WFPB SOS-Free Dordogne Valley (2027)

We understand that our trip price represents a significant investment. However, when comparing World Vegan Travel to other tours in the region, it’s important to look at the total value and the specialized level of service provided. Here is why our trips offer exceptional value:

1. Truly All-Inclusive (No Hidden Costs) Many tours leave you to find your own lunch, pay for drinks, or handle tips out of pocket. Our trips are designed to be “wallet-free” once you arrive:

• All 100% Plant-Based Meals: From gourmet dinners to regional snacks—all strictly vegan.

• All Drinks: Including local wines and non-alcoholic beverages.

• All Gratuities: We handle all tips for drivers, local guides, and hotel staff.

• Exclusive Extras: You’ll receive a curated amenities/essentials bag and a complimentary laundry day so you can travel light.

2. Double the Support Most tours provide a single guide. We provide two full-time World Vegan Travel leaders on every trip. This allows one leader to manage the “behind-the-scenes” logistics while the other is 100% available to support you, ensuring a seamless and personalized experience.

3. The “Vegan Heavy Lifting” France is a world-class culinary destination, but it remains very traditional. To ensure a 100% vegan experience that meets our high standards, we perform months of intensive labor before the trip begins:

• We spend hundreds of hours educating and training our partner villas, restaurants, and local guides.

• We coordinate everything from custom plant-based menus (focusing on artisanal cheeses and pastries) to ensuring room amenities are cruelty-free.

• This work starts nearly a year in advance and becomes a full-time operation 2–3 months before the trip. We do the hard work so you can simply relax and enjoy.

4. A Curated, High-End Itinerary We know this is a “bucket list” journey. We don’t cut corners on quality. We’ve chosen a stunning 4-star private villa and unique activities—like our exclusive visit to Elephant Haven—that are not available on standard, mass-market tours.

You are paying for peace of mind, expert advocacy, and a luxury experience where your values are never a compromise.

Absolutely!   We have many people on our trip that sign up as solo travelers.   ​However do note that single rooms availability is low, so book quickly!  Please see our COST & SIGN-UP section for more information.  

Should you still be on the waiting list when the trip closes and gets confirmed, we may be able to offer you a single room (depending on availability).

We believe in complete transparency when it comes to our pricing! The difference between the $750 and $5,150 single supplement comes down to maintaining our ideal group size and managing the room capacity at our private villa.

• Maintaining an Intimate Group Size: Our Dordogne villa has a set number of rooms. If we filled every single bed in the villa, our group would be much too large to provide the high-touch, personalized WVT experience you expect.

• The Subsidized Spots: Because we intentionally cap our group size well below the villa’s maximum capacity, it leaves us with a small buffer. We are thrilled to offer 4 of these rooms to solo travelers at a heavily subsidized supplement of just $750.

• Standard Room Capacity: Once those 4 subsidized rooms are claimed, any additional solo traveler will be booking a room meant for two people. Because the high cost of privatizing a luxury villa remains the exact same regardless of whether one or two people are sleeping in a room, the $5,150 supplement covers the cost of that unused second spot.

Because La Villa Romaine is a historic property, every room is entirely unique in its size, layout, and view. To keep our pricing straightforward, we do not offer paid room upgrades, and all standard shared rooms are priced equally.

To ensure fairness when assigning these unique rooms, we use a strict set of criteria. Priority for the largest and most premium rooms is determined by:

1. Loyalty & Membership: Your NHA membership tier.

2. Booking Date: How early you secure your deposit.

3. Accessibility Needs: Any specific mobility issues we need to accommodate.

Please note: The 4 spots offered at the heavily subsidized $750 Single Supplement rate will be allocated the smallest rooms in the villa. Travelers paying the standard $5,150 Single Supplement will have their rooms assigned based on the standard priority criteria listed above.

FLIGHTS
You are in charge of your own transportation — whether it be flights, train, bus, car, etc. — to our starting city, and your return transportation from our departure city. 

For your arrival, we ask that you try and arrive early on the first day, as our first meeting tends to be in mid-afternoon.  This exact time and place will be confirmed at a later date, but do plan ahead adequately to leave you enough time to get to our meeting place by that time.  Even better is arriving one or more days before.  This would provide you with a chance to take care of jet-lag and visit the town.

Please note that your transportation to our first meeting point is not included.  

VISAS & ENTRY REQUIREMENTS (ETIAS) Croatia is a member of the Schengen Area. For citizens of most Western countries (including the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK), a traditional visa is not required for stays of up to 90 days.

However, please note that the ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorization System) will be fully implemented for this 2027 trip. This is a mandatory, quick online travel authorization required for all visa-exempt travelers entering the Schengen Area. You will need to apply for and receive your ETIAS approval online prior to your departure.

Citizens of the EU and Schengen member states do not need a visa or an ETIAS to enter Croatia.

TRAVEL/MEDICAL INSURANCE
Medical travel insurance is mandatory on our trip.    We need to have assurances that you are fully covered in the event of a medical emergency, including repatriation.  You will need to send us your policy detail and emergency contact number before the trip’s start date.

Trip Insurance (trip cancellation, lost baggage, etc.), on the other hand, is entirely up to you, though we highly recommend purchasing it.  It often comes packaged along with medical travel insurance, or you may get coverage simply by paying for the trip using a credit card (inquire with your card supplier). 

As we are not a travel agency or booking agents, we can’t book any flights or ongoing travel (ie hotels, transportation, etc) for you. However we can surely help with recommendations, suggestions and tips as you look into flights, or extending your holiday. It never hurts to ask, so don’t hesitate to contact us with any queries whatsoever!

In general, the end of May/early June is an excellent time of year to visit the Dordogne valleys. The weather is almost always warm but not as hot as high summer, although it is slightly more changeable. It is very rare and unfortunate for a holiday to be ruined by rain in these months with an average rainfall of only two days!

At this time, the countryside is more lush and the scenery even more beautiful, since the daylight is slightly less harsh than in the summer. It’s the perfect time for walking and cycling in the Dordogne, since the summer can be rather hot for these activities.

You should expect temperatures of no more than 24° (75.°F) and no lower than around 18° (64°F) in the evenings.

While we don’t have a luggage restriction on this trip, we recommend you not to bring more than 1 suitcase per person.  You will need to carry your bags only from the bus to the hotel twice (plus the trip to our meeting place) but you should still make sure you can lift it by yourself (ie  it’s not too heavy).  

We do have one free laundry included on the trip, so hopefully this can help in not over-packing.   Laundry will also be available on other days at a fee.

In terms of clothing, it’s a good idea to bring some early summer garb, such as shorts, t-shirts, etc., and a swimsuit, as we will have a swimming pool at our Dordogne hotel (and in case you want to go canoeing down the rivers).

Long and light cotton pants and shirts (or dresses) are a good idea.    A hat is a good idea to block off the sun.  

A sweater or light jacket for the cooler evenings is a good idea.  Rain gear isn’t really needed, but a small umbrella could prove useful. 

Do bring some comfortable, but sturdy, shoes, as we have many walking tours.  The Dordogne villages are made for exploring, and often the streets are cobblestones.   Overall we’re not going on any big hikes, so there’s no need to bring your best pair of hiking boots.    You can always bring a 2nd set of comfy shoes/loafers to wear in the evening, for dinner and also afterwards when we’re relaxing with a nightcap. 

Other essentials should include:

• sunglasses
• Cameras and plenty of batteries and storage cards is a must. 
• sunscreen lotion

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We will be sending an info packet several weeks before the trip that will include, amongst other bits of information, a packing list.

If you are coming from outside of Europe, then yes, your mobile phone should work, but do check with your carrier to make sure.   It is highly recommended to turn off global roaming unless you carrier can offer you a package for your stay in France.  Otherwise you risk being charged exorbitant fees upon you return home! 

If you are a UK or other European citizen, your phone should work as usual as Europe no longer has borders when it comes to mobile phone usage.  However do check with your carrier to ensure your package qualifies. 

 If your phone is unlocked (please check with your carrier directly) you can also purchase a French SIM Card from Amazon, and enjoy having a local number and much cheaper data (internet) usage.   We recommend the 20GB Orange Holiday Europe SIM card.  Please follow the instructions that come with the SIM as we do not offer support for this product. 

Yes, our hotels have WIFI, and we will also have internet connection on-board our coaches. For the latter, connection speeds may vary, as will the connection itself.

We provide all accommodation, transportation and meals. All expenses during our included activities are taken care of, including tips for guides and drivers.

You will then only need cash for extra purchases such as souvenirs, extra drinks outside of what’s included, extra snacks, etc. There are ATMs in every town and credit cards are accepted in most places. This mostly means Visa and MasterCard, with American Express having quite a lower acceptance rate outside of hotels and higher-end restaurants.

The tour leaders will be carrying extra cash. If you decide to go on an optional activity at the last minute but don’t have enough money, we will be able to help you out and you can simply pay us back when we find an ATM.

Non-premium alcoholic drinks are included, especially during meals and down time. 

Tipping hotel and restaurant staff is not necessary and entirely up to you.

If you have any specific dietary needs or food preferences, we kindly ask you to contact Brighde at [email protected] before finalizing your booking. Please provide her with detailed information about your dietary needs or preferences, and ensure you receive a written response from Brighde before finalizing your trip booking. Your cooperation and understanding in this matter are greatly appreciated.

Please note that any additional requests made after the booking has been completed might not be able to be accommodated.

We do have quite a lot of walking activities on this trip, though mostly this will be on flat surfaces in towns and villages.  Some Dordogne villages are build near cliffs and hills, so expect a bit of uphill/downhill walking.   

Youth above 16 years young are welcome.    We are currently not accepting any younger children. ​

There’s no upper age limit, though do note that there is a fair amount of walking on this trip. 

We will provide water, juice, coffee, tea, some cocktails and wine/beer during lunches and all dinners and some activities. We will make it clear what’s included and what’s not. Premium alcoholic drinks (ie expensive cognac, whiskey, champagne, etc) are not included. You can pay for those on the spot or sign it to the room and pay when checking out.

World Vegan Travel aims to provide a safe place for all LGBTQ travelers. We have a zero-tolerance policy on discrimination of any sort.

​Generally speaking, France is a safe and welcoming travel destination for the LGBTQ community.