too, great Moselle wines and excellent food, including the world’s finest Mirabelle plum tart. All this is set in a lovely Moselle countryside of rivers, pastures and woodland undulating to pretty villages whose unquiet past make for a most picturesque present. We intend to take in all this, not to mention the nearby Vosges mountains. We think this will be a rewarding trip, with fun built in, to a lesser-known, but terrific, corner of France. Because lesser-known, the Moselle puts real effort into attracting and welcoming visitors – more so than some more famous regions do. Villages like Rodemack, were they in Provence, would be standing-room-only. But they’re not. They’re in Moselle – and all the better for it.
Please note that this is a demanding tour with several visits on foot and is therefore not suitable for people who have mobility issues.
Your Holiday Package Includes:
- 2 nights aboard P&O Ferries in 2 berth inside cabins (Meals and drinks not included)
- 6 nights dinner, bed, and breakfast in main hotel (including a glass of wine, beer, water or tea/coffee each evening)
- 5 Lunches including wine & coffee
- Services of experienced tour driver
- Services of excellent guide/travel writer in Metz
- Luxury coach travel with onboard toilet & facilities
- EXCURSIONS – as detailed in itinerary
Your Holiday Accommodation:
The **** MERCURE METZ CENTRE is in the vibrant heart of Metz and offers the perfect blend of modern comfort and local charm. Just a short stroll from the city’s main attractions—including the Pompidou Centre, St. Etienne Cathedral, and the historic Golden Court Museum—this stylish 4-star hotel is a superb base for exploring the cultural richness of northeastern France. All en suite bedrooms are of a good size with modern facilities including air-conditioning, TV, hairdryer, Wi-Fi and tea facilities. There is a lift to all floors.
No details found.
Itineraries
Sunday
Date : 26 July, 2026
Depart for Overnight Ferry Crossing to Rotterdam
Late morning transfer to Hull for the overnight ferry crossing to Rotterdam. (Meals not included).
Monday
Date : 27 July, 2026
Travel to Metz
We continue our journey through France into the Moselle and to our base in the delightful town of Metz. We check in for 6 nights half board accommodation at the Mercure Centre Hotel. Our tour will be accompanied by the renowned travel writer Anthony Peregrine, who will join us in Metz for the duration of our stay.
Tuesday
Date : 28 July, 2026
Metz & River Moselle Cruise
An easy day to start with. After a relaxed breakfast, we take the little tourist train to begin discovering the elegant, powerful city of Metz – not least, one of the greatest cathedrals in Christendom. Highlight of the day should be a gourmet lunch cruise on the city’s River Moselle. Later, we’ll embark on a short walking tour of our host city with a guide in period dress who will fill us in on the livelier side of the 3000-year-old city.
Wednesday
Date : 29 July, 2026
Wendel Mining Museum & Laquenexy Fruit Gardens
In the morning we travel to near the German border and the heart of mining country. The former Wendel mining site is now a major cultural centre, with fascinating visits down to the mine itself and to a mine museum. It’s a lively and atmospheric eye-opener. After lunch on site, we move on to the extraordinary Laquenexy fruit gardens – 20 different gardens where the emphasis is, as the name suggests, on fruit and flavours. The gardens boast 650 sorts of apple, 150 of pear, among very much else. There’s also art all over the place. A 15-minute drive gets us back for a little free time in Metz.
Thursday
Date : 30 July, 2026
Glassworking Centre, Bison Safari & St Avold Military Cemetery
To the International Centre of Glassworking Arts at Meisenthal in the morning. The Moselle region was a European leader in the working of glass, for both practical and artistic purposes. We’ll visit the centre, which keeps the traditions alive, produces some of the loveliest glasswork you’ll ever see – and the most fantastic Christmas tree baubles. Later, we travel onto a bison ranch, for lunch and then a safari among some 150 bison more usually found on the plains of the Far West. En route home, we stop off at St Avold where the biggest US World War II military cemetery holds the tombs of 10,489 US servicemen. The epic space of calm and respect testifies to American sacrifice, and the long history of international conflict in this frontier region.
Friday
Date : 31 July, 2026
Hackenberg Fort, Wine Tasting & Rodemack
The Maginot line of underground fortresses, built in the 1930s to defend France from German attacks, has a poor reputation. This is unfair. It was a terrific achievement as far as it went. It simply didn’t go far enough. The Germans came round the end. But this takes nothing away from the mightiness of the interwar’s greatest engineering feat. And the mightiest fort of all is the Hackenberg. We’ll enter on the electric railway which whirled troops, and now whirls visitors, into the bowels of the fort. Six miles of subterranean tunnels serve living quarters, kitchens and 19 artillery blocks, still equipped with cannon. The whole covers 198 acres, housed 1200 men and required 4800 potatoes a day. It’s quite stunning. Later, we travel to a nearby wine domain for a tasting of Moselle wines, and lunch. The afternoon starts at the 14th-century hill-topping château de Malbrouck – so-called because it was 1705 base to our Duke of Marlborough. The French mangled the name to “Malbrouck”. It now hosts popular exhibitions each year. We end with a stroll round the delightful medieval village of Rodemack. For those interested, there will be an evening amble to the city centre for the summer son-et-lumière on the cathedral façade and other key buildings.
Saturday
Date : 1 August, 2026
Verdun & Ossuary Memorial
The name Verdun tolls through French history as the Somme does through British history – the summum of the horrors, and heroism, of the Great War. The great battlefields have been left undeveloped, the destroyed villages left in their ruins. We visit first the revamped museum telling of both the battle and the war in general, before going on to one of the ruined villages. After lunch at a Verdun restaurant, we move to the key Douaumont fort – taken and re-taken by Germans and French during 1916 – and then the ossuary memorial to 130,000 soldiers with no known graves. This may be among the most moving days you have ever spent abroad.
Sunday
Date : 2 August, 2026
Travel to Rotterdam & Overnight Ferry Crossing to Hull
We bid farewell to Anthony and re-trace our steps to Rotterdam for the overnight crossing to Hull. (Meals not included).
Monday
Date : 3 August, 2026
Return Home
Hull to local area. Arrive home lunchtime.
Supplements
Single supplement – £320.00
P&O Ferries Supplements
Outside cabin single occupancy – £65.00 return
Outside cabin with lower berth supplement – £90.00 per person return
Inside cabin with lower berth supplement – £40.00 per person return
Return dinner & breakfast package in the Kitchen Restaurant – £75.00 per person
CURRENCY: Euro
PASSPORT: Required
TRAVEL INSURANCE: Required
WE REQUIRE FULL NAME, DATE OF BIRTH, PASSPORT NUMBER, EXPIRY DATE AND COUNTRY OF ISSUE. PLEASE PROVIDE THESE DETAILS WHEN BOOKING.
TRAVEL ADVICE
For the latest travel advice from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office please visit Travel Aware
Deposit
£80.00 per person
Coach Seating Plan
