Covid-19 and booking your bike tour with confidence..

For your peace of mind (and ours), we’re happy to say that our entire family has been vaccinated, so we’re covered, and ready to have a good time with our guests.

During these complicated times it’s understandable that people are reluctant to organise overseas travel. So, in order to give you flexibility & peace of mind, we have put in place our no risk reservation policy, which allows you to book a future 2021 / 2022 tour with us now, and with confidence.

1. You can book now & pay later.


2. Payment is due just 30 days prior to your tour date.


3. Then, if you cannot travel, or do not feel comfortable travelling, on your planned dates due to Covid-19 and need to cancel, you can rest assured that we will refund any payments – no arguments!

We hope you find the above conditions reasonable; it must be said not many other tours are offering such good terms!

So, we restarted our tours after the summer heat, in September, plus of course our 2022 dates are now available.

Here’s a link to our 2021 tour dates - https://www.provence-cycling-holidays.com/availabilities-2021.html
and to our 2022 tour dates https://www.provence-cycling-holidays.com/availabilities-2022.html.

Hope to see you soon...

Neil & Nat (Owners).

Covid situation in France and French Travel Requirements.

For your peace of mind (and ours), we’re happy to say that our entire family has been vaccinated, so we’re covered, and ready to have a good time with our guests.

The local Covid situation, where we are in the Luberon valley, Provence, continues to be considerably better than the national picture, no doubt due to the size of our villages and our rural setting. And even the national picture is much improved as we have seen a large constant decline in case numbers since mid-August.

Deconfinement is now total in mainland France; Restaurants can serve inside and on terraces, Museums, Markets & Shopping Centres are open, and the Curfew is over. Regarding masks, outside they are no longer required, but inside public spaces (ie supermarkets, shops etc) they are compulsory.

Vaccination rates have increased massively from March and have remained high from June into August. And some good news, in order to increase the vaccination rate further, and to reduce the impact of the Delta variant, entrance to a lot of establishments (restaurants, cafes, cultural venues, long distance transportation etc) requires the official French "Pass Sanitaire" or "Health Pass".

The basis of the "Pass Sanitaire" is the same vaccination proof (either a digital or paper based document from your own national Government) that will have been necessary for international visitors to show when entering France in the first place*.

When entering France, you will also need to print off and sign a "Sworn Undertaking" statement that you have no symptoms of Covid-19 infection, and that to your knowledge you have not been in contact with a confirmed case of Covid-19 in the 14 days prior to your journey. Please see the link below for the official French Government form to print off prior to travel.

Importantly, as of the 27th August the French Gov’t has released details of how non French tourists can now obtain digitally the “Pass Sanitaire” – “Health Pass” to guarantee entrance to public amenities: restaurants, museums etc...

Please see the link below to the French administration site that will guide you through the procedure to obtain the “Pass Sanitaire”.

Note, that not all individual establishments are requiring Foreigners to have the French “Pass Sanitaire”, but there would be no question of entrance if you had it. Locally we haven't come across anywhere that won't accept your own local (non-French) paper proof of vaccination, but this could, in theory, change.

So, we have detailed above the current local (French) conditions for entering France - it is sensible, however, to check the conditions with your own local national bodies regarding travel to and from France. Below we have listed links to several official Foreign national bodies regarding their own travel requirements to France.

Also, at the end of your stay, should you need a Covid-19 test to return home, we will be happy to book this is in for you. It's a very easy process. PCR tests are charged at a price of 49€.

As a result of the continually improving Covid situation, we restarted our tours after the summer heat, in September, at both our B&B and Villa based tours.

And remember, you can make a new booking with confidence, with our no risk reservation policy. Knowing that if things should change, we would refund payments – no arguments!

We look forward to seeing our bikers again - Vive les holidays! Please do contact us if you have any questions.

Neil & Nat (Owners).

*Please note that the Chinese and Russian vaccines are not currently accepted for entry into the European Union.

Sworn Undertaking Form: https://www.interieur.gouv.fr/Actualites/L-actu-du-Ministere/Certificate-of-international-travel

Procedure for Non-French tourists acquiring the French “Pass Sanitaire” Health Pass: https://www.demarches-simplifiees.fr/commencer/passe-sanitaire-etrangers?locale=en

Foreign Nation's requirements for entry into France - Links:
USA: https://fr.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/
Canada: https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/health-safety/travel-health-notices/221
UK: https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/france/entry-requirements
EU + Schengen area: https://reopen.europa.eu/en/

Our Covid-19 bike tour measures.

Vaccination requirements.

We are confident about receiving our biker guests, as, as it stands at the moment, any international traveller coming into France will have to have shown evidence of a double vaccination (+ 7 days) or a negative PCR test carried out 48h before arrival, so any guests arriving at the B&B or Villa should be covered against Covid.

Furthermore, and for your peace of mind (and ours), we’re happy to say that our entire family has been vaccinated, so again we’re covered, and ready to have a good time with our guests.

Covid measures and our tours.

We are of course implementing all necessary Covid-19 measures to keep everybody as safe as possible. Something that is relatively easy given that we have lots of space at our properties and that we run relatively small group numbers, with no more than 8 guests at any one time at the B&B - and no more than 6 guests at the villa. These are not mass tours.

Measures at the B&B -

• Hydroalcoholic gels and tissues in each room and at strategic points around the property, along with enhanced end of stay cleaning.
• Additional daily cleaning measures at the property.

Measures at the Villa -

• Hydroalcoholic gels and tissues in each room and at strategic points around the properties, along with enhanced end of stay cleaning.
• All bike equipment sanitised at the beginning and end of your tour.

Also something to remember is that our guests spend the majority of their time out biking in their own small groups, made up of family and friends. The biking is also in a low density, rural setting, with the majority of the time being spent in open countryside and the small villages that we visit along the way. Areas, that to date, have been less impacted by Covid-19 than urban areas.

Our B&B based tours are on the edge of the small village of Coustellet, whereas our Villa based tours are in the small village of Taillades.

Another advantage that we have is that we can minimise risks by using the quieter, smaller, yet convenient transport hubs to get to our locations. Marignane/Marseille airport is a medium sized, relatively quiet airport (yet it has good links) and we have the Avignon high speed train station (TGV) - which are both just a 50 min car journey away.

If you have any questions regarding an existing booking or a future booking, please contact us.

Hope to see you for some great cycling in Provence – Neil & Nat Cowell - (Owners).